Intercostal muscles and upper pecs.

[Tee Sok]

Hi there,

do you think that sit up twists are a good exercise to develop intercostal muscles? What other exercises do you recommend to develop that particular area? I do standing twists holding a stick on my shoulders, but l think this exercise develops mainly the obliques.
Also, what exercises are good to develop upper pecs? I do incline bench press reps and push ups keeping my arms in front of my head, not parallel to the shoulder line like in normal push ups. Are these latter affective for upper pecs?

Thanks a lot.

[koto_ryu]

Hi there,

do you think that sit up twists are a good exercise to develop intercostal muscles? What other exercises do you recommend to develop that particular area? I do standing twists holding a stick on my shoulders, but l think this exercise develops mainly the obliques.
Also, what exercises are good to develop upper pecs? I do incline bench press reps and push ups keeping my arms in front of my head, not parallel to the shoulder line like in normal push ups. Are these latter affective for upper pecs?

Thanks a lot.

If you have access to a power rack, just do regular (but heavy) bench presses but start from the negative position (with the bar already almost touching your chest). If you don't lift heavy your muscles aren't going to grow, and make sure you have a spotter around just in case.

[Tee Sok]

Thanks once again, Koto.

[koto_ryu]

Thanks once again, Koto.

Try weighted dips too, those babies are a favorite of mine.

[bred]

...

Incline bench press. Incline DB press. Weighted dips. all for upper chest. For intercostals- lay on a bench place your hands behind your head and hold on to the bench then do leg lifts to either side of the bench touching the ground with your toes and keeping your legs straight. Do 4 sets 20-25 and it also hits the obliques and burns the abs. Try to keep your shoulders square to the bench. Dips at differnt angles also hit the intercostals.

[shirase]

"Allot of chin-ups give you a big chest." arent chin-ups mostly for lats and a little bit of the arms? ive noticed that my lats get tired after I do chins but my chest doesnt feel a burn at all.
For intercostals, those rotating situps are great for them.

[bred]

Yeah, that's true, not for chest. Forearms to biceps to lats. Even stimulates the abs but not the chest.

[Tee Sok]

thanks to all

[EmptyneSs]

chin ups work ur entire upper back. it works ur lats, traps and rear delts as well as ur biceps. depending on what grip u use, u can put more emphasis on biceps, or more on other parts.

as for chest, it doest work it at all. but having strong lats and rear delts will help u increase strength in benchpress.