Chin-up goals

bull said:

I like the way you're thinking here and I think it may be possible to affect the "sweep" because the structure consists of more than one muscle. If a different movement varies the recruitment pattern then it could result in a variation in the relative hypertrophy experienced in the lat and the teres major and result in a change in the sweep. Any opinions on that as a theory?

Click to expand...

Changing the "shape" of a muscle, where bodybuilding is concerned, and the size of the muscle are two different things. The only things that can affect the way a muscle is presented is it's size, the level of bodyfat covering it, the surrounding muscles and posture. I only say that last one because if somebody has postural issues like kyphosis the effect of say a rear lat spread can be affected.

As for relative hypertophy differences between the two grips, I honestly don't know. The guy who wrote one of the above articles did show that a Wide Grip Pullup with a 45lb plate had a better Lat response than a 90lb chin up. But activation and hypertrophy aren't necessarily correlative.

Goosey said:

Here we go.

Yes there could be some merit to activating the upper, middle and lower sections of the pec by the way the fibres attach and combine into one tendon, but there will always be involvement of the other sections.

Click to expand...

Yeah I agree that's why I say emphasise or target. Not isolate.

Goosey said:

Conceivably you could, (I doubt it) or does it mean you just reduce the weight in your hand due to an awkward angle?

Click to expand...

The Contreras article uses 135 and 225 for both the incline and flat barbell bench to compare the EMG results from the two movements. Then even with the heaviest incline using 245lb (against 275lb for flat) it still produced greater Mean and Peak results for the Upper and Mid Pec.

Goosey said:

Yes there could be some merit to activating the upper, middle and lower sections of the pec by the way the fibres attach and combine into one tendon, but there will always be involvement of the other sections.

Click to expand...

Wouldn't there be a significant difference between claims of targeting the "upper chest" and claims of targeting the "lower chest", considering that the upper pecs are actually a real, separate thing (the Clavicular head of the Pectoralis Major) whereas the "lower pecs"... aren't?

http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisClavicular.html

McKwl said:

Wouldn't there be a significant difference between claims of targeting the "upper chest" and claims of targeting the "lower chest", considering that the upper pecs are actually a real, separate thing (the Clavicular head of the Pectoralis Major) whereas the "lower pecs"... aren't?

Pectoralis Major (Clavicular Head)

Click to expand...

I'm sure you know there is antother head beneath (lower than) the clavicular head right?

Pectoralis Major (Sternal Head)

Anything wrong with my form here?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP8MIyYxjgY]129kg total x 5 - YouTube[/ame]

Hurt my left shoulder again doing it the way I do there. I found on another set that the pain decreased if I didn't quite pull my shoulders to the bar and only my chin. But that was sort of a half rep.

I do palms towards me chin ups cause palms away screw with my left elbow (a lot of pain). And yes, that is an expensive weights belt...