00:00Let's start with a little quiz. I wanted to
compare the following two pictures of chess
00:04and tell me which one is the better looking.
Will it be chest A? Or will it be chest be?
00:12And obviously they're the same chest, but one is
lacking that middle chest line. And I think we
00:16all could agree the one with the middle chest
line looks a hell of a lot better. But how do
00:20you get it? Or how do you make the one you have
right now more prominent? Well, there's actually
00:24three definitive ways I'm going to cover here in
this video. And we start with the first of which
00:28you actually can't do anything about, but
that doesn't let you off the hook. You see,
00:32just because you're not to blame for this, it
doesn't mean that you're not responsible for
00:37understanding the difference so that you can
take the right approach in the long run.
00:39And we're talking about genetics. The shape of
your sternum and the attachments to it makes
00:44a big difference in how your inner chest will
ultimately look. And it starts with the finger
00:48test. Take that finger and place it right here on
the top of your sternum. Drive your elbows down to
00:53your sides to activate your chest just a little
bit, and then start to drag your finger down the
00:58middle of your chest line. And what you should
feel is two sides of the pec muscles inserting
01:03almost right directly next to each other.
In other words, if you rolled your finger just
01:07a little bit to the left, it would start to
go up a hill. If you rolled your finger just a
01:10little bit to the right, it would go up a hill as
well. If you have a really tight separation here,
01:15well, it means you are blessed with good pec
and sternum genetics, where the insertions of
01:19the muscles actually lie really tight and
close to each other, and they don't leave
01:22a lot of exposed space on the sternum.
Well, what happens if you actually have an
01:27area where you just feel flat bone along the
way? Nothing, because there's nothing, you're
01:31going to be able to do about that, those are your
genetics. Any jagged lines or weird asymmetries
01:36where one pec might turn off to the side faster
than the other, it s just something you're going
01:40to have to deal with, but it doesn't doom you to
having a bad-looking chest. It's just something
01:44you need to come to grips with. Now, as this
gap becomes wider, the appearance of the chest
01:48may become a little less desirable. But again,
you can still develop a good-looking chest.
01:52Now it can get even worse than that, with a
condition that the internet named Steinerism based
01:57off of Scott Steiner's dramatically different
looking chest than he had years ago. But this is
02:02most likely secondary to nerve damage from the
pec, from chronically overstretched position.
02:06Maybe through a clothesline or some other
wrestling move that these guys have to deal
02:09with. But that's likely not what you're dealing
with. But you can see that the tighter the gap,
02:13the better looking the chest.
Now, there are two bony reasons why
02:16your chest may not look exactly the way you want
it to. And the first is a sternal deformity called
02:21pectus excavatum, where the sternum itself is
actually kind of caved in. I made a whole video
02:25about this, using some physical therapy
techniques and some strategies to help to
02:30slightly improve this condition depending upon
how severe it is. Surgery might be the most
02:34successful option for you, but you'll want to
watch that video to determine for yourself.
02:37The second would be the shape of your
sternum. Because let's face it guys,
02:41they're not all straight. Some do look like this,
but others look like this. And once again, that
02:47asymmetrical chest that you might be battling may
not have a real solution because of the underlying
02:53structure of the bones. If you ever walked into
a house and saw a crooked wall, your inclination
02:57might be to blame the sheet rocker and say you
did a bad job. But what if the framer built the
03:01wall crooked underneath and he just followed
what was done? You see, it's not always the
03:05thing that you're seeing, but the underlying
structure that's the real problem here.
03:08But that's okay, because we can do things still
that can dramatically change the appearance of
03:13your chest. But we do have to take ownership
of the next thing, and that is your nutrition.
03:17Because in any situation with any esthetic goal,
having more body fat covering what you're trying
03:22to show off is never going to reveal the best
of what you've got. Because even a bigger chest
03:28covered with more body fat is never going to
look as esthetically good as even a smaller
03:32chest that is much more defined, and that
comes from having low body fat levels.
03:37I've made different videos covering how you can
nail this nutrition aspect every single time,
03:40and I make it quite simple. I'm going to link
one of them, this one right here for you,
03:44at the end of this video you're going to want
to check it out. It's going to help you to bring
03:47out more muscularity at any level of muscle
growth that you're displaying right now.
03:51But now we come to the fun part. Why? Because it's
the most impactful for how your chest is going to
03:56look and the one that you're most in control
of. And we're talking about your training.
04:00Now let's get this off our chest right away.
There's no way to isolate the middle chest line.
