# Chest problem.... Unfixable?



## GordyR (Jun 21, 2004)

I have been lifting seriously and eating properly for the past 8 months after coming out of a serious eating disorder.

Anyhow, I have made fantastic gains in these 8 months but these gains have given me an asthetic problem. Now that I have some mass on my chest I can see that one of my pecs is a completely different shape to the other.

My left pec has a full "square" shape. It goes from the bottom of my neck down to my sternum with a straight line in the middle. My right pec however goes in a straight line down but about half way is goes diagonally inward.

Here are a couple of pics to show you what I mean....

This is a "normal chest"










and this is how mine looks










There seem to be no muscle fibres in this gap and I can feel my sternum (bone) there.

When I first noticed this I hoped that as I added mass to my chest it would fill out in this area. However it just become more noticable as my chest got bigger.

I understand that this is genetics, And in all likelyhood there is nothing I can do about this. I will just have to accept that there is no way to "fill" this gap.

However I wondered if you guys have any ideas on how I could minimise the irregularity and make it more asthetically appealing?

Has anyone had similar issues and gotten around it in some way? Or did it just dissapear or look better when you added a lot more mass?

I wonder if perhaps there are fibres there but they are not getting recruited in some way, maybe they will begin to grow as my chest gets bigger still. I understand that there is no such thing as an "inner chest" so should I just learn to live with it?

Any advice you could give me would be fantastic.

Thanks guys!


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

I think my older brother had that but not as bad. Mate, if it is genetic, there is nothing you can do for that. You cant put muscle on where there is none.  I think it is more common than you think.


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## GordyR (Jun 21, 2004)

winger said:


> I think my older brother had that but not as bad. Mate, if it is genetic, there is nothing you can do for that. You cant put muscle on where there is none.  I think it is more common than you think.


Yeah I was afraid of that... It's just difficult to determine wether it is indeed genetic and I actually have no muscle in that gap or wether there "are" fibres there but for some reason are just not reacting to stimulation yet.

I remember when I first started training I could feel bone all accross my upper chest. I could feel no muscle whatsoever. Then as the months progressed and I trained and ate correctly sure enough the muscle just sort of popped out of nowhere. I can now feel a good inch of muscle where I could feel only bone before.

I wonder if this has anything to do with my guitar playing. I started to learn classical guitar at the age of seven. I would play all day every-day and achieved grade 8 (the highest you can go) by the age of about 13. When playing guitar as a right handed person you constantly have to support your raised left arm with its corrosponding pectoral muscle. Perhaps as I went through puberty this lead to more muscle fibres develpoing on that side?

I don't know just a theory. It's a shame because in all other respects I have very good genetics. I do alot of modelling (hence my eating disorded a couple of years back) and this will really hinder my work If I was decide to move into fitness modelling at some point.


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## big pete (Mar 23, 2004)

mate same here.

instead of the lower inner quadrant of the right pec, ive got the upper inner. more mass has made it less noticable. but fook, i dunno how much more mass i can get on within reason.


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## GordyR (Jun 21, 2004)

big pete said:


> mate same here.
> 
> instead of the lower inner quadrant of the right pec, ive got the upper inner. more mass has made it less noticable. but fook, i dunno how much more mass i can get on within reason.


Ah at least i'm not alone then. I guess all I can do is what you have done and continue to work my chest with all i've got and hope that as it gets thicker the imperfections become less noticable. I'm just worried they will become more defined the more I grow.


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## big pete (Mar 23, 2004)

ok, im unable to do this now(injury, cant press down). but this is what i did to thicken my chest like mad and quickly too!!!

right superset theory. basicaly you alternate 2 or more exercises in quick succesion, so you go from exercise 1 immediately to exercise 2, then have a minutes rest then repeat.

so heres the moves.... first is dips. find a dip bar, lean forward on the bar and your feet poke out behind you. this is ok, but then move your feet forward so they are in direct line below your eyes. this accentuates the chest alot more.

second move is incline dumbell press. if you have an adjustable bench, set it that is is about 30 degrees. any higher and your delts are taking the strain not your chest. then go from there with good strict form

the regime is 8 sets of 8. so 8 dips, straight to 8 press's then rest and repeat another 7 times. the weight you use wont be as high as you think!!

good luck and see if it works


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## GordyR (Jun 21, 2004)

big pete said:


> ok, im unable to do this now(injury, cant press down). but this is what i did to thicken my chest like mad and quickly too!!!
> 
> right superset theory. basicaly you alternate 2 or more exercises in quick succesion, so you go from exercise 1 immediately to exercise 2, then have a minutes rest then repeat.
> 
> ...


