question for guys about chest workout

[Sexyredhead]

Just finished evil chest workout with guy friend to keep him company. He\'s naturally tall and thin, and is trying to build muscle. He has a problem spot on his chest. He\'s got a bit of a sunken spot in the center of his chest he wants to \"pop out\". Any suggestions on how he can build muscle there, or make it less noticable? I really don\'t notice it, but if he gets a lot more muscle in his chest, it will be.

[bivonic]

Can you be more specific? Between his pectorals or below them. If immediately below them, do you mean his upper abs?

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I think I know what you\'re talking about. He needs to put on weight. Get enough fat to fill in the boney spots. That\'s a nasty look on men or women, when your bones stick out.

[Sexyredhead]

Between his pecs, lower half of his chest. Looks kinda like he\'s developing muscle in his pecs more to the outside, but not the center of his chest. Does that help? It\'s not his upper abs.
Another way to say it would be that if you imagine a line across the bottom of his chest. He\'s got a triangle in the middle of his chest pointing upward that rests on that line.

I personally don\'t have that problem, so I can\'t think of anything.

[bivonic]

Yeah what FTR said, sounds like he\'s scrawny, tell him to up the carbo intake, but not to go crazy. Also I\'d recommend more upper body workouts. To a certain extent I follow the body-for-life workout routine. Do sets of reps in this fashion 12-10-8-6-12, where you increase the amount of weight you are lifting in each repetition except for the last one where he would go back to the starting weight for the initial set of 12 or he can do a little less then that first set if he feels fatigued. Then I\'d recommend he does these three types of exercises & cardio routine:

(I do all three whenever I lift, rest 2 days between & perform in this sequence as the larger muscles are worked first)

1. Squat
I use an assisted sled, not sure of the exact name of it but it has two poles that allow me to lock the bar every 6 inches if I get into trouble. Two common problems with the squat, people either try to lift too much & hurt their back or lift too little & do not get a proper workout. All I can recommend here is to start small & have him work his way up until he can get the heart pumping really good but not so much that he puts undue stress on his muscles / ligaments. This is my favorite exercise as it works the largest muscles in the body & all the medium to small muscles in between. Not a guideline for a beginner but I can do 162% of my body weight at the 6 rep set.

2. Inclined Bench Press
Some may think this only works the pectorals, but they\'re wrong it works your pec\'s primarily & then all of the support muscles surrounding it. I prefer the incline to the flat bench method, over time I found I could lift the same amount of weight as the flat method, also I\'d strongly recommend a very low angle for the incline, like 30 degrees, a little less then what the fixed incline benches are angled at, again I use the assisted sled so I don\'t always need a spotter, worst case you need to slide under the bar when you get into trouble. Not a guideline for a beginner but I can do 115% of my body weight at the 6 rep set.

3. Back - Pulley
Not sure of the name of this exercise either. I use the lat-pull down stations, take off the long horizontal bar & connect the triangle thinga-ma-jig that most people use for the seated row. I used to use the seated row, but hurt my back REAL good one time & prefer this safer method to work my back. By using the lat pull down it is a lot more difficult to injure your back. This will not necessarily work that little spot beneath his pec\'s, but building up your back muscles is essential in framing your body so that your other upper body muscles have a nice foundation to expand in. Not a guideline for a beginner but I can do 100% of my body weight at the 6 rep set.

Cardio - elliptical
I use the newer elliptical machines where you can adjust the tension and the incline. It sounds like he is already skinny so he doesn\'t need to overdo this exercise, but I would recommend high resistance & low speed, this should work his abs real good, also it might help to do the cross training exercise, if the machine he has does not have this option, he can just watch the clock & change direction himself, rest 10 seconds between changing direction to drink some water. When I cross train I do 5 minutes forward, 2 minutes back, & keep flipping between the two.

As you can tell from my lingo, I\'m no body-building fitness training guru, but I think if he sticks to the above giving himself 2 days rest between workouts & optionally doing the cardio on the rest days he should see results in as little as 3 weeks.

[Sexyredhead]

No, his bones don\'t stick out. He\'s got good muscle tone--he\'s just tall and thin. Wants to be bigger, but he can eat all day and still be thin. If I had his metabolism for a week, I\'d probably waste away to nothing. I just can\'t eat like he does. lol

[bivonic]

Three quick additions. If he\'s serious have him pickup some liquid Creatine, this will help his muscles retain water better to get bigger, it\'s expensive but it definitely helps me, also it\'s instrumental in repairing the muscles & he should not feel any soreness after his workout or the next day. Secondly this is usually common sense, don\'t eat before a workout, always afterwards. When you eat after an intensive workout your body will essentially absorb anything you take in as your muscles are \"hungry\" again, novice lingo, but you get the point. Thirdly again more common sense, drink tons of water on work out days & during his workout, a store nearby sells two 1 liters of Dasani water for $2 & during my weight training routine I\'ll go through one of them, if I do cardio as well I\'ll go through the other one.

[bivonic]

Oops another thing. I\'m not a big fan of situps to work the abs, I prefer cardio either for long durations like an hour, or shorter durations with higher resistance. For the ulitmate ab workout try hiking a mountain with a 40 lb. pack on your back [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[**DONOTDELETE**]

You try and it let me know how it went.

