Don’t take this the wrong way because I mean it as advice.
I don’t think your upper chest lags behind your chest. I think that when your major grows more you’ll understand. I used to think I had the same problem as you, but what it really is is more like I just needed more overall mass in the chest. Remember the incline targets the minor more, but if you have seen an anatomy chest of the size and shape of the pec minor you will know that it does not cover a huge amount of space.
I think you and I suffer from whats called a sloping chest. Kinda like sloping shoulders, it’s more of a genetic thing. Not a lot we can do about it but make the chest bigger if we can. Not recommending against training the pec minor, but when the whole chest growth is the priority it might be the best to grow the major and worry about the minor when you have enough meat in there already.
[quote]tuttle wrote:
Don’t take this the wrong way because I mean it as advice.
I don’t think your upper chest lags behind your chest. I think that when your major grows more you’ll understand. I used to think I had the same problem as you, but what it really is is more like I just needed more overall mass in the chest. Remember the incline targets the minor more, but if you have seen an anatomy chest of the size and shape of the pec minor you will know that it does not cover a huge amount of space.
I think you and I suffer from whats called a sloping chest. Kinda like sloping shoulders, it’s more of a genetic thing. Not a lot we can do about it but make the chest bigger if we can. Not recommending against training the pec minor, but when the whole chest growth is the priority it might be the best to grow the major and worry about the minor when you have enough meat in there already.[/quote]
it’s funny the way we all seem to fixate on a certain body part, and what we see is not at all what others see.
Like, when I look at your pics, Brick, your chest looks really good! It’s come on particularly well since your last photos, but because you have it in your head that it’s your weak point, you’ll never be satisfied no matter how much you improve.
Gorilla, if I remember rightly since you’ve leaned down, despite looking 10000x better, you feel small now. Anyone can see you’re NOT small and have clearly paid your dues in the gym, but you have it in your mind that you are and you’ll probably never feel different.
I’m the same; my shoulders and arms are my weakest point, particularly my shoulders as my clavicles are narrow, and I can’t get it into my head that they’re improving. Someone asked me the other day if I was “naturally broad shouldered” and I was like wut? People I’ve not seen for a while ALWAYS comment on my arms but in my mind I just can’t see them as anything other than small.
So I guess the point of the ramble is that our weak points are never as weak as we seem to think, even if we can’t be objective enough to see that.
Follow your dreams, listen to your heart, just be yourself, etc
[quote]MinusTheColon wrote:
Still doing the same 5/3/1 routine you posted back in 2014? Have you hit those goal numbers, or are you not as worried about it?
Apologies if I missed a post already addressing these items.[/quote]
I wound abandoning 5/3/1 as I just simply decided that although strength is a concern (it has to be if you want to get bigger), the notion of getting relative strength up in the main lifts in order to be bigger in the long term kind of lost its touch with me and I am on a more pure bodybuilding upper-lower split. I abandoned the flat bench press (maybe for good) and now solely do dumbbell press variations, dips, and flyes (my favorite is TRX or blast-strap flyes as they are hard as hell). I also have not performed a standard deadlift in months and stick to RDL’s and trap bar deadlifts. I also went through a few months with front squats. I understand 5/3/1 can be applied to this but I have found that I get much more success with standard sets and just a double progression (trying to hit PR’s in reps and then add weight).
[quote]MinusTheColon wrote:
Interesting–still 4x/week? Cardio on off-days?[/quote]
Yes, four days per week, but with some weeks having three weight sessions when I must miss the gym (I try not to let this happen, but ther is life). Cardio is done on off days. It’s 20 to 40 minute of jogging or when weather permits handball or paddleball at the park.