That sounds awesome Big pete... Thanks alot mate! Super-setting is something I haven't tried yet. I'll do exactly as you suggested next week.

One question though, is that all I should do or should I add in any other chest excersises Like flat bench, DB flyes etc afterwards? I would guess since I am doing 8 sets of each I wouldnt need any others right?

Cheers


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

GordyR said:


> That sounds awesome Big pete... Thanks alot mate! Super-setting is something I haven't tried yet. I'll do exactly as you suggested next week.
> 
> One question though, is that all I should do or should I add in any other chest excersises Like flat bench, DB flyes etc afterwards? I would guess since I am doing 8 sets of each I wouldnt need any others right?
> 
> Cheers


How many times a week do you work chest now?


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## big pete (Mar 23, 2004)

i wouldnt do anything myself. but upto you


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## megatron (Apr 21, 2004)

Scot Stiener has uneven pecs, but hes so big you don't notice it, I think this will apply to you too.


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

GordyR said:


> I wonder if this has anything to do with my guitar playing. I started to learn classical guitar at the age of seven. I would play all day every-day and achieved grade 8 (the highest you can go) by the age of about 13. When playing guitar as a right handed person you constantly have to support your raised left arm with its corrosponding pectoral muscle. Perhaps as I went through puberty this lead to more muscle fibres develpoing on that side?


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## megatron (Apr 21, 2004)

As SD says, it's not the gituar, I play gituar and have normal pectoral shape.


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## GordyR (Jun 21, 2004)

Thanks guys, I was just wondering if the guitar playing could have had an impact since I started so young and so intensly. I was playing upto 8 hours a day since I was seven!

As you have all pointed out it isn't a major issue. I hope as I get bigger it will become less noticable. I'll let you all know how I get on in the coming months.

Thanks for all your help guys


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## GordyR (Jun 21, 2004)

winger said:


> How many times a week do you work chest now?


Once a week at the moment.

I work chest and triceps together as chest excersises seem to hit my triceps pretty hard. Heres an idea of my normal chest workout.

Flat bench 3x8

Incline Bench 3x8

Dumbell Flyes 3x8

I have been mostly concerned with adding weight each workout and this seems to have been working nicely for me. Should I start hitting my chest a bit harder or maybe more often than once a week?

Anyway... I think I might give the routine that Big Pete suggested a try. If I can get a bit more mass on my pecs then I should have a better idea of how its going to look as they develop further.


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

megatron said:


> Scot Stiener has uneven pecs, but hes so big you don't notice it, I think this will apply to you too.


I love that guy. He started out as one of the British bulldogs.


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## Noodlenex (Nov 10, 2004)

To be honest with you mate I bet its not half as bad as you think it is! I bet its not even really noticeable, its just little things that drive you up the wall when you look at yourself in the mirror... like my tiny ****ing forearms aaaggh!?? :::breathes:::  anyway...


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## CraigieBon (Oct 15, 2007)

I have exactly... EXACTLY... the same problem. Lower/inner quadrant of my right pec hasn't developed at all and i've always had the problem. I've been trying for years to figure out a way to attack the problem and I have't given up. My workout has been similar to yours and I reckon that DB presses are the way forward from here. Incline and flat.

My theory was always that my right arm was stronger thus meaning that my right tricep took too much of the weight during bench etc. whilst my left pec was more engaged and thus grew. I still think this might be something to do with it. I think genetics also has a lot to do with it.... but as I said... I ain't given up on that random little quadrant of my chest and I ain't given up on my upper chest either. It too seems to have no muscle present despite my efforts so far.


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## bigden (Jul 16, 2007)

hey man i have this same problem just genetic as ive trained for years but nowt grows there just around it lol dnt think theres owt u can do about it mate


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## jw007 (Apr 12, 2007)

Hey mate, I really wouldnt worry about it.... try having calves that wont bl00dy grow...like mine lol


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

jw007 said:


> Hey mate, I really wouldnt worry about it.... try having calves that wont bl00dy grow...like mine lol


If that is you in your avatar, who needs calves.


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