CraigieBon

This is my first post. A bit of background on me. I'm 28, 5ft 11 and 80kg. I'm pretty lean (I play football pretty seriously) and have low fat % (between 9-11%). I've been a habitual gym goer since I was 18 although my intensity has varied over that time, but never really dropped below 3 pretty tough sessions a week. Recently inspired by 300, me and my buddy are on a mission to get bigger, stronger and more ripped. We are both on protein and CEE. We are both pretty happy with our backs and shoulders (making good gains).

So the problem.... both my buddy and me suffer from small chest syndrome (SCS) and particulalry small upper chest syndrome (SUCS)... and it really SUCS. We focus hard on technique and seem to lift as much as other guys in the gym that have big chests. I'm aware incline is good to focus on for uppers along with pec deck. We do a good one hour chest/tri work out once a week and just started doing a slightly different second workout (Mon/Thurs) as thought this might help!? Is there anything else? Are there any particular routines that could help us build size and definition in our chests? Any particular techniques? Excercises? Number of sets or the best rep range? Need help..... please?

shorty

welcome, just a question: what exercises, and how many sets and reps are you doing currently??

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jock_071279

I had this problem ... I could never feel it in my upper chest when I performed 3x sets or incline heavy barbell. I, like you, asked about it and got the following advice.

Try 4 sets of your heaviest incline dumbells presses, go to failure or 10. But, for the last 2 sets, superset with 50% of the heavy weight with incline flyes. Go to failure. This is a killer. so...

Warm up, Then....

1x Heavy incline dumbell press 5-10 reps

1x Heavy incline dumbell press 5-10 reps

1x Heavy incline dumbell press 5-10 reps
Then immediately 50/60% of weight incline flyes to failure

1x Heavy incline dumbell press 5-10 reps
Then immediately 50/60% of weight incline flyes to failure.

Secondly.

Incline barbell press (reasonably light, about 75% of heaviest weght). What you want to do here is concentrate on form. AT the top of the press take 2 slow seconds to bring the bar down to your upper chest. Should be almost touching. Then take 2 seconds pushing back up. Go to failure but try and get 20. Do 3 sets.

I do this for incline and flat and thats my chest routine. I had good chest development from this.

Good luck

Majesticpower

Inclined dumbells all the way.

MP.

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TH&S

^^^^^ Agreed.

Incline DB. Careful with RC - make sure you warm up properly.

Drop sets if you want to, or supersets as jock suggested, or a 5x5, or a post exhaust with DB flies.

Many roads to rome.

Con

80kg and 5ft11 how can you hope to have a lot of muscle on your upper chest?!
Add more body weight and your upper will grow JMO.

TH&S

Good point Con - I'd missed his size/weight.

Get squatting

On a serious note yes you can bring a lagging bodypart upto speed, but you should always aim for whole body growth

Majesticpower

Whats your diet look like fella?

MP.

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CraigieBon

Cheers guys. Appreciate the help. We did Jock's suggested workout last night and could really feel it on the upper chest. I suppose it's obvious we should be starting each workout with incline when we do chest? Any similar tips for inner chest?

Previously hadn't really been feeling it that much in the chest... like my triceps were doing too much work. Does doing slow reps (2 secs up and down) as Jock suggested help with building? I could definately feel the muscles working harder. Realised that my upper chest really was a bit pathetic after doing Jocks workout.... Lots of work to do. We were previously doing 3 sets 8-10 reps on incline, often after flat bench and then maybe some incline flys. We weren't really focusing on incline DB's.

Re diet, we're both taking two 90% isolate protein shakes a day and are just loading on creatine. Around that, i'm eating pasta, wholegrain bread with cottage cheese or tuna and trying to get some more fish and chicken into my evening meal. What would you suggest? I take the point on squats... we're are really just starting to focus on that!

CraigieBon

I recently read the the bone structure of your chest and the way that muscles are attached to it affect how your chest develops. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Nytol

I found that upping the incline to 45-50 degrees, as opposed to the often recommended 30, really hit my upper pecs, and still does.

But as said you need to put some overall size on 1st to really notice a big change.

I think you need to eat more, and not worry too much about it being so clean, you eat like you are prepping for a comp, try and get some more cals in.

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jock_071279

Glad your getting somewhere. Its true what people are saying about eating, its vitally important. And also, the slow technique on the incline/flat barbell press. The reason for performing this slow is so you can control the lift, control your breathing and really concentrate on isolating your chest. It means there will be good technique and you can squeeze the chest for longer at the top of the lift. This will build your chest for 2 reasons. 1st, this will give you a basis for developing better technique for all chest excercises by training yourself slower and properly. 2nd, your getting the full flow of the press motion and making your chest work harder by slowing the movement.

Stick with it and give it a few months .. you'll see

Jock

CraigieBon

I think you're right nytol, we tried upping the incline to about 50deg last night and it seemed to have much more impact than keeping it down at 30-40deg.

Majesticpower

Well, from what you have roughly outlined, id be inclined to say i think you should be consuming more protein and calories generally.

Specially if you are bulking.. Just eat dude.. If you eat like a bird, youll grow like one..

MP.

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Fantom

try pre-exhuasting isolation with a compound!!! high reps 20 to 30