# Building chest broadness?



## NB89 (Aug 1, 2006)

Hi,

Since I'v started bodybuilding I'v improved my chest strength significantly.

Bench 5x5 80kg, 1 rep max 102.5kg, incline and flat press of 4 x 10 @ 26kg. Despite my strength increasing, my chest does not appear to be hugely broad. What can I do to increase chest broadness, as I have big arms and shoulders and want to keep proportion good. Will upping my daily protein intake help? Or shall I revert all my chest (and other muscle) exercises to a 5x5 routine in which I could lift heavier weights, which I've been planning to do for a long time?

Thanks for any input


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

There are no specific exercises to broaden the chest. The muscle is the shape it is from origin to insertion, you can't change the basic shape of the muscle. My chest, although quite thick, is relatively shallow top to bottom. I have to live with it.

Here's a typical chest workout I would follow:

Incline dumb bell press:

3 warmup/rehearsal sets then one to failure at 7-8 reps, proper failure!

Decline barbell/smith machine press:

2 warmups, one failure

Hammer Strength Chest press:

One warmup, one failure (or if fully warm & ready, straight into a failure set)

Then stick a fork in you, you're done! The idea here is to take the muscle to failure whilst digging the least amount possible into your bodies recovery reserve. Then allow at least three to four days AFTER all soreness has gone before even thinking about hitting it again. These days are CRUCIAL as that's when adaptive growth occurs.

Give it a go & remember, keep it simple.


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## Cookie (Sep 14, 2009)

I have to disagree with the above statement as I feel its just a case of sculpting the chest so that the weak areas actually look bigger than they are.....its just opinions at the end of the day.....

I take it by you avatar pic you are quite young so that there is a chance you can still stretch your cartlidge areas around your clavicles etc....

So I would suggest doing some wide grip Gironda dips, check my other posts on this board for the picture and description on how they should be done in PERFECT form....

I would suggest doing 3 sets of 8 reps on this exercise alone and doing them atleast twice a week (adding weight to dipping belt only when you can do the above set/rep scheme in PERFECT form) for the next 4 weeks. Then we can look at a different routine after that...

When done right these hurt and burn like hell but they do add some serious thickness & width to the chest.....

Good luck.....


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## samurai691436114498 (Jan 6, 2005)

wasnt it steve reeves that said to get wide train wide

so wide pulldowns - which help to boulster the chest

wide bench presses - which do seem to work the out side of the chest like no other exercise

to expand the rib cage - arnie used to sear by cross bench bent arm pullovers.....though there is no real evidence of it working physiologically


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## Borris (Oct 8, 2006)

> to expand the rib cage - arnie used to sear by cross bench bent arm pullovers.....though there is no real evidence of it working physiologically


can this actualy be done? i dont know why u would want a big rib cage? i have a big rib cage, is there anything i could do to reduce it? lol. im been serius.


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

You guys enjoy yourselves trying to change the basic shape of your chests, I'll just accept that we have the insertions that we were born with. While you're at it, you may want to try & add an extra row of abs. Sorry to be flippant, but if you understood basic physiology you'd know where I was coming from. Stretching connective tissue is not going to change the width of the muscle. The muscle will grow accross the entire length of it's fibres, but we simply cannot change the place where the origin & insertion are attached, without crazy cosmetic surgery. The muscle will get thicker, but will always be the same width. We can develop the fibres between the origin & insertion only, but the muscle will still be the same length.

There seems to be confusion surrounding principles applied to back width being applied to chest 'width'. The back will get wider because the belly of the lats etc get thicker. When the chest gets thicker it will simply stand proud more than before, not get wider.

On another note Cookie, the pec major only has a tiny part that originates from the clavicle, and it's on the medial side so stretching this part will do nothing for width. The bulk of the pec originates from the sternum & inserts on the humerus.

Any exercise that we feel more towards the outside of the pec is not actually firing a specific portion of the muscle, it's merely causing a better stretch and so we feel a 'burn' in the MTJ portion near the insertion. we cannot voluntarily control which portion of the muscle we contract, the muscle will simply contract as many fibres as it needs to adduct or rotate the humerus. This is not just my opinion, this is basic physiology. I hope this has been of some use.


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## supercell (Aug 23, 2005)

I for one know what it is like to have over developed delts and triceps so i understand your prediciment. Chest size is a concern to me too, hence my 2 day a week split, just chest and back for the next 3 months or so.

On the note regarding chest width unfortunately guys you cannot change it, as Nine pack says you are what you are and your genetics will not allow you to change the insertions and origins of a muscle. By developing the chest as a whole you will change the look of your chest ie thickness of muscle fibres, but the shape will remain the same that is fact and no exercise will change that. So in a nut shell I agree with Nine pack but will agree that you can change the 'look' of the chest by either developing the upper or lower portions (pec major and minor).

