I’ve been hitting the weights hard for sixth months and have come from 135lbs to 165lbs. I had a chest development which was much like the picture Christian Thibaudeau gives us in an interview where he describes the bench press to give: ‘a decent “outer portion” but the pec gets thinner as we move toward the sternum’.
I thought the shape was genetic but obviously not, is there anyways to get that full rounded shape to my pecs, and anyone who’s experienced this?
[quote]Mankar wrote:
I’ve been hitting the weights hard for sixth months and have come from 135lbs to 165lbs. I had a chest development which was much like the picture Christian Thibaudeau gives us in an interview where he describes the bench press to give: ‘a decent “outer portion” but the pec gets thinner as we move toward the sternum’.
I thought the shape was genetic but obviously not, is there anyways to get that full rounded shape to my pecs, and anyone who’s experienced this? [/quote]
I have the same thing. I think the answer is simply to add enough muscle to your pecs that that area gets covered as well. There’s no inner chest muscle, so all we can do is add muscle all over.
you’ve been lifting for 6 months…I wouldn’t worry about it…
If you want to get the full, round shape to your pecs, shoot for this:
405X8 Incline Bench Press
500X3 Flat Bench Press
I can pretty much guarentee that your Pecs will look awesome once you press those numbers. No matter what your genetics are or how resistant your pecs are to putting on size, you should have a huge chest when you put up those numbers.
If your genetics don’t totally blow, you may even reach a huge chest before you reach those numbers.
And I can guarentee you’ll need to gain a signifigant amount of weight in order to press the pounds necessary to build a big chest and to have the body necessary to house such a chest.
There’s a chance that doing all the weight on the pec-fly machine might give you a big chance, but it’s not a sure thing.
There really aren’t any other bulletproof ways to know you’ll arrive at a big chest other than lifting big weights.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
If you want to get the full, round shape to your pecs, shoot for this:
405X8 Incline Bench Press
500X3 Flat Bench Press
I can pretty much guarentee that your Pecs will look awesome once you press those numbers. No matter what your genetics are or how resistant your pecs are to putting on size, you should have a huge chest when you put up those numbers.
If your genetics don’t totally blow, you may even reach a huge chest before you reach those numbers.
And I can guarentee you’ll need to gain a signifigant amount of weight in order to press the pounds necessary to build a big chest and to have the body necessary to house such a chest.
There’s a chance that doing all the weight on the pec-fly machine might give you a big chance, but it’s not a sure thing.
There really aren’t any other bulletproof ways to know you’ll arrive at a big chest other than lifting big weights.
[/quote]
QFT
LOL. Not this shit again…Too many wannabe Dantes walking around on these days, and funnily enough most of them are misguided natties. Why not 500 pounds on the incline for 20 reps lol. YAtes was using around 4 plates a side on the incline for 10 reps IIRC at his peak…
OP, I;m not going to throw random numbers at you like the schoolkids here. However, you will need to add a ton of size to said bodypart to make it look better…IF your particular muscle shape and attachment are less than ideal.and it sounds like they are!
To add size, you WILL need to gain strength in a bodybuilding rep range on selected movements that hit your major and minor muscle groups, while increasing your bodyweight (that is usually the ON:LY way you can ensure consistent progress in said movements).
How much strength you need to gain or how strong you need to get is not the issue here…you MAY be happy with your development when you hit three plates a side on the incline, you may not. YOu may not even be using the BB bench 6 months from now and be using a variety of other exercises…its all up to you.
Since you’ve been training 6 months, for the time being focus on the basics and don;t neglect arms, forearms and calves…while eating enough to gain bodyweight.
Strength gains do not come easy…you’ll have to push past pain and you will potentially comne close to injuring yourself at several points in your lifting. Getting sufficient calories and protein will tilt the balance towards super-compensation rather than catastrophic injury while you struggle to progress from session to session.
Some folks will have a nice chest shape even if they’re struggling with 225 pounds on the bar, some folks will have a misshapen chest EVEN after benching 4 plates for reps. The BB bench is not the be-all and end-all of chest development, for that matter,
NO exercise is the cornerstone of strength for EVERYBODY…especially if you don;t have the right muscle bellies or attachments, so you will need to add dumbbell presses to your arsenal if your chest isn;t “shaping” up as you’d expect as you’re gaining strength.