04:06There's no independent head there. There's no
one exercise that will isolate that middle chest
04:10of yours. However, when you learn how to train
the rest of your chest, your middle chest can
04:15be directly influenced by the growth of the other
heads. So, what do we do? We start by choosing the
04:20right exercises. And I'll tell you right now, stop
focusing solely on strength, but start there.
04:26And what I mean by that is do your bench
presses, do your heavy dumbbell presses,
04:31do your weighted dips, do your weighted pushups.
Do all those exercises because those are the ones
04:36that are going to allow you to overload
them quickly and give you the opportunity
04:40to grow as much muscle as fast as possible.
Especially if you're a newbie just starting out,
04:45you want to take advantage of those gains that are
yet to be achieved. That said, understand this,
04:51continuing to focus on only those exercises will
leave you without the middle chest development
04:56that you're looking for every single time.
And that's for three distinct reasons.
05:00Number one, these exercises don't incorporate
adduction, and adduction is moving your arm
05:06from a position along your side towards midline
and in this case across midline to get full chest
05:12contraction. And why full chest contraction? I'll
get back to that in one second. But suffice it
05:16to say that those exercises, the big ones, they
aren't doing that. Sure, they're adducting a bit,
05:21they're adducting from a position over here
to right about just outside of midline. But
05:25I need you to take it across midline, right
across the center of your body by getting
05:29your hand on the other side of your shoulder.
How do we do that? Well, obviously we're going to
05:34do that with exercises like these. All of these
exercises give us a chance to drive that arm
05:40across midline more effectively. And when we do
this, we reach a complete chest contraction, which
05:47again, you'll see will be necessary to completely
develop the chest. But the second thing is how you
05:52perform the exercises, because that matters
just as much. Don't always rush through the
05:56movements. Take your time and celebrate the pain.
Because the reality is the chest is the laziest
06:03muscle in your body. Think of it as the YouTube
fitness influencer who just does review videos of
06:08everybody else's work. Lazy. Instead, you need
to make the chest do all of the work on your
06:13chest exercises and relegate those shoulders and
triceps to the back seat. How easy is that to do?
06:19Not very easy if you're moving fast, but if you
move slow, the job becomes infinitely easier.
06:24So, no matter what exercise you do, by slowing
down the pace and making sure that posturally, the
06:29chest and rib cage is held high, will force the
chest muscles to be the predominant contributor to
06:34every one of those exercises. It's far too easy
to let momentum take over, or the front delts
06:40contribute that relegates that chest to the back
seat, almost hollowing out its contribution and
06:45making it far less effective in an exercise.
The third and most interesting part of these full
06:50range of motion adduction-based exercise choices
revolves around some science that we've been able
06:55to uncover in recent years. And that is about
the existence of something called a non-spanning
06:59muscle fiber, meaning that it doesn't have
attachments at the origin in the insertion
07:04of the chest muscle. It kind of lays somewhere
in the middle or only attached at one end. So,
07:09what does that mean? How do they even contract
if they're not attached to both ends? Well,
07:13that's where the science gets interesting. They
have sticky filaments on them that actually get
07:17dragged along as the muscle changes shape. So,
the actual shortening of the muscle that creates
07:22the balling up of the appearance actually helps to
grab on to some of these muscle fibers that then
07:27allow them to contribute to the activity. What
does it lead to? Stronger chest contractions,
07:32more complete chest development. When we're
talking about getting a complete development
07:36along that middle line, you want to maximize
the contractile capability of that muscle.
07:41And by doing your adduction exercises through a
full range of motion and not just stopping here,
07:45we're able to do that. So, what does all this
mean? Well, actually really good news for you,
07:49because that middle chest line of yours will
become more prominent without even having to
07:54address it specifically by just taking a more
well-rounded approach to your chest training.
07:58As I showed you here, you're going to have a
more well-rounded and more developed looking
08:02chest. As the pecs themselves grow bigger and
larger and more prominently off your chest,
08:08it's going to leave behind that more prominent,
more recognizable middle line to your chest,
08:13even if there are some slight
deviations along the way.
08:16Guys, you have a game plan for doing it,
now you just got to put in the work. If
08:19you're looking for a step-by-step plan,
you can find it over at Athleanx.com. If
08:22you're looking for a review of my favorite
chest exercises, broken down one by one,
08:26you can find that here in my Chest Exercises
Ranked video. All right guys, I'll be back
08:29here soon with another video. Make
sure you click Subscribe and turn your
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