Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Originally posted by: Sad Clown
That's a lot of good info folks. I will have to incorporate some cable crossovers into the routine.
Simply adding another exercise in addition to the 5 you already have is not the way to go about it. I'm interested, what does the rest of your routine look like? Also, how tall are you? How much do you weigh?
I agree. In my experience, if you pick one or two compound exercises and work to become as strong as possible on them, you'll probably have better results than doing a half dozen isolation exercises. My chest size increased more in the 6 months of the Bill Starr 5x5 routine, when bench press was my only chest exercise and I increased it by ~50lbs, then it did in 2 years of all sorts of dumbbell flies, cable crossovers, pec dec, etc. It's also worth mentioning that body fat percentage
might be playing a role too. My chest, especially the inner part, became much more chiseled/defined after I lost 43lbs. Even if you have the muscle mass in your chest, having a thin layer of fat over it can make a big difference in how it looks.
The flat bench press - with dumbbells or barbells - is usually the best choice for almost anything chest related, but you have to use full ROM (bar must touch chest). Work to increase this lift as much as possible, and I assure you your "inner chest" will look fine. Another excellent option would be ring dips. If you can do 20 of these with full ROM from the proper support position, you'll have no complaints about your inner chest.
By the way, what shoulder injury do you have? Are you sure you are using proper technique when bench pressing? For example, if your hands are too far apart, or your elbows are too close to a right angle with your body, you're putting a lot of extra stress on the shoulder joint. And when you do bench press, are you balancing it out with an equivalent amount of pulling work? The bench press primarily develops muscles in the front of the rotator cuff and if you aren't careful, you will get muscle imbalances in the rotator cuff which almost always lead to injuries. For every rep of a "push" chest exercise, you should do a rep of a "pull" exercise, such as pull-ups or rows. The overhead press is also helpful in restoring balance as it works all parts of the rotator cuff equally.