Building the middle of the chest.

[Kirro]

Are there any good exercises for building the middle of the chest? So far the middle of my chest looks underdeveloped compared to the rest which isn't really a good look.

So far I do Incline Bench, Flat Bench and Chest flys on my chest days. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[DanZy]

You're already doing too much chest work, you can't build parts of the chest individually either.

 

[Who Dares Win]

Somehow my inner chest get stimulated by dips, dont underestimate cable flyes down to up as well.

 

[DanZy]

LOL.

Phil Heath has a great cable flyes workout where he puts a lying bench down and does cable crossovers. You can go further than you do with regular DB or machine flyes so you hit more of the chest.

If you mean middle chest, DB presses are the best IMO. Far superior to the barbell bench press especially if you're just doing one or the other.

Your pectorals are made up of two muscles, one being far larger than the other and therefore contributing most of the size. Good luck building the middle of your chest when it's all one muscle, you can't build individual muscle fibres within the same muscle differently; it's all or nothing. You can target different muscle groups, not seperate parts within a muscle. Basics mate, basics.

The example you give of Phil heath's simply gives you a greater range of motion. However I've found that when I've done flys etc, even though it feels like my pecs are working far more than on bench, I don't notice any significant gains in strength or size.

 

[cuzza]

Too much for chest already? He's doing THREE exercises. Come on.

 

[muscleman]

Dips will help hit the inner part. Also if you're doing flys keep your arms almost straight. Slight bend so you're not activating biceps, but almost straight out. You can also throw in diamond pushups, as well as diamonds on an incline/decline.

For the most part just focus on full range of motion, controlled movements, and slowly increasing the weight with a variety of chest exercises. As your chest grows all 'parts' of it will grow as well. The muscle fibers are very long so you can't really develop inner, outer, upper, lower, etc specifically. The different angles are meant to keep your body from getting too used to any particular motion.

 

[DanZy]

Too much for chest already? He's doing THREE exercises. Come on.

Your pecs get worked all the time, most upper body excercises place stimuli upon them. There's a good chance he's doing tricep dips and rows too, both will work your pecs somewhat; hence the flys are probably not needed. Go google minimum effective dosage, essentially it's getting the most out of the least.

 

[cuzza]

But in most cases that's unnecessary. If strapped for time, sure. It's like people who say don't work arms because they get stimulated from rows and benching - they do, but unless you have little time, you'd be stupid to not do direct work.

Three direct exercises isn't much at all. I do three, most people do more. I wouldn't say rows 'hit' chest really. The stimulation is minimal. Pullups stimulate your chest, but you'd be struggling if you were to class it as your chest exercise.

 

[DanZy]

I'm not saying do away with all direct chest work, just that anything more is pointless.

 

[DanZy]

Strange how there's only two parts to the chest then hey mate. Basic human anatomy dictates that, it's not possible to argue it. Training like a bodybuilder is only truly effective when you're the size of a bodybuilder (and using a good deal of anabolics) and it takes many, many years to build up to that point. Arnold and Reg Park are the best example of this.

To summarise: Normal flat bench and incline bench are really all that's needed for direct chest work (dips are also great) as flat bench mainly stimulates the Pectorilas major and incline mainly stimulates the Pectorilas minor-there are NO other muscles within the chest area. If you want to do flys, go ahead but they're not needed. Efficiency is key.
I didn't insult you, no need to insult me. I'm not going to argue any further with you regardless.

 

[XMinister]

I would say instead of adding more volume (more exercises), work on intensity. Dumbbell flys. Steady and controlled until COMPLETE failure. Make that muscle demand repair!!

 

[Kirro]

I appreciate all the help guys, I'll get to it on my next chest day. If there's anything else please feel free to educate me further.

 

[Krueg]

EDIT-

I would recommend Incline Presses with a Barbell or Dumbbells.

 

[user43770]

Edit - Misunderstood.

 

[foreverAFC]

try dumbell presses and chest fly , it may help add definition to the middle part.


i personally dont spend too much time on chest. the chest muscles are not very big in comparison to other muscles of the body, i see guys in the gym who spend over an hour on chest only while they completely neglect more important body parts like legs. a few sets to failure and i move on to something else.

 

[d!ckmojo]

I'm continually astounded by amount and totality of the BULLSH!T DanZy posts, presumably unaware of how much an ARSEHAT he sounds like.

