-: The pec is a convergent muscle,
but it's actually probably the most complicated
of the convergent muscles
'cause not only does it have multiple segments
but the segments don't actually pull to the same point.
You have like the lats for instance,
which are a big convergent muscle,
but they all have origin in most individuals
whereas the pec, what you're actually gonna see
is these fibers will cross,
which basically makes them function
very distinctly from another,
which means we should train them
in different planes of motion, different resistance,
and different arm paths.
If we look at the pec,
we have our three divisions.
We have the clavicular division,
which attaches to the clavicle.
That's going to be these upper ones.
We have the sternal ones, which are gonna make it
mostly usually like the upper third to half of the sternum,
and they're gonna pull straight across.
And then we have the costal or the lower pec,
which is gonna attach the lower part of the sternum
and even come down to some of the ribs.
What you'll see is this lower portion of the pec
actually comes up and attaches to the highest point.
What that means is that it has an extremely good ability
to push the arm at this downward-like decline angle
whereas the sternal is going to be very biased
at pulling the arm across,
and the clavicular is going to be very good at pulling up.
Now when we look at Adam in this plane of motion,
that all makes sense, but keep in mind
that we also need to look at where does this go
like how far out is this, what shape is this,
the angle of these things all need to be considered
when isolating those tissues 'cause there are some people
who have like a shape like this
where their clavicular fibers are like this.
If you imagine if I turn Adam that way
and I pull his clavicular fibers that way,
they're pretty good at pulling in that direction.
But somebody who's fairly flat here,
well, then those don't really work well.
I remember the first time this really hit me,
I was watching an old video of Lee Priest pressing.
His clavicles, they're like this bend.
They could work so well in the entire range of motion
of pretty much any press.
The flatter you are this way
or the flatter you are this way,
the more you're gonna have to be meticulous
with how you load these different fibers
to make sure you're actually getting that there.
We're gonna speak pretty simple today
and we're gonna focus on this plane in evaluating that.
From that, what you're gonna need to understand
is that clavicle needs to be set up in a position
where these fibers are gonna be as close as they can
to 90 degrees and they are going to track
in an upward motion.
It's not just an incline press
'cause a lot of people do an incline press
and they do it like this,
which if you guys can look at that pec right now,
you can see that none of that stuff
is actually moving inline with those fibers,
which is one reason I really don't like barbell incline.
But what I do really like is an incline press for clavicular
where we're actually lengthening these fibers this way
and then shortening them through this range.
If we want to train sternal,
it's about aligning the origin and insertion.
That's very different.
A lot of people, they want to work their upper chest,
what they're doing is they're doing excessive abduction.
If you look at this now, the majority of this pec
would want to pull the shoulder down.
It would want to pull the shoulder this way.
When you got people up here and they're stuck,
they stick themselves under a barbell
or even worse, a Smith machine
and they're up in this elbow-high position,
not only does it very hard to actually put the tension here,
the best thing, the reason that people tend to like this
is if you see, this has a pretty good advantage now
of like just pulling in this general direction
is it allows people to do more load,
just get more of these other fibers,
the costal fibers and stuff in there.
The other thing it does is it allows the anterior delt
to be very biased in the cortical brachialis,
the small muscle underneath here,
which is a muscle that people beat up a lot
and they mistake for front delt pain
when it's really the small little muscle in here.
It's like a tiny little bicep essentially
that runs underneath the anterior delt.
They'll beat that up in these positions,
but they'll quote unquote feel it here
and then they'll feel it here.
The other thing that will happen
is because in this position,
if we take my arm here,
as we get to where we're starting to tip this,
we talked about this in shoulders,
if you haven't those videos, check them out,
the scapula needs to go this way.
There's not that much room to be able to tip.
Let's just be very accurate with where we're putting it.
If I'm doing a press depending on where I happen
to be lined up, whether it's a dumbbell or a barbell,
it's gonna affect this arm position.
Let's get my guy here.
