innovis

I've been doing alot of pushups and previously I was benching alot, but muscle only seems to form around the top of my pecks/near my armpits and not at the bottom, so I'm left with flabbiness near the bottom. Is there any way to target that area better?

Based on this site: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ChestWt.html

My Pectoralis Major (Clavicular Head) is far more developed than my Pectoralis Major (Sternal Head), so I'm left with somewhat of a manboob (but not really... it just looks unmuscular).

Rodney

Just to double-check, I got down on the floor and did a few standard push-ups, and yep: the strain is on the upper pecs, shoulders, and a bit on the triceps. So no, probably not a good overall chest-building exercise.

If you're interested in the lower chest specifically, decline bench bench target mainly that area. But any good general pec exercise would probably help, because they would involve all heads of the muscle to some degree. Dumbbell flys or machine flys would be a very good isolation exercise, but a good old fashioned bench press should help, too.

If bench presses weren't developing the central and lower pecs for you, you might have been holding the bar too far up your torso, so that it descended toward the neck or clavicle area. I was trained to bring the bar down right at the bottom of the pecs, to involve all the pectorals more fully.

If you're not into getting back with weights, you can modify your pushups to make them more pec-friendly: Instead of placing your hands out to either side of your torso, place them in a narrow stance, so that both are mostly underneath your torso when you do the exercise -- 8 to 12 inches apart. And go slow on the negative/downward portion of the rep. It's hard! And a little harder on the wrists, too. But it'll do a better job for your pecs than a standard pushup.

Etarip

I always understood that decline bench was how you worked on those:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...enchPress.html

frogza

There are several excersizes to do that will work the whole pec. I don't know how much you know about the names of lifts so I will assume that you don't know anything, no offense intended. Do ALL of these and the whole chest will get hit.

All varieties of push-ups
between two chairs, dipping below the level of your hands, don't do this if you have any shoulder problems
Legs up on chair hands on floor
Hands spread six inches wider than shoulder width
Hands about 6-8 inches apart
Dipping pushups, get into the normal pushup position but with your hands at about waist level. Push up this will put your butt in the air then dive downto your hands then up and out, pelvis toward the ground

Reverse dips sit on the edge of a chair with hands behind you with legs resting on another chair in front of you then dip down till your elbows are at 90 degrees then push back up

Dips, if you have a dip bar great, if not use a corner on your kitchen counter, dip down till your elbows are at a 90 degree angle then push back up

Bench press, Incline press, decline press

Chest flies similar to bench press but using dumbells, when lifting, bring the dumbells together not end to end but so your fingers end up facing each other. Focus on bringing your elbows in so you feel the squeezee in you pecs.

Good luck!

noahfor

When the muscle contracts the entire muscle contracts. There is no way to target one part of the muscle. Think of it like this: If you are stretching a rubber band and you can only hold it at two points, there is no way to stretch it any more at one place between those two points than at any other place between those two points. It is a common misconception that you can target a specific area of a single muscle. The shape the chest takes as it grows is determined by genetics.

I second doing dips though. They will kill your chest.

healer

I thought dips were an exercise that targeted the triceps more than any other muscle...

That said, if I try and do tri's and chest in one night it feels like my car has monster truck wheels on 'em. Gotta get power steering...

__________________

Rodney

Depends on how you do them. Incline your body forward a bit and keep your arms relatively close to the body while you dip, and you'll feel it in the chest more. When you get used to the exercise, you also can also consciously make your chest do more of the flexing than the triceps. If you keep your body in an upright position, the triceps do more of the work.

As for there not being exercises that effectively work specific parts of the chest; not in my experience. I can literally feel what part of the pec muscle takes the strain from particular exercises. Keep in mind also that when we talk about the pecs, we're actually talking about two different muscles (on each side, of course) the pectoralis major and minor.

noahfor

The minor is located on the outside of the body, so targeting it in order build the inner chest is pointless. Also, it is such a small muscle compared to the minor that it would hardly make a difference in appearance. Furthermore, it isn't even attached to the arms, so the idea that you can target it by doing these arm movements is false.

You are probably confusing the two heads of the pec major with the pec major and minor. The heads can not be isolated from eachother, despite what you feel. Even if they could, they stretch horizontally accross the body, so it would be impossible to emphasize an inner part of either.

Anyway, if you aren't eating enough food to build muscle it doesn't matter what you do.

innovis

We do have fly machines at the gym, I can go and give those a shot after I've done the alternative pushups you suggested.

Noahfor, I posted earlier on that I was going on a very calorie restrictive diet, I assume that is what you're referring to. I have since increased my caloric intake, because I was becoming very tired throughout the day.