According to Jamie Lewis from Chaos and Pain (which since Krueg introduced me to it by posting a thread here on this forum has become my equal favourite blog alongside Chateau Heartiste), there is no such thing as "over-training", only under-eating and under-sleeping.

He also writes about how incorporating cable flies into his routines improved his 1RM bench press immensely.

Just recently, his latest post has this to say:

"You can learn sh1t from bodybuilders. They're much maligned, and often for good reason, but they're not entirely retarded individuals. One would think I'd have learned this already, what with the fact that I've cited examples like Marvin Eder and Chuck Sipes in the past, but it wasn't until I really tried to get my bench moving that it occurred to me that bodybuilders are the best proof of my contention that high frequency is critical for steady progress. After all, we've all seen countless "bodybuilders" with massive upper bodies and no legs, and we all know they train the same muscle groups two to four times a week. When I started examining the problems with my bench, it occurred to me that the "bodybuilders", not the strength athletes, are the by far and away the best benchers in any gym. Garrett Griffin's a great example of a current bodybuilder/bencher. If you want a decent bench, you're going to have to train the fvck out of your chest and arms just like the bodybuilders in your gym. If you don't, you're probably going to make an ass of yourself when you hit a meet. That's not to say that I'll be adopting a bodypart split (ever again), but if you've got a lagging bodypart, utilizing the techniques of a bodybuilder who's got that bodypart in spades might not be the worst idea you've ever had. If nothing else, it'll be better than deloading to the bar after getting terrible advice from redditors about your sh1tbox squat.


More is generally better. In line with the above, it seems the more frequently I train, and the more frequently I train the powerlifts or permutations thereof, the better I get. At this point, I bottom position squat, jump squat, and partial squat once each per week, bench at least twice a week, and shrug twice a week. I've never been stronger, never looked better, and never felt better just walking around. There are pretty few exceptions to the rule that "he who rules does more", and if you look at guys like Platz, Belaev, Young, and Gant, you see that doing more seems to be the way to go. Ronnie Coleman, the most successful bodybuilder of all time, trained 6 days a week for the majority of his adult life, and it paid the **** off. Bust your ass in the gym and the gods will confer upon you greatness. Skimp and you'll suck harder than a meth-head in an oral gangbang."

Check it out: http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/i-think-this-is-officially-middle-aged.html

I think I'd rather trust the writings of a world record holding powerlifter over the "advice" of a pimply, squeaky voiced 18 year old gimp with his "minimum effective dosage" nonsense.

 

[DanZy]

Strangely that post entails exactly my theory regarding training. He trains a large amount and this gives him the best results, he does what is required for him to grow. I too don't really believe in overtraining, it's only possible if you work yourself into the ground and then, as your article says, not sleep or eat enough. Then your article refers to hitting all the big lifts often, another part of training I believe to be completely needed. The author also states that he'd never use a body builders split, I also believe in this.

I cited medical fact but let me clear up any confusion. When referring to "middle chest", I presumed the OP meant the muscle literally in the middle of his chest around his sternum which isnt possible to train directly. Therefore my information with regard to that was correct. Finally when I say "minimum effective dosage", I simply mean that one needs to train the least to gain the most; anything else is wasting your time. Understand? So the OP should hit several heavy sets of both flat and decline bench and that would be highly effective.
All I've argued in the past is that weightlifting is totally safe from a fairly young age - which is totally correct; that creatine is safe and highly effective - as the most studied supplement there is, I was also correct. Hence I don't understand how you see my advice to be incorrect; here I just misinterpreted "middle chest" as literally the middle of ones chest as opposed to the middle of your pectorals. I'll admit that my dislike for traditional bodybuilding lore is probably excessive but viewing that blog I see he shares many views that I have.

 

[d!ckmojo]

Yeah, that blog has a lot of good info on it I reckon too.

I don't believe its possible to build the inner chest either, its just genetics what shape your muscles are, and you can't train parts of muscles...

What are you talking about creatine for? Its completely safe. And I know kids as young as 12 or 13 who train with weights, they're perfectly healthy. In fact, way more fit and healthy than layabout kids who don't train.

 

[DanZy]

I was referring back to a different thread in which someone refused to believe that creatine was safe and another in which some guy insisted that weight training at a young age will stunt your growth.

 

[d!ckmojo]

I see. Well I apologize for saying that you give bad advice then, because it seems we agree on some issues.