Your favorite exercise for COMPLETELY isolating the pecs

[blackhole]

i was looking for some input on what your favorite exercise for isolating the pecs.

don't matter how bizarre or how little weight you can do on it, just curious

my problem is that my anterior delts are overdeveloped in proportion to my chest and i would like to bring my chest up (upper chest mainly) . i can't seem to isolate them to get that 'burn' without involving my front delts. i tried all sorts of variations of flyes, pec-decs, etc.

one thing thats does seem to work for me are ridiculously wide grip incline barbell presses to my chin.

 

[btech]

How low do you bring the bar to on barbell presses? Perhaps take a tip from Mark Rippetoe an bring the barbell down to your delts; this'll help recruit "upper chest". This is just one of those little tidbits you can also throw into the equation along with upper chest exercises.

 

[bhumik]

have u tried this.. stand in between the crossover machines with the pulleys at bottom on both side. then grab hte pulleys and raise your arm straight out front.. squeezing your chest. May use a little bit of your biceps but you feel a lot in your chest if you do it right.

 

[mr. boom]

Hammer incline. On the last few reps hold and stretch the piss out of your upper chest as your doing 2 inch reps in the stretched position. You can do this on other exercises but the machine allows for greater failure.

 

[BigCanuck]

have u tried this.. stand in between the crossover machines with the pulleys at bottom on both side. then grab hte pulleys and raise your arm straight out front.. squeezing your chest. May use a little bit of your biceps but you feel a lot in your chest if you do it right.

Been watching Markus Ruhl videos have we ?

 

[tkav1980]

my favorite way to build a big chest is verry simple. heavy bench and heavy incline bench. it wont hurt to take a day and play with things like hand positioning and bar positioning while doing each rep to see where you need to be to isolate your chest more and take the delts out of the equasion. for me i find that if i dont lock my elbows out with every rep it seems to keep the tension on my pecs. i.e. incline bench, come down to your chest just under your chin and press but keep the rep slow so you can stop and start the negative righ after you feel the muscles taking the weight change, like going from the pec to the front delt, then control the negative maybe 2 seconds down, but a true 2 seconds. and when your done your chest workout, use the DC stretches. i didnt believe it when i first read it but damn do those stretches help you grow.

 

[shue2181]

dumbbells!!!!!

I dont use the bar at all. Just dumbbell press! this way each arm is independent and allows more control vs. the bar the weight is on top of you and is more mental than physical. n then you're sharing the wieght. but this works best for me. I got bigger and stronger this way.

 

[PHIL HERNON]

ISOLATION

TO BRING FRONT DELTS OUT OF THE MOVEMENT YOU MUST ETHER DO DIPS OR DECLINES.........INCLINES ARE JUST A BAD CHEST AND A BAD SHOULDER EXERCISE...STAY AWAY FROM IT. TRY DB PRESSES FROM THE FLOOR......CONTRACT AND TOTAL TENSION ON THE PEC MAJOR.....NO SHOULDER ROTATOR STRESS

 

[SangGoon]

Single arm dumbell press

I lay back on a bench and do single arm dumbell presses with my other palm touching my chest like im saying the pledge of aligence. works really well, I've also heard if you keep your elbow underneath your wrist during the movement its better. squeeze glutes, heels touching the ground, feet wide, head straight never turn, etc etc.

 

[swole79]

I never really use the stability ball for any other exercises but it sounds like you have a si ilar problem to me. My delts are very dominant on presses and my upper pecs lag behind the rest of my chest developement. Try getting a stability ball between the cables, put the cables all the way down to the bottom and do flyes on top of the ball just like you would normally do dumbell flyes. I feel likemthis has a few advantages. First the ball allows you to find what angles work best for you. I don't lay flat but rather keep my hips slightly lower than my chest to create a very minor incline and hit the clavicular pecs a little better. Also the natural curve of the ball will help keep you arched and help you to open up your chest. This really helps guys who are delt dominant as we tend to let our shoulders move foward therfore taking away the stress from the chest. try it.

 

[Big Bapper]

Pec deck fly.

 

[Jarconis]

decline flyes

 

[Nssca]

Flat bench dumbell flies...Arnold always did these last to get a good stretch and pump.
Also use a wide grip when doing decline barbell presses

 

[edge250]

what phil said with the floor dumbell press but i kinda turn it into a floor flye/dumbell press. throw alittle arc in there.

 

[dragonfire101]

between the bench push ups

 

[LATS]

WIDE GRIP DIPS..

 

[OuchThatHurts]

I think you're going to have a hard time not recruiting your front delt in almost any pec exercise you do... maybe like Phil said decline press or dips but I use my delts on dips too. Problem there is that you're not really isolating anything with a barbell... that's usually a mass movement. Maybe decline flys? Pec deck? Anytime you extend your arms in front of you or above you, you're going to be using that anterior head to some degree.

Do you have a photo that shows what you're talking about?

 

[LATS]

i agree ouch.. my front delts will get sore from dips also.. the stretch but on them in the low postion and the long range of motion does activate the fronts to a great degree.. the next day my front delts are usually very sore.. but, nothing makes my pecs as sore as wide grip dips.. so it is a trade off of sorts.. that being said, one really needs to pay attention to the "set up" of the body before you start any pressing movement for pecs.. if the rib cage is not held high amongst other things the front delts will come more into play..

 

[Big Bapper]

I have to pre-exhuast the pecs before pressing for the chest, if I dont pre-exhuast chest. I find my front delts and triceps gives out before I can get deep into the muscle fibers of the chest to stimulate growth.

 

[bigguns078]

I feel i get a better isolation from the Smith Machine.. Yeah i still hit the front delts.. But i feel more stress on my pecs.. Something about that locked in motion.. And i tend to use a narrower grip and force my elbows in.. This creates the greatest stress on my pecs..