Can I target different parts of chest?

So here's the thing, I have been doing so much bench pressing and flat benching for the past 2 years, my pecs have got bigger, but kinda in a bad way, the lower part of the pecs is much bigger and so they look a bit like woman breasts, I have no gyno and I'm about 12% bodyfat. I was wondering if I can fix this by stopping flat benching and focusing more on flyes and incline stuff to make the upper pecs in better proportion. I have read somewhere that no matter what exercises you do for pecs, they all affect the same areas and it's only a matter of genetics, but I want second opinions.

Thx :)

decline bench

[QUOTE=jhew86;829411611]decline bench[/QUOTE]

I lol'd, but seriously, anyone with knowledge?

yes, all of the chest exercises will affect all areas of the chest. that means you can't isolate certain areas. however, you can emphasize. incline work will emphasize your upper chest out. just try it, you will notice a difference soon enough.

[QUOTE=unity;829448571]yes, all of the chest exercises will affect all areas of the chest. that means you can't isolate certain areas. however, you can emphasize. incline work will emphasize your upper chest out. just try it, you will notice a difference soon enough.[/QUOTE]

Ty for that, so I was thinking of doing cable flyes, incline bench (bb or db), any other ideas of exercises to do with these 2?

Sure, the entire muscle gets worked to a degree with any bench, but there is no doubt in my mind that working at an incline hits my upper chest more (hence developing that musculature more) while decline works the lower pec.

I have always had better results by working as many varieties as possible. Perhaps it is all psycho ****tic, but if that is what it takes to get the results I'm fine with it all being in my head.

Additionally, I highly recommend getting some bands if you don't have a decent two-pulley setup. You can hitch a couple of bands to opposite walls / anchors, and do flys which get progressively tougher the closer your hands get to each other. It really hits the inner chest and almost completely removes the triceps from the equation. Then, you can use the bands on the barbell while doing bench for accommodating resistance, which helps build more triceps strength for your lockout. I've had great results with bands and wish I had started with them sooner.

I suspect that anyone who is sufficiently advanced will have full definition of their chest even if they have only done flat bench... but it would probably take longer to develop that mass with the singular movement (especially since you develop that repetitive motor pattern and just get more efficient with it) than it would by mixing in multiple angles and stressing more areas as a "beginner". My max PR isn't even 300 yet, so take my recommendation for what it is. If you can do 300+ you likely have a solid base of chest muscle anyhow so I really couldn't tell you if incline/decline and other specific movements would make any difference at all.

of course man, do you do alot of declines also? if you do thats definitely a cause of that as well. i only do declines every so often just because that portion of the chest grows so much faster and easier than lets say the upper chest. but i would definitely add in some incline work. start with either db's or barbell inclines and then do some incline flyes as well. stop declines for a while and when you're doing flat bench, try to keep your back flat because alot of guys arch their backs so much that it actually looks like a decline press.

Incline press barely hits the "upper" chest more than flat. It also uses more delts, so IMO flat is superior for chest development. The reason your chest looks the way it does is mostly genetic. As in, just doing flat bench will make your pecs look perfectly fine. Flat is a very balanced movement.

I definitely notice that flies and pecdec style movements make the upper portion of my chest contract more. IDK if this translates to more hypertrophy in the upper chest, but it makes sense to me that it would.

IN for no other reason than to see how many pages this [i]already done to death[/i] topic will run.


Do some experimenting, OP. Try some different grip widths, bench angles, and exercises and see how they affect your pecs.

Incline bench a dumbells. Get super strong at these and you will see your upper chest fill out. Most people neglect them and do flat/decline because you can use more more weight. Remember full ROM.

I had this problem too and have switched to incline DB, incline flies and cable crossovers focusing on the clavicular head. I'm seeing great results with it filling out and my upper chest is now consistently sore after workouts.

Be careful though, you don't want to involve the anterior delt too much so keep your shoulders pinned back and really focus on moving the weight with your upper chest. Also, narrow grip on the inline bench. DB preferably.