Its a bit like the people that think you can spot reduce adipose tissue by doing more ab work, it just dont happen like that!!

James


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2006)

here's an idea - train your rear delts more, and teach your rhomboids and mid traps to hold your shoulder blades back.

Pull your shoulders back round to where they should be and magically you will have a broader chest!

mb


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## NB89 (Aug 1, 2006)

Ok...I've started a huge debate here on building cest width. Sorry, but it was my mistake. I didn't mean to talk about trying to make the chest wider, but to make it more prominent and deeper as such. I misused the word 'broad'.

Cheers for the advice anyways, always interesting to learn more about the subject.


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

Clearly we have all got too much time on our hands!

MB is right by the way, a protracted shoulder girdle will make the chest look hollow. I call it 'bar room bodybuilder syndrome'. The guys who train nothing but chest & bi's always get it. If they paid more attention to the back musculature, the shoulders would sit right & elevate the chest to it's proper position.


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Wow, what a great debate.


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## ah24 (Jun 25, 2006)

Im trying to strengthen back muscles, as iv always slouched..

Only been working out since sept but slouched for longer

than i can remember

Noticing a slight change


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## megatron (Apr 21, 2004)

Great thread, 9pack; can you elaborate on what is meant by a protracted shoulder girdle?

cheers


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

megatron said:


> Great thread, 9pack; can you elaborate on what is meant by a protracted shoulder girdle?
> 
> cheers


Bump for nine pack.


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## 100 (Jan 5, 2007)

Nine Pack said:


> There are no specific exercises to broaden the chest. The muscle is the shape it is from origin to insertion, you can't change the basic shape of the muscle. My chest, although quite thick, is relatively shallow top to bottom. I have to live with it.
> 
> Here's a typical chest workout I would follow:
> 
> ...


I think your right nine pack, when you talk about how a muscle's shape can not be changed. I read about it in an old magazine interview with Larry Scott. He said basicly the same thing.


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

Thought this thread had fizzled out. Anyway, a protracted shoulder girdle (girdle meaning the shoulder joint and the traps region) simply means the shoulders are drawn forwards & inwards giving the rounded upper back & 'primate like' stance (some call it I.L.S; imaginary lat syndrome).

This comes about when someone focuses mainly on training the 'mirror muscles', by that I mean the chest, bi's & shoulders (and to a certain extent the abs). This will make them proportionately stronger than the musculature of the back & traps region and as these are all postural muscles, the shoulder girdle will be pulled forward even at rest, this is called 'protraction'. The back musculature also becomes weakened & elongated.

The shoulder girdle moves in basically 4 planes, elevation, depression, protraction & retraction. If someone has the problem above, they will have to consciously hold thier shoulders back to correct the posture.

The problem can cause more than just aesthetic issues. All the time the shoulder region is protracted, the upper back is curved forwards. As a result of this, the neck will jutt forwards, forcing the body to use neck muscles to lift the head & keep it facing forward as this is an instinctive thing to keep balance & spatial awareness. This position if left unchecked can eventually cause spinal damage, headaches (due to excessive tension in the scalenes & other neck muscles) & nerve impingement which may restrict the function of the radial, median & other nerves supplying the upper body.

The solution is far simpler than you would realise; TRAIN YOUR BACK! I suggest after a proper postural assesment, if required, the subject should stop training the chest altogether till the problem is corrected (i.e when the back musculature is proportionately as strong as the chest) and the shoulder girdle is neither protracted, or retracted. This can take a matter of weeks, or months depending on the severity of the condition.

This situation is far more common than you may think, and is not always a result of weight training. We spend most of our lives sat down, and with the arms in front of us, in the car, at work, watching TV, & like I am right now typing this epic post. This results in the front delt, chest & arms being used far more than the back. The curvature of the upper (thoracic) spine is refered to as 'Kyphosis'. I have had many clients showing varying degrees of this & have had a lot of success in correcting it through properly prescribed exercise.

Jeez I can waffle!


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## mant01 (Jan 1, 2007)

I can't see how you can change your muscle structure and make your chest broader. I know if you train with wide grip you train the outside area more but that will just give you the appearence of width not change your genetics.


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Fantastic post Paul.

My chiropractor said that surfers rarely suffer from shoulder injuries.

In contrast the bench bicep guys do or can suffer from shoulder injuries.

This happened ot me, trying to get my bench way up, tossed my shoulder out in the unnatural persuasion, result was injury due to muscle imballance.

As you said above Paul, my chiropractor suggested I stop working chest and shoulders and concintrating on back, rhomboids and rear delts.

I am way better but it took me 2 years.


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