IS IT POSSIBLE TO TRAIN THE INNER CHEST? Well the answer is YES and NO. Technically you cannot train the inner chest as their is no inner chest muscle, only a upper pectoral and lower pectoral muscle and any chest exercise that you do perform the chest contracts as ONE. You cannot ISOLATE an area of the chest, thats impossible, however you can EMPHASIZE areas of the chest (inner chest area) (outer chest area) through way of training with various exercises and angles, etc.. IS IT POSSIBLE TO SHAPE A MUSCLE THROUGH WAY OF TRAINING? Yes it is (but only to some extent). We can shape our muscles to a certain degree depending on our genetic limits. And there is scientific evidence to support this. So it is in fact possible to train the inner chest. Now yes like I mentioned above I know there is no inner/outer chest and that there is only a upper/lower chest, BUT this does not mean you cannot perform exercises that place more EMPHASIS on the inner area of your chest. Performing certain exercises which rip more muscle firbes towards the centre of your chest will create greater muscle hypertrophy in this area of the muscle. Now you probally think that muscle fibres span the entire length of a muscle, as one single muscle fibre? Well not exactly? Muscle fibres DO NOT span the entire length of a muscle, as one single muscle fibre. Muscle fibers are actually segmented and joined with other muscle fibers/segments to form a long ensemble that will eventually link both attachments together. Each strip/segment of a muscle fiber is selectively linked to its own set of motor axons. This means that not only are muscle fibers really divided into shorter segments aligned in series, BUT THAT EACH SEGMENT HAS ITS OWN SOURCE OF ACTIVATION. Therefore it is possible to train the inner chest area. By perfoming certin exercise which cause greater stress towards the inner chest. Now you cannot fully ISOLATE the inner chest but depending on the exercise you can EMPHASIZE it. Just like many people believe that the rectus abdominus is one muscle (which is correct) and that it is activated equally when you contract it (which is incorrect!). A study done at the University of Valencia in Spain compared the average EMG activity of the upper and lower abs during a curl-up and posterior pelvic tilt exercise. They found that it is true that the stomach crunch or curl does elicit greater rectus abdominus activity in the upper abs while doing posterior pelvic tilt exercises hits the lower abs better as long as theyre performed correctly! BEST EXERCISES TO TARGET THE INNER CHEST AREA? Performing these exercises below the whole chest will still contract as ONE however the stress and activation applied with the exercises below have a great emphasis on the inner chest area which will produce greater muscle hypertrophy gains in this area of the muscle over time. - Close grip bench press - ISO chest press - Cable cross-overs - Cable flys - Dumbbell flys - Dumbbell pull-overs For more articles click here: josefrakichfitness/learn
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:33:55 +0000
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