If
you want a better-looking chest
(male or female), the inner chest
is a key area you're going to want
to focus on. It's extremely important
from a visual standpoint (think
chest cleavage).
The
pec is one of the few muscles I've
found that you can really effectively
develop specific parts of it with
targeted angles and movements. This
is due to the fan-shape of the pecs...they're
designed to move the arms in such
a wide variety of directions that
you really CAN put more tension
on specific areas.
But
the inner chest can be tough to
really hit effectively with free
weight.
Not
so with this exercise...and I'll
tell you right up front, it's a
bit evil... ;)
What
you're going to do is a set of bench
press where you'll be shifting your
grip first inwards then back outwards
DURING the set. The result is EXTREME
tension on the inner chest (along
with plenty on the triceps as you
move your grip in closer).
Here's
how it works:
First,
set up in the power rack as you
normally would for a bench press,
with the safety rails just below
chest height.
If
you're using a free-weight bench
station, have a good spotter available
to keep an eye on you...you probably
won't need one but because of the
nature of the exercise, you absolutely
SHOULD have one standing by.
Set
a light weight on the bar...and
by light, I mean LIGHT. I'm using
135 lbs on this one - it's about
50% or so of my 1 RM at the time
I'm writing this. Trust me, it'll
be PLENTY.
In
fact, the first time you do this
technique, use just the bar, so
you get an idea of how to shift
your grip easily.
Grip
the bar as you would for a normal
bench press rep. Unrack the weight
into the top position of the press.
Lower
the bar to your chest.
Now
the fun begins...
Rest
the bar on your chest and shift
your grip slightly inwards. I find
the best way to do this is to rotate
your elbows inward, which shifts
where the bar rests on your palms.
Then rotate your elbows outward
to shift the rest of your hand over.
It'll probably move your grip over
about a half an inch or so.
The
evil part is this...you're doing
this shifting while maintaining
tension in your upper body and holding
your breath, to keep the rib cage
and trunk stabilized. It's also
one reason you want to use light
weight (and just the bar the first
time). It's not so hard the first
few reps but it gets BRUTAL by the
end of the set.
The
other evil part (yep, there's more
than one) is that on EVERY single
rep, you're starting from a dead
stop. The grip shifting takes away
ALL the elastic tension you get
in a normal press. This forces the
muscles to do all the work...and
if you're not used to that, prepare
to be humbled.
And
I have to say, because of this bar
resting, this is actually one bench
press version I'm not opposed to
a person using a bar pad with.
So
once you've got your grip shifted
inwards a bit, press it up.
Lower
the bar back down then repeat the
inward grip shift.
Then
press up.
Then
lower and shift inwards again. This
inwards shifting while under tension
helps activate the inner chest aspect,
while the closer grip fires them.
Keep
repeating this cycle until your
hands are in a close-grip bench
press position, about shoulder-width
apart.
Now
for the final evil part...
The
close-grip position is basically
the weakest version of the bench
press exercise. So to push everything
that much further, we're going to
shift our hands back OUT to the
normal bench press position.
You're
going to repeat the same idea as
above only doing the opposite, moving
your hands outwards.
As
you move your hands outward, your
pecs will contribute more to the
movement and the leverage will get
better, allowing you to keep going
until you hit that final position.
And
you will be VERY happy to hit that
final position.
So
that's the technique...it's an extremely
powerful way to target the cleavage
of the inner chest and will light
up that area with very targeted
tension.
And
yeah, it's evil. I admit it.