Questions on achieving better pec emphasis

K

kbaum

New Member
I'm trying a variety of tweaks to get better pec results, and I have some questions about things I've read about or thought of.

(1) On a bench press, I've read of the recommendation of tucking the shoulder blades back behind you as you lift, in order to place more emphasis on the pecs and take the delts out of it: is there any consensus on whether that's a good idea? One thread said it helps if your goal is to improve the pec major, but the price is that it de-emphasizes the pec minor.

(2) What about tucking the shoulder blades behind you on a pec deck machine?

(3) Regarding dips, my current gym has a dipping station with parallel bars, which make it harder to turn the exercise into something resembling a decline press--it's hard to avoid a triceps emphasis. Are dips still a good idea for the pecs on these types of stations?

Thanks.
 
IMO the correct form when doing the bench press is tucking inn the shoulder blades. I feel you get a much more concentrated excercise - it certainly helped my chest to get a lot stronger ;)

I don't use the pec-deck but the same goes for that movement as far as posible. It's a bit harder because it's sort of a fly-motion, but pulling back your shoulders will direct the motion much more to the pec than to the front delt.

I wouldn't be too concerned using that dip device of yours.. If you bent your knees and lean a bit forward your pecs will become active. It is impossible to outrule tricep action when doing dips, but leaning forward will minimize the arm work.
 
The best results that I have [personally] achieved, regarding the size of the contractile fibers of my pectoralis major, was via eccentric dips. I would definately give two thumbs up, as this is one amazing exercise. If you want to 'tweak' your schematics for more than optimal results in this area, definitely give em a go!
 
Thanks for the suggestions!

About leaning forward on dips: One problem is that I wear a dipping belt around my waist (actually just a regular leather belt looped thru weight plates), and this pulls my lower body downward so that leaning forward is quite difficult, at least when using a parallel grip. As things are, I really don't feel dips in my pec muscles, but more in the shoulders, triceps, and back, though I keep my elbows out.

I suspect that one thing that enables people to lean forward more is a dipping station with an angled grip. (example)
Maybe I'll be able to improvise something to get the oblique grip shown in the picture. But grip width matters, too. My gym has a fixed with grip, and I think I might get more pec involvement with a wider grip.
 
Work on those lats too. You'd be surprised how much support and stability your lats give when doing benchpress. It also aids in pushing up more weight, which in turn will build up your chest quicker. Think about this, when you do a hard front lat pose, what happens?? Your shoulders are pushed forward. This helps to stabilize your torso as well as assist in the press.
Also, change the width of your grips periodically on the bench from wide to shoulder width.
 
thumbs-up.gif
Wow! Great suggestions so far, guys...

About those dips... try to think about this three dimensionally. Not only is it possible to keep the shoulder blades back while leaning forward, not doing so is the cause of many of those little tweaks to neck and shoulder.

You will actually get a stronger contraction in those pecs with the shoulders down and back when your arms are extended than you will if you let those shoulders roll forward as you complete the motion.

Try it out on the arm of your chair. Place your right hand under your left collar bone and feel what happens to that muscle if you mimic a dip with your left hand.

When you keep the shoulders back as you extend the arm you should feel a strong contraction in the pec... almost as if you are trying to push your right hand up with your pec.

If you let your shoulder roll forward as you mimic the dip, you should feel the contraction in pec major end as the weight falls more on to pec minor, delts, upper traps and neck muscles.

You do not have to go below parallel to get a good contraction on pec major. Again, try it for yourself on the arm of your chair. For me, full contracture in this muscle is reached before I get to parallel. If I go deeper, the load moves to shoulders, and that's not what I'm after in this exercise.

Remember too, that the targeted muscles have nothing to do with a shrugging motion... Allowing the collar bones to move up and down allows the "wrong" muscles to assist (for example levator scapula, the "I can't turn my head" muscle.)

<<<On a bench press, I've read of the recommendation of tucking the shoulder blades back behind you as you lift, in order to place more emphasis on the pecs and take the delts out of it: is there any consensus on whether that's a good idea? One thread said it helps if your goal is to improve the pec major, but the price is that it de-emphasizes the pec minor.>>>

Pec minor is primarily a shoulder stabilizer. It is true that a larger pec minor will make major look bigger. It is also true that a pi$$ed off pec minor will prevent you from benching. I agree with Flexi all counts.

Happy hypertrophy!
Kate
 
Thanks for all the suggestions! I hadn't even thought about where to position my shoulders during dips. I'll try keeping them down and back, along with the other ideas you've all mentioned.
 
Think about pulling your shoulder blades back as more of a way of sticking your chest out. The old "shoulders back, chest out" thing. It's basically to pre-stretch the chest so that you get the fullest range of motion. Also, never go too low on dips. As Kate said, it's really more of a half movement- very short- hands should always remain directly under your shoulders. And keep your elbows in, not out, think of it more like a close-grip bench for pecs: even though the grip is narrow, the pecs are emphasized at the top of the press when fully contracted. To get the right angle on dips- since you're already using a belt, just add more weight to it, and put your feet on a bench so that you're at the angle you want. Now it resembles a decline press with a dip grip and the added weight on the belt will compensate for the fact that your feet are involved. Just be careful about your lower back with all that weight on it, keep a slight forward bend in it. :)
 
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