Upper chest thickness HELP!

[Freak of power]

Bros,
I am having trouble getting the upper chest thickness i need. My question is what is the very best way to develop a thick upper chest?
Close grip incline seems to put more strain on my triceps.
Any advice is appreciated.

 

[B~RAD]

wide grip smith incline

db incline

 

[big nasty]

wide grip smith incline

db incline

Don't forget to fap!!(preworkout that is...)

 

[B~RAD]

Don't forget to fap!!(preworkout that is...)

it'll increase the thickness of your chest by 40% (true statement)

 

[VTliftVT]

it'll increase the thickness of your chest by 40% (true statement)

as well as the hair on your palms

what do you currently do for chest? what rep ranges?

also, many feel that chest development is mostly genetic and that you can't change the shape of your chest, you can only make it grow bigger. thus, you will maintain a chest shape that lacks some upper chest thickness but can eventually have a larger chest overall.

 

[Freak of power]

Well,
I used to flat bench when i was into power lifting but i switched to bodybuilding and tossed the flat bench out the window. In my opinion it causes more injuries then its worth.

Usually i start with smith machine incline but use a medium close grip. If i go to close grip my triceps take over.
Ive never done wide grip because i didnt figure that would help the inside of the chest but i will try that for a while.
All my other exercises are dumbbell flies ect, then the peck deck. The only "mass" building exercise i use would be the smith machine incline.
I cant do heavy dumbbell presses because the shitty planet fitness i go to only go up to 80s and i can do flies with those.
So, i will give wide, heavy smith machine presses a try for a while.

 

[doctor24]

New article in Canadian Journal of Sports Science showed that Incline presses only causes a 5% increase in firing of the upper chest fibers whereas reverse grip benches caused a 30% increase!! I am starting them right away. This was a well controlled EMG study too. Give it a try.

 

[The Booger]

New article in Canadian Journal of Sports Science showed that Incline presses only causes a 5% increase in firing of the upper chest fibers whereas reverse grip benches caused a 30% increase!! I am starting them right away. This was a well controlled EMG study too. Give it a try.

I've never seen reverse grip bench but man that looks funky (after watching Youtube). Damn......might be worth a shot as the only thing not growing quickly is my chest. Guess if it works, who cares?

 

[Johnny Smiles]

crazy article in FLEX magazine said....

an article in flex magazine quoted a study where they compared upper chest muscle activity in the incline barbell press and UNDERhand flat bench press. the incline press stimulated 10% of the upper chest whereas underhand flat press stimulated 30% of the upper chest!!?!?!
so i went to the gym and tried it...
VERY uncomfortable on the wrists with heavy weight so i will stick to declines and dips cuz incline presses always hit my delts anyway... -JS

 

[emeric delczeg]

Bros,
I am having trouble getting the upper chest thickness i need. My question is what is the very best way to develop a thick upper chest?
Close grip incline seems to put more strain on my triceps.
Any advice is appreciated.

Try the minor chest exercise on the dip paraller bar or dip machine.

 

[swole79]

Emeric, could you elaborate on what the "minor chest exercise" on parralel bars is? Are you saying to do dips for the upper chest?

 

[emeric delczeg]

Emeric, could you elaborate on what the "minor chest exercise" on parralel bars is? Are you saying to do dips for the upper chest?

The pectoralus minor muscle is located underneath the pectoralus major and servs to move the sholder area forword, so have your arms straght on the parrler bar and start shruging you sholder forward.

 

[Johnny Smiles]

wow.

The pectoralus minor muscle is located underneath the pectoralus major and servs to move the sholder area forword, so have your arms straght on the parrler bar and start shruging you sholder forward.

i am going to try this emeric. i would like to think i can still get my chest to grow some and have never tried this. -JS

 

[boggs67ss]

Doesn't reverse grip bench work the lower part of the pec?

 

[tsimehc75]

i have goten my best results by sterting my chest routine with the incline @ 30 degrees w/ heavy weight for 10 reps to failure then rest for 30 secs and fail again..ill do 4-5sets like that and go on to incline dumbbells for 4-5 sets ill do -5 more sets of chest after that..i can really feel it in the upper pecs and have gotton good results using rest pause...

 

[NPCS FINEST]

I use the smith machine for incline presses...only because I can adjust the angle of the bench( I hit it from a few different angles). Now I can do this on the regular bench as well but my arms are not that long and the settings for the rack (Bar) are either to long for me or to short...no in between...I just dont feel comfortable going heavy on them so I use the smith. I also do very heavy dips....now this is when I really started to notice a big difference in my chest. I was working with Iron Addict (Who I think is one of DC guys or atleast was?) So regular incline bench I use the regular rack....when I hit different angles I use the smith.

With his help I made great improvements to my chest. This was a good many years back. Then I switched up my chest workout but wasnt getting the results that I was when I was doing IA workout. So pretty much for me I do incline bench...bar bell and dumb bell and heavy dips just like IA had me to and its worked great for me. DB flys and pec deck as well but I feel the heavy dips and different angles on the incline press has helped me the most.

 

[tsimehc75]

I use the smith machine for incline presses...only because I can adjust the angle of the bench( I hit it from a few different angles). Now I can do this on the regular bench as well but my arms are not that long and the settings for the rack (Bar) are either to long for me or to short...no in between...I just dont feel comfortable going heavy on them so I use the smith. I also do very heavy dips....now this is when I really started to notice a big difference in my chest. I was working with Iron Addict (Who I think is one of DC guys or atleast was?) So regular incline bench I use the regular rack....when I hit different angles I use the smith.

With his help I made great improvements to my chest. This was a good many years back. Then I switched up my chest workout but wasnt getting the results that I was when I was doing IA workout. So pretty much for me I do incline bench...bar bell and dumb bell and heavy dips just like IA had me to and its worked great for me. DB flys and pec deck as well but I feel the heavy dips and different angles on the incline press has helped me the most.

yeah ill go for that i really love dips also..load up the plates and explode!!!

 

[myosin]

A Couple Suggestions...

1) Use no more than a 10% incline on the incline bench.
a. YEARS ago there was an EMG study published in the NSCA Journal
(pretty much the premiere journal for muscle and endurance research).
They found that 10% was the optimal angle for the greatest "upper
chest" (or "clavicular portion") stimulation. Any more than that, the
shoulders started taking more and more of the work.

2) Gironda bench presses (or other similar variations with the pec-deck or
cable crossover).
a. You'll need to use the Smith machine. Have the bar come to your
neck/throat. Have your forearm perpendicular to the floor to assure your
are not pushing up at an angle.

b. This will stretch/target the upper chest ALOT (BigA posted something
similar with the pec deck, same philosophy)

3) Hold the reverse grip. While the study may be true, I am very concerned with the bio-mechanics and torque that is placed on the shoulder and rotator cuff,

 

[JohnnyPro]

I have been getting good results by using a very steep angle for dumbbell incline press. I think it depends on your structure. After that I do cable crossovers, concentrating on the upper pecs.

 

[duke123]

Big nasty mentioned FAP?Not sure what that means but it reminded me of what I have been doing which is flexing and posing between sets and after my chest training.Also stretching and deep tissue massage will help stretch the fascia so there will be more room for growth.My upper chest has sucked for years and not until i did my first show and was practicing a lot of posing,stretching and deep tissue massage did i notice some noticable improvements.