[quote]jskrabac wrote:
Put another 10 years of consistent heavy training under the bar…THEN assess what bodyparts are truly “lagging.” [/quote]
Are you parroting or talking from experience? If you do this without any forethought youre sure to end up having to play catch up. With a few technique fixes and appropriate exercise selection he can both get stronger and build these weaker areas.
[quote]Gl;itch.e wrote:
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
Put another 10 years of consistent heavy training under the bar…THEN assess what bodyparts are truly “lagging.” [/quote]
Are you parroting or talking from experience? If you do this without any forethought youre sure to end up having to play catch up. With a few technique fixes and appropriate exercise selection he can both get stronger and build these weaker areas.[/quote]
Well, I definitely agree…I was merely making a hyperbole for emphasis. Obviously if you’re training for aesthetics you don’t want to ignore what you see in the mirror all along.
I have about 2 1/2 years of training experience, so the 10 years part is just parroting. But in my personal experience I have come across very many guys at about my same training age who complain about lagging bodyparts who never really put any serious weight on the bar, don’t have their diet in check so they can grow, don’t actually make a conscious effort to progress on weights each month, etc. It’s just too damned early to call it a “lagging bodypart” when you haven’t even mastered your foundation.
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
[quote]Gl;itch.e wrote:
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
Put another 10 years of consistent heavy training under the bar…THEN assess what bodyparts are truly “lagging.” [/quote]
Are you parroting or talking from experience? If you do this without any forethought youre sure to end up having to play catch up. With a few technique fixes and appropriate exercise selection he can both get stronger and build these weaker areas.[/quote]
Well, I definitely agree…I was merely making a hyperbole for emphasis. Obviously if you’re training for aesthetics you don’t want to ignore what you see in the mirror all along.
I have about 2 1/2 years of training experience, so the 10 years part is just parroting. But in my personal experience I have come across very many guys at about my same training age who complain about lagging bodyparts who never really put any serious weight on the bar, don’t have their diet in check so they can grow, don’t actually make a conscious effort to progress on weights each month, etc. It’s just too damned early to call it a “lagging bodypart” when you haven’t even mastered your foundation. [/quote]
Well said. OP should probably provide a picture to show evidence of “lagging upper chest”. Cant believe the thread got this far without someone asking actually!
OP was asked for a program
None provided
so to OP
More back work
And emphasis on upper back also
It will only help any lagging bodyparts
My upper chest has been lacking for quite some time… despite hard consistent work on incline presses. I’m front delt dominant - which not only takes stress off my upper pecs, but totally kills my front delts to the point that they aren’t even growing either.
Recently I’ve found a remarkable way to target the upper chest WITHOUT pressing on any angle, and without the front delts taking most of the load. In fact I do it on a flat bench with heavy dumbbells.
Here’s how I do it. It’s really simple. Warm up your chest thoroughly with any moderate chest press movement. You can ramp up on Flat DB Bench Presses if you choose.
Now, grab some heavy dumbbells, lie back on a flat bench, lower the DB’s into the neutral hand position (parallel at the sides of your pecs). Now when you press up, simultaneously begin turning them to a normal hand position while SHRUGGING YOUR SHOULDERS UP TOWARD YOUR EARS! Do not concern yourself with scapular retraction - let them move naturally. In the top position you should have the ends of the DB’s touching and they should be straight-arm over your forehead, while your shoulders should look like you’re in the top position of a shrug. Now as you lower back to the starting position, just reverse the action (let your shoulders return to a normal position while your hands return to a neutral position at the sides of your pecs).
Do whatever set and rep scheme your protocol prescribes. Don’t do any incline work. Let’s see how this affects you.
Next day or so you should feel a wonderful soreness from your upper sternum throughout your upper pecs to your front delts… WITHOUT pain in the front delts!
I no longer do incline work of any kind, as this works better than anything I’ve ever tried.
DB Flat Bench. Your using lighter weight(and more shoulders) with the incline then you do with Flat. which leads to you limiting your overall chest growth. Your body is genetically geared to the chest shape that you have. Bigger muscles and less fat tends to lead to more noticeable definition.
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
My upper chest has been lacking for quite some time… despite hard consistent work on incline presses. I’m front delt dominant - which not only takes stress off my upper pecs, but totally kills my front delts to the point that they aren’t even growing either.
Recently I’ve found a remarkable way to target the upper chest WITHOUT pressing on any angle, and without the front delts taking most of the load. In fact I do it on a flat bench with heavy dumbbells.
Here’s how I do it. It’s really simple. Warm up your chest thoroughly with any moderate chest press movement. You can ramp up on Flat DB Bench Presses if you choose.
Now, grab some heavy dumbbells, lie back on a flat bench, lower the DB’s into the neutral hand position (parallel at the sides of your pecs). Now when you press up, simultaneously begin turning them to a normal hand position while SHRUGGING YOUR SHOULDERS UP TOWARD YOUR EARS! Do not concern yourself with scapular retraction - let them move naturally. In the top position you should have the ends of the DB’s touching and they should be straight-arm over your forehead, while your shoulders should look like you’re in the top position of a shrug. Now as you lower back to the starting position, just reverse the action (let your shoulders return to a normal position while your hands return to a neutral position at the sides of your pecs).
Do whatever set and rep scheme your protocol prescribes. Don’t do any incline work. Let’s see how this affects you.
Next day or so you should feel a wonderful soreness from your upper sternum throughout your upper pecs to your front delts… WITHOUT pain in the front delts!
I no longer do incline work of any kind, as this works better than anything I’ve ever tried.
[/quote]
Brilliant. This is much what I described in my post. Hopefully this explains the form to the OP more lucidly than my attempt! I do still prefer cables though because you have more tension at the top and a bigger rom.
Iron Dwarf and Glitch both have great ideas.
However, your pressing is very weak… no matter how much volume you do or how many supersets or different exercises you’re never going to get that much bigger if your benching isn’t very strong.
I think you should follow strength based routines for a year. Add 50-100 pounds onto your incline bench and see if you still have an upper chest problem. As soon as I made strength a priority I added more size in one year than the 4 years previous to that.
Dumbells, palms facing each other (very important) and I use 45degree (give or take) incline.
Flies or press, doesn’t matter.
When your wrists are turned outward, you recruit too much front delts.
What the dwarf described is very interesting also.