Let's imagine that we got a dumbbell or barbell
on our hand here and we're tracking back
in this very horizontal position.
If you guys can see here, see how that really runs
into stuff whereas if it's down here,
I get to roll around, I have space.
See if I can make that a little bit better for you guys.
Here.
We got Adam in here and he's doing a press
and he's coming straight around.
You'll see there is that gap,
really closes very, very fast, which means you have to start
getting this shrug type motion.
If we are down just a hair
and we also have this rotation,
you'll see that this stuff can clear under there nicely.
One, it's better for the joint
if instead of being at this position here,
we come down here.
The other thing is that it actually lines it up to fibers
because if we want to line sternal pec up,
our goal is not that the humerus is straight across,
our goal is that this origin and insertion
and if you think Adam's humerus is running right in here
and this insertion, so if I were to really put it
like right on his bone, that's where it would be.
What I would want is this to be straight across from here.
You see that's always gonna be a slight elbow down position.
It's still pretty horizontal,
but it's gonna be about 10 degrees out for horizontal.
As you go up here, that's where one,
you start to do more damage to the joint
and two, you start to take less
or get less tension in this pec
and you start to be able to cheat a little bit more
at the costal pec.
If we go into an incline position here
and we start to go to there, you're gonna be able to get
a little bit more range of motion.
But as I'm going through this press,
if I'm doing this incline here,
what you'll see is like, well, okay,
that doesn't actually line.
I'm not really taking origin to insertion.
But if I have Adam here and we're driving across,
you see that this point and this point
are coming directly into one another.
That's how you really train the sternal pec.
And then the costal pec, it's very simple.
We're from a position high to a position low.
That is gonna be in line with this, which is really simple.
If Adam turns to the side just a little bit,
you see this angle here,
the easiest way to figure out how to train
your costal pecs is actually your upper arm
should line up right with your side boob or side pec.
As he tracks, it will track directly away from that.
Now to ensure proper range of motion
and to be able to get underneath that scapula ridge,
what most people will do
is they will externally rotate a little bit
as they go through this.
They won't do it if you internally rotate it.
If Adam internally rotates,
one, you see everything has to move up here.
That's a lot of scapula movement
and you'll get a lot of jamming here,
which is one of the reasons why
if Adam was holding a bar here, I don't like decline presses
'cause everything is getting jammed up here
and he gets very little stretch on that pec.
But if you are able to externally rotate,
he can get a lot of stretch on that pec.
Again, if we go back to the anatomy,
when we look at the scapula here,
turn it this way so you guys can see a little bit better,
so if I'm going through this
and I'm somewhat externally rotate as I go through here,
I am going to clear this, I'm gonna have room
for all those ligaments and tendons
to nicely work underneath there.
If I am internally rotated,
I am going to jam things right there,
which is why you see limited range of motion
and lots of scapular elevation.
So, you guys can see that a little bit better, right?
Here, if I have internal rotation and I come in here,
see that running into itself right there.
If I come here and I externally rotate
as I go through that position,
I slide right underneath that.
This ridge here slides right underneath
where it needs to go.
This, this type of movement where we're opening this
is gonna be way superior than this type of movement.
You're gonna feel it in your shoulders as well
and you're gonna feel that stiffness.
We're looking at pecs.
It's important to understand what we're trying to train
so that you can pick the appropriate goal.
There is nothing wrong with doing pressing
just for the sake of pressing
like if your goal as a power lifter
is to just move as much weight as possible,
there's a couple things that you need to evaluate
like one is you need to figure out, okay,
what do I have in terms of mobility-wise
like how can I situate to be able to give myself
the best ability, and then when I have that,
what's actually gonna provide the most optimal leverage
'cause a lot of people maybe doing the press
they're strongest with now but not where their potential is
because they just aren't actually using
the right portion of their chest.
They're not using the arm path
that's gonna suit their structure
in terms of maximal leverage
to be able to contribute to that lift.