chest workout

[Nekrawulf]

i make kids who are late to my class do them...or tabata cardio with squats. they're never late twice. lol.

mmmmm tabata protocol.

good stuff there

[Stonecold54]

I'm a firm believer that a big chest comes from flat or slightly inclined exercises that stimulate the most muscle fiber but how in the world can you dismiss the clavicular head - that just seems way out of character for someone who seems to know as much as you - please elaborate on what you meant...

so what would you do to stimulate that area? the higher you go on an incline the less your chest is involved? my superset of chest flyes and slight incline close grip smith machine doesn't seem to miss any spots (using sorness as a guide). but I am interested to hear what exercises you think will "hit" that spot.

[coffee-guy]

so what would you do to stimulate that area? the higher you go on an incline the less your chest is involved? my superset of chest flyes and slight incline close grip smith machine doesn't seem to miss any spots (using sorness as a guide). but I am interested to hear what exercises you think will "hit" that spot.

Cable flyes at a 20-30 degree incline focusing on the last 40% of the ROM with a crossover (you can't get much stimulation of this area with freeweights IMO) - also - anything that involves "stability" in addition to what cables provide (such as declined pushups on a ball or stability board etc) seem to hit this area quite well - so much so that most people "feel" that muscle for the first time they've ever really done chest workouts. Of course a LOT of it has to do with mind/muscle connection but everything works that way in the end...

Also - I don't want you to think I was attacking you with my post - I agree with you on the fact that most chests are built with the exercises/tactics you posted BUT I was simply confused as to how you would skip over the clavicular head itself seeing that it's a completely separate muscle on its own and you and I seem to agree/have the same education/knowledge about most everything....

[Stonecold54]

Cable flyes at a 20-30 degree incline focusing on the last 40% of the ROM with a crossover (you can't get much stimulation of this area with freeweights IMO) - also - anything that involves "stability" in addition to what cables provide (such as declined pushups on a ball or stability board etc) seem to hit this area quite well - so much so that most people "feel" that muscle for the first time they've ever really done chest workouts. Of course a LOT of it has to do with mind/muscle connection but everything works that way in the end...

Also - I don't want you to think I was attacking you with my post - I agree with you on the fact that most chests are built with the exercises/tactics you posted BUT I was simply confused as to how you would skip over the clavicular head itself seeing that it's a completely separate muscle on its own and you and I seem to agree/have the same education/knowledge about most everything....

yeah I think the cable thing would work, I didn't think of that because in my gym I would have to lug a bench 30 yards to do that exercise :D.....I just personally can feel every fiber in my chest after my own workout. I might try the decline pushup thing to. But some "Sorness" with people that do new exercises is just that, soreness, not the result of a "good" workout (and I knew you weren't taking shots at me ;) ).

[Scrumhalf]

Video

Hey Nekrawulf, that finishing sequence in your video with the rings looks really intense... lol... I am pretty strong relative to my body weight but I don't know if I can pull myself up to get my waist above the rings like that. Pretty cool!!

[SonofBone]

Seems like the cable crossovers would be more of an exercise that anybody could do vs. the decline pushup which will require adequate triceps strength, correct?

At the same time though, hands wider on a decline pushup would seem to work more of the outer part of the pec, so keeping your hands shoulder width or closer would seem to hit the upper pec more on the decline pushup. Does that make sense?

[Nekrawulf]

Hey Nekrawulf, that finishing sequence in your video with the rings looks really intense... lol... I am pretty strong relative to my body weight but I don't know if I can pull myself up to get my waist above the rings like that. Pretty cool!!

To put things into perspective with that movement....

Gymnastics places a score on different movements based on their difficulty to perform. The movement there at the end "muscleup" is one of the lowest scored gymnastics movements.


I love taking my rings to a big box gym and hanging them from the pullup bars and start doing muscleups. I get some of the strangest looks.

[Scrumhalf]

To put things into perspective with that movement....

Gymnastics places a score on different movements based on their difficulty to perform. The movement there at the end "muscleup" is one of the lowest scored gymnastics movements.

I have no doubt about that! Rings is such a strength exercise. I just don't know if I can do 50 burpees and then pull myself up.

[nda246]

The military press works the clavicular attatchement of the pec very well. The only catch is to stimulate the clavicular area of the pec, the bar must be brought all the way, get this, to the clavicle. Most people dont do this and instead stop when the bar passes their nose or, even worse, the forehead because they say it hurts but in reality if your shoulder has no clinical abnormalities your shoulder is SUPOSED to work in this ROM.

[Bouncer]

I love taking my rings to a big box gym and hanging them from the pullup bars and start doing muscleups. I get some of the strangest looks.

you would get beat up in my gym... by me. :D

[Nekrawulf]

you would get beat up in my gym... by me. :D

lol, you could just wait till Im done.

I have to wait for you to finish your barbell curls on the squat racks, you can wait on me to do muscleups on the crossover frame,

[Bouncer]

in all seriousness though, your gay right? :)

[coffee-guy]

The military press works the clavicular attatchement of the pec very well. The only catch is to stimulate the clavicular area of the pec, the bar must be brought all the way, get this, to the clavicle. Most people dont do this and instead stop when the bar passes their nose or, even worse, the forehead because they say it hurts but in reality if your shoulder has no clinical abnormalities your shoulder is SUPOSED to work in this ROM.

Your shoulder is "supposed" to work in this ROM for simple movements involving putting a bag of cookies on the top shelf of the pantry but when weightlifting the elbows should NEVER pass below the parallel plane - your shoulder is at an incredibly vulnerable position once the elbow falls below the shoulder itself - you're right in saying that this exercise can and will stimulate the clavicular head but you can NOT safely do this exercise no matter what - I only hope that others will take this advice to heart - I speak from firsthand experience and have seen it in enough injuries coming out of the gym I'm at to know it's NEVER a good idea to let that elbow below parallel - EVER....

[Bouncer]

hell i dont know about you guys but i cant bring down the bar past my chin even if i tried. my triceps hit my lats and i cant go down much farther.

[coffee-guy]

hell i dont know about you guys but i cant bring down the bar past my chin even if i tried. my triceps hit my lats and i cant go down much farther.

LOL - me neither big guy :P...

BTW - I'm not trying to be a jerk to anyone because I see people doing stuff that isn't "safe" ALL of the time and they never get injuries and the exercises themselves honestly work pretty well BUT BUT BUT the "one" time you get hurt you're gonna remember this thread - and then you're gonna kick yourself :D