YOu may also need to add a fly movement for high reps. You may need to switch between flat and declines to ensure progress, and at some point add the hammer strength machines as a separate movement, regardless of your training age.
No one can tell you how to slap muscle on to your frame.or the ratio in which your body will gain size in muscle groups relative to strength gain in selected movements…its individual.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
If you want to get the full, round shape to your pecs, shoot for this:
405X8 Incline Bench Press
I can pretty much guarentee that your Pecs will look awesome once you press those numbers. [/quote]
tribunaldude, don’t accuse me of being some wannabe internet tough guy. Who the fuck are you? I’ve never, even seen you discuss any numbers you’ve hit be it lifts, bodyweight, or anything else.
You just show up right when tribunals start in the alpha forum as if you’re the king of alpha tribunals and act like you know everything. Quit hiding under the guise of a lifter whose “been around” and “seen some gnarly shit.”
What’s most important for the 165lb OP right now? Muscle shaping? Dumbbell Flys? No. For the next few years the most important thing for the OP will be strength gains. The best way to gain strength is through barbell exercises.
Thinking about upper verses lower chest and inner verses outer chest at this point just isn’t productive. He has no pecs! Doing Semi-Suppinated Crossovers to hit the upper outer chest or unilateral x-rep hammer presses to target the mid-inner chest is just going to be wasted training volume that could be used for pressing a barbell.
OP, I don’t want to downplay going from 135 to 165. That’s cool. You’ve gained muscle. You probably don’t need to listen to a speech about how hard it is to get stronger. But even though you’ve managed to gain a good 30 pounds, it’s still too early to tell if you’ve got lagging bodyparts because everything is still relativly weak.
This early on, it’s probably better to tell what’s lagging based on your lifts. If you can Incline Bench 155X5 and Flat Bench 185X5 then your upper chest probably isn’t lagging. But if you can Flat Bench 205 and Incline Bench 105, your front delts and upper pecs probably need some more love from, you guessed it, Incline Benching.
So don’t worry about lagging chest symmetry just yet. Instead, figure out what you’re weakest at and hammer that weakness. Maybe your inner chest problems are due to the fact that your Close-Grip Bench is miles away from your normal Bench Press.
I do not post in the T-cell Alpha.
I have posted “three times” on the forum.
My name is not a reference to T-cell “tribunals”.
You’re a kid with a big mouth whose advice should NOT be taken as gospel on this or any forum. Your posts make little to no sense and expose you as a confused lifter who has no clue what his own goals are…you can assume whatever the fuck you want about my stats/lifts/whatever.
If you want to know who I am, what my exact stats are or how long I have been posting here…pry that information from some of my friends. It will make no difference as far as YOU are concerned.
Ten years from now, there is a strong possibility that you will look exactly the same as you look now. OP, read my words carefully and try to understand the import. If you ignore the right advice and take the wrong advice to heart…only you will bear the consequences.
We are all against a running clock. If your goal is to add size, work towards that goal methodically.
If you have any further comments or questions…PM my ass!
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
tribunaldude, don’t accuse me of being some wannabe internet tough guy. Who the fuck are you? I’ve never, even seen you discuss any numbers you’ve hit be it lifts, bodyweight, or anything else. You just show up right when tribunals start in the alpha forum as if you’re the king of alpha tribunals and act like you know everything. Quit hiding under the guise of a lifter whose “been around” and “seen some gnarly shit.”
What’s most important for the 165lb OP right now? Muscle shaping? Dumbbell Flys? No. For the next few years the most important thing for the OP will be strength gains. The best way to gain strength is through barbell exercises.
Thinking about upper verses lower chest and inner verses outer chest at this point just isn’t productive. He has no pecs! Doing Semi-Suppinated Crossovers to hit the upper outer chest or unilateral x-rep hammer presses to target the mid-inner chest is just going to be wasted training volume that could be used for pressing a barbell.
OP, I don’t want to downplay going from 135 to 165. That’s cool. You’ve gained muscle. You probably don’t need to listen to a speech about how hard it is to get stronger. But even though you’ve managed to gain a good 30 pounds, it’s still too early to tell if you’ve got lagging bodyparts because everything is still relativly weak.
This early on, it’s probably better to tell what’s lagging based on your lifts. If you can Incline Bench 155X5 and Flat Bench 185X5 then your upper chest probably isn’t lagging. But if you can Flat Bench 205 and Incline Bench 105, your front delts and upper pecs probably need some more love from, you guessed it, Incline Benching.
