Thoughts About Working out Chest

[Gorilla]

Chest is one muscle

Both the clavicular and sternal pectorals major function as a single force-producing muscle because of how they are attached, their innervations, and their functions. You cannot separate them short of breaking your neck (this would kill the innervations, rendering the muscle inusable). So, upper and lower chest = one muscle for all practical purposes. Now, when you put the bench on an incline position you put the shoulders in a stronger position and the chest in a weaker position. This means that the shoulders will do more work, and the chest less. If you put a bench on a decline, the involvement of the shoulders is minimized, and the chest is put in it's strongest position, thus the chest will do more work, and the shoulders less. Since the upper and lower chest work completely together regardless of bench positioning, the decline will work the upper chest more than the incline for the reasons above.

Thoughts?

I didnt write this..read it on another forum

[A790]

From a mass gaining perspective, both incline and decline bench put you in a less stable position than the flat bench. Flat bench will always trump in that regard.

[slowboy]

I'd stick with flat and incline. Squared chest > man boobs (if you only do declines).

[Gorilla]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/5_chest_sculpting_steps.htm

< Read Part 3.. another opinon

Flat or decline are the best choices when it comes to chest development. ...

Research has shown that there is no significant difference in upper pectoral recruitment between incline or decline bench, however the lower pectorals are activated more in the decline bench (Barnett et al., 1995; Glass & Armstrong, 1997).

[dandia89]

decline is the same shit as flat. i can't see the difference. incline gets you that dynamic by incorporating shoulders into it

[shakalaka]

Decline builds the lower part of the chest, incline gives the shape to the top part and flat is for the whole chest all together.

If you're completely flat chested then doing all is probably the way to go, however if you're carrying a bit of fat on that are and are worries about having man boobs then just stick with flat and incline. Cause you don't want to raise the bottom part of the chest anyway as it'll still keep giving you that man boob look so doing the flat will focus on both areas and incline will focus on top giving your chest the proper chest look, taking away the man boob look.

This is what I've ready on quite a few places actually and does make sense.

[colt22]

Ive been training with professional strength&conditioning coaches for the last almost 7 years and never once have we done decline bench :dunno:

[dandia89]

Originally posted by shakalaka
Decline builds the lower part of the chest, incline gives the shape to the top part and flat is for the whole chest all together.

If you're completely flat chested then doing all is probably the way to go, however if you're carrying a bit of fat on that are and are worries about having man boobs then just stick with flat and incline. Cause you don't want to raise the bottom part of the chest anyway as it'll still keep giving you that man boob look so doing the flat will focus on both areas and incline will focus on top giving your chest the proper chest look, taking away the man boob look.

This is what I've ready on quite a few places actually and does make sense.

this doesn't make any sense. high body fat = man boobs

[potatopineapple]

I thought man boobs were caused by hormone imbalances? I've seen skinny fat people with them before.

[shakalaka]

Originally posted by dandia89


this doesn't make any sense. high body fat = man boobs


Obviously that's true, but what I was trying to say was if you already have manboobs and keep doing declines it will only pronounce that already existing manboob shape, albeit it will be muscle instead of fat. They won't be as saggy anymore and have muscle, but it could prevent you from getting that square chest shape.

[shakalaka]

Originally posted by potatopineapple
I thought man boobs were caused by hormone imbalances? I've seen skinny fat people with them before.


It's a possibility as well, although I think it's more common to have manboobs due to excessive amounts of fat.

[potatopineapple]

Originally posted by colt22
Ive been training with professional strength&amp;conditioning coaches for the last almost 7 years and never once have we done decline bench :dunno:


Isn't a proper powerlifting/strength bench press form very similar to a decline press done on a flat bench?

[A790]

Originally posted by potatopineapple



Isn't a proper powerlifting/strength bench press form very similar to a decline press done on a flat bench?
Yes and no. The rolling of the shoulders/back reduces the range of motion, but with a decline you have gravity working with (or against you, depending on how you view it haha).

[Darkane]

Originally posted by potatopineapple
I thought man boobs were caused by hormone imbalances? I've seen skinny fat people with them before.

Yes. Estrogen imbalances due to over aromatization of androgens. Fat plays a big role too.

Here guys:

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/building_a_bodybuilder_chest

Enjoy.