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Direct/Indirect Training Split: Upper Pec Specialization

Jonathan Lawson in a most muscular pose

Q: The direct/indirect training split is awesome! I think my muscles have always needed more hits per week, but I followed the pros and trained each muscle only once a week. That never worked for me. The direct/indirect training split [in The 4X Mass Workout e-book] has already added new muscle to my arms and shoulders and back. My one problem area is upper chest. I’ve moved upper chest work to the front of my direct pec program. That’s helped some, but on indirect, day when I train triceps, close-grip bench presses are the indirect chest exercise. They don’t hit my upper chest, so should I do close-grip incline presses instead on triceps day?

A: Hmm, close-grip incline presses might be a solution, although we’ve never been huge fans of close grip on inclines. They can be hard on the shoulder joints. Experiment using a light poundage to see if you feel your upper chest kick in on those. There’s another solution supported by recent research that we have tried… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 4x mass workout, chest, close-grip bench presses, close-grip incline presses, delts, direct/indirect, direct/indirect training split, EMG, emg studies, fibers, new muscle, pecs, reverse-grip bench presses, shoulder joints, shoulders, Smith machine, spotter, upper chest, upper pec specialization

Shoulder Size—Try This New Pressing Exercise

Steve spotting Jonathan for forced reps on dumbbell shoulder presses

Q: In The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book, you identify the Ultimate Exercise for delts as dumbbell upright rows. I’ve always read that overhead presses are best for building massive shoulders. Almost everyone I talk to says to press for delt size. Can you explain your thinking?

A: Our thinking was that any type of overhead press over-emphasizes the front-delt heads. Jonathan has overpowering front delts, so presses hit his side-delt heads even less than most trainees; however, a recent experiment has us revising our thought process somewhat. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 3d muscle building, adaption, delts, dumbbell presses, dumbbell upright rows, leverage, p/rr/s, power/rep range/shock, pressing exercise, shoulder presses, shoulder size, shoulders, testosterone, ultimate exercise, upright rows

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