So don’t worry about lagging chest symmetry just yet. Instead, figure out what you’re weakest at and hammer that weakness. Maybe your inner chest problems are due to the fact that your Close-Grip Bench is miles away from your normal Bench Press. [/quote]
I have this same problem as well, but I’ve only been training properly for about 7 months…
keep lifting weights, its really all there is to it.
FightingScott is right. Its likely you don’t have enough strength/size to worry about inner/outer portions. I found they will balance themselves out in time but your not at that level yet.
There is no magic chest exercise. The flat bench and incline bench are the two best exercises so keep doing them.
Just keep lifting.
Thanks for all your replies guys, I’ll just keep hitting the weights hard then, cheers.
No matter what anyone says. Just keep getting stronger. Your current workout should always be one rep ahead of your last/.
[quote]Mankar wrote:
Thanks for all your replies guys, I’ll just keep hitting the weights hard then, cheers.[/quote]
That’s only one part.
You better fuckin eat.
do u have a slightly sunken chest? do you appear to have a pot belly but with low(ish) body fat because of flared ribs? i do, its called pectus excavatum, mine is mild but noticeable, do exercises that hit lower and inner pecs, this can be hard to isolate though, try and avoid wide grip exercises that hit your outer pecs and shoulders.
Tribunaldude is the man, he knows his shit, it’s pretty obvious.
And I’m with Tribunal on this one too, although I am much bigger than the OP my chest is lagging too. I can do 405x3 and it’s still shitty so I am just going to switch to DB’s for a while and see what happens.
Keep hammering away at the barbell benchpress for now, but if that doesn’t work out don’t be afraid to try dumbells.
Make sure to hit incline pressing as hard as you hit flat pressing, I made the mistake of ignoring that for a year and now I’m playing catchup.
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Tribunaldude is the man, he knows his shit, it’s pretty obvious.
And I’m with Tribunal on this one too, although I am much bigger than the OP my chest is lagging too. I can do 405x3 and it’s still shitty so I am just going to switch to DB’s for a while and see what happens.
Keep hammering away at the barbell benchpress for now, but if that doesn’t work out don’t be afraid to try dumbells.[/quote]
Many bodybuilders quit relying on the barbell bench as their main mass builder many years ago. I quit doing them. I saw more growth using dumbbells…and then when I maxed those out, I saw even more with HS machines.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Many bodybuilders quit relying on the barbell bench as their main mass builder many years ago. I quit doing them. I saw more growth using dumbbells…and then when I maxed those out, I saw even more with HS machines.[/quote]
Wish I had HS machines. The one thing that sucks though is I know I am a shoulder/arm dominate bencher, so I do dumb bells when I can. But my gym only has DB’s up to 120’s. Like I said I am using 405 for several reps these days so 120’s I can do for around 8-10 reps.
Obviously I can not progress weight wise, and continually going up in reps isn’t exactly optimal either, so most of the time I am stuck doing BB chest movements. It’s really frustrating. We have a few machine chest press machines but the max weight on those is like 300 lbs, so those are worthless too.
Any suggestions? I guess I could just try doing more sets or something lol.
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Many bodybuilders quit relying on the barbell bench as their main mass builder many years ago. I quit doing them. I saw more growth using dumbbells…and then when I maxed those out, I saw even more with HS machines.
Wish I had HS machines. The one thing that sucks though is I know I am a shoulder/arm dominate bencher, so I do dumb bells when I can. But my gym only has DB’s up to 120’s. Like I said I am using 405 for several reps these days so 120’s I can do for around 8-10 reps.
Obviously I can not progress weight wise, and continually going up in reps isn’t exactly optimal either, so most of the time I am stuck doing BB chest movements. It’s really frustrating. We have a few machine chest press machines but the max weight on those is like 300 lbs, so those are worthless too.
Any suggestions? I guess I could just try doing more sets or something lol.[/quote]
I am at the point now where I max out most machines.
For instance, I like to use that side lateral raise machine you sit in where the pad rests on your upper arm. I have had to resort to taking 45lbs plates and hanging them off the weight stack…but only one machine at one gym in my area is made to allow this.
In your case, yes, if you truly have no other options, increasing the sets and reps could lead to further growth.