[MOBLEYC57]

SRH - He just needs to do more cable crossovers. There designed just for filling in that line in the center pec. Some do them knuckles to knuckles, but it\'s better to cross the forearms and hold for a three second count. Tater!!!!

[MAL224610]

There are three exercises...1st and foremost is bench, proper form...2nd cable cross overs (arms crossing at the bottom), and dumbell flies (crossing arms).....and eat around 4000-5000 calories if he is an extreme hard gainer...

[bivonic]

Yeah, I\'ve actually added flies (using a machine not free weight), I\'ve gotten a ton of compliments in just the past week on my build, from men & women alike. I have never done crossovers, I\'d like to try it, guess I\'ll ask a trainer next time.

[MAL224610]

they really work well....but the best is bench....changing your grip from wide, to normal, to narrow......

[Sexyredhead]

Ahhh, I remember cable crossovers. Used to do them--very....efficient (so said the torture master).

Thanks, guys. He\'s doing flies and has good form in general. Just not getting that spot. I\'ll show him how to do crossovers. > A former boyfriend was a body builder and I used to work out with him, so I\'m familiar.

I dunno if he\'ll do the creatine, he drinks water like a fish, and I\'ll try to think of ways that he can eat more. He can live on chips and pizza and not gain an ounce, but he\'s working on more protein at the moment.

[bivonic]

I hear drinking lots of milk is good for that (protein), I try to drink slim or 1%, he could probably get away with a lot of the whole milk.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

No, no, no. My favorite cousin John died last year -- arteries so clogged you can\'t imagine. He drank a good quart of whole milk a day. Don\'t. Can\'t he do those protein shakes and put bananas and peanut butter in them?

[MAL224610]

I avoid milk, not because of fat(fat and dietary cholesterol has little to do with arterial cholesterol)....but because of added sugar, that and too much calicum can be toxic if not used in conjunction with a 2:1 ratio of magnesium........
I use a sugar free protein mix in water, pinch the nose and chugg it away.
Best way to hit calories is with rice, beans, potatoes, chicken, fish, steak, lobster...damnit I\'m hungry, going to go cook....

[bundyburger]

How do you know the milk did it??? Wouldn\'t it be a genetic disposition of some sort?

BTW You want a good sport for abs?... Sailing catamarans, ou ton the wire all the time.. I could imagine even climbing doing the same. Surfing would be close too. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I don\'t know. It\'s not something I\'d take a chance on, though. Whole milk is awful high fat.

Bundyburger, my love. Are you talking to me re catamarans? If so, are you high? [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Yeah, ok, nevermind -- I\'m going right down to the catamaran store to get me a catamaran; guess I\'d better go by the auto dealership and get something to tow it in while I\'m at it, since it\'s several hours drive to any beach ... how \'bout I write a check? Out of your account. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[bundyburger]

I\'m not talking Big MoFos luxury catamarans here. You can get junior sorting catamarans too. But, I see your point, raise you a \"whatdafuk!\" [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[bundyburger]

Oh... I replied to you didn\'t I. lol
I meant as a general comment. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[**DONOTDELETE**]

You\'re cute and you\'re funny, too. I see why Elana likes you so much.

[bundyburger]

It\'s the parachute pants isn\'t it? I knew it. I told everyone they\'d stay in fashion but, NO, they didn\'t listen to me. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/mad.gif[/img] My pink ones are speshal. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Sexyredhead]

Why did I *know* you wear parachute pants? In pink, no less! Ahhh, ladies grab him quick. That type of guy is few and far between these days! lol

[**DONOTDELETE**]

That\'s ok. You can have the ones in the pink parachute pants. We\'ll save them out just for you. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[Sexyredhead]

Such a sweet thing to do. I knew I liked you, FTR. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[**DONOTDELETE**]

We girls have to look out for one another.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

for bivonic: liquid creatine is useless. It\'s been scientifically proven that creatine doesn\'t sustain in liquid past 6 ours. This is a scam product any true body builder will tell you that. Any gains or effects you feel from this product are simple placebo. Try some prolabs creapure creatine mono if you\'re serious about using creatine.

[bivonic]

Stygian -

I appreciate your straight forwardness, but could you provide a link that supports this? I\'m a little confused you state it\'s a scam product & then you recommend a different brand? I know of many athletes claim to have used creatine & they were not making money off advertising it. I also know that I\'ve been able to work my ass off everyday for 3 weeks straight with NO PAIN or muscle soreness, from personal experience of actually using ATP Liquid Creatine I can personally say it is not a scam.

Lastly, even if it is only effective for 6 hours, what is wrong with that? You are only supposed to \"load\" on workout days, I take it 10 minutes before my workout & my workout never lasts longer then 2 hours, I could care less if it leaves my system after another 4.

[MAL224610]

stygian is right....its a waste....creatine is not stable in liquid....I was involved in a study on this about 2 years ago with a local university.......the liquids contents were mainly creatinine(by product)....there is a form of creatine that is liquid stable, but it is not for sale on the market at present.....so mix it up, and drink it fast.