How to get flat pecs.

[TheSiege]

I've seen guys in the gym with pecs that border on B cups. I am transforming my body from the skinny fat I am now, to a more athletic physique and I would prefer my pecs by more flat, like pancake shaped rather than sticking out like boobs. Is there certain chest exercises to avoid or ones to focus on to accomplish this?

 

[pauldun170]

I've seen guys in the gym with pecs that border on B cups. I am transforming my body from the skinny fat I am now, to a more athletic physique and I would prefer my pecs by more flat, like pancake shaped rather than sticking out like boobs. Is there certain chest exercises to avoid or ones to focus on to accomplish this?

Focus on a cleaning up your diet and fixing your posture.
https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/posture-power-how-to-correct-your-body-alignment.html
+
http://www.livestrong.com/article/118660-exercises-pull-shoulders-back/
+
http://www.mensfitness.com/training/pro-tips/3-tips-nailing-front-squat

Avoid machines if possible
Use proper form and grip.
Don't be afraid of doing properly done bench presses.

If you have moobs and just want to get rid of them because they give you the sads.
Here is the simplest way to do it. TLDR "Have a wedding to go to" \ Ima be on vacation and I wanna wear a banana hammock.
Eat plain chicken\fish and broccolli, plain oatmeal, fresh vegetables and NO sweets\bread or junk for three months and run 5 miles a day at a decent intensity (Run faster than casual)
You will loose your moobs.

Verified by at least a dozen flatchest grisl I know who run and couple of heft guys that went from the 300's to mid 100's in a short time
science and stuff

 

[SlitheryDee]

It's hard to understand what you're describing here. Do you mean that these guys are walking around with such large pectoral muscles that they appear to have breasts, or do you just mean they're just fat?

If it's the first problem, don't worry about it. It's going to take a very long time to reach that level of development. If you ever hit the point where you think you've got enough chest muscle, you can stop increasing the weight of your workouts and stay there. I suppose one thing you can do to help is avoid anything that's targeting the lower pecs. Decline presses, chest-centric dips, decline flies, etc are all purported to hit the lower pecs. Targeting your lower pecs means that the bottom half of your chest will get thick, which will cause your shirt to sort of "tent" over it, which might sometimes look like moobs. Most of those are exercises I don't concern myself with anyway because I think they're a waste of time (except for the dips), but they are extra counter productive if you're specifically avoiding a thick lower chest.

A lot of it is going to be bodyfat percentage as well. Even if you're relatively lean, you might still carry a bit of extra fat in your lower pecs. Doing all those exercises that then cause the muscle underneath that fat to grow more than the rest of your chest might eventually give you the tenting problem, but getting to a low enough bf% may then correct that. Genetics will also play a role here based on how much fat your body wants to store in your chest and/or where it wants to make your chest muscles grow the most. Can't do much about that except get really lean.

One thing I know about your average gym goer is that they usually spend an inordinate amount of time on isolation exercises. They do a lot of flies. Incline, flat, decline, upside down, sideways, single arm, double arm, sitting standing, running, walking flies. Don't do that. It's probably why they all have chests that appear disproportionate to you, and you don't need it to grow your chest anyway. Do lots of flat presses with dumbells and barbells instead. You'll get stronger and your arm to chest to shoulder size ratio will stay in sync, which will help keep you from looking like those guys. Stay away from the smith machine, pec deck, and chest press machine while you're at it.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Slithery D's response is quiet good. I can throw in my personal experience. When you have a decently developed chest (significant mass) along with some body fat, it can actually look worse than someone who is skinny fat. Also, lower chest fat isn't the only cause of the tenting. The armpit fat contributes to this by pushing it out. Based on the Jackson--Pollock 3 site test, I don't get a defined look in my lower chest until I dipped below 9%. Also, if I binge, even at 7% body fat, the localized edema in the chest and armpit removes the definition making me look like I am 15% BF overnight. It then takes several days of moderate eating to bring the definition back.

What I have learned throughout this journey is incredible.. There is so much 'illusion' in the fitness industry. People do photo shoots designed to look their very best, when they don't walk around looking like that. I was able to dabble in this myself. Shedding subcutaneous water and "peaking" is neat, but in the end, is just an illusion.

Everyone stores body fat differently and you can't really change that. I have tested this myself and keep detailed records of the last 3 years of my life. The distribution is always the same despite different workouts and different foods eaten to gain/loose.

TLDR - Drop body fat if you want flat pecs, but do keep in mind that each person's chest is different, structure wise. The general shape an size of the chest is genetic. The fat covering it, however, can be lost.

 

[purbeast0]

I want to third the chest body fat thing can make a big difference.

I did a pretty strict low card keto-type diet for about 6 weeks. I also got off of the celltech I was taking since it had a lot of carbs/sugar. I definitely lost muscle mass and size. Nothing drastic or anything but I could feel it in my clothes and my lifts went down slightly.

However, my chest "looked" bigger than it did before even though I was putting up less weight, for the sheer fact that I lost noticeable fat right under my chest. That is an area that men tend to gain fat first and one of the places they lost it last (along with lower back and your belly).

It's kind of weird how our bodies work and can look. I weighed about 10-12lbs less than I did when I was stronger/bigger, but my chest definitely appeared to be bigger due to fat loss under it. I didn't look like I had man boobs or anything (before or after) but just defined and somewhat decent sized pecs.

 

[J.Wilkins]

I've seen guys in the gym with pecs that border on B cups. I am transforming my body from the skinny fat I am now, to a more athletic physique and I would prefer my pecs by more flat, like pancake shaped rather than sticking out like boobs. Is there certain chest exercises to avoid or ones to focus on to accomplish this?

Considering how the muscle is shaped you cannot get a "flat" chest by working out, you're going to have to stick with not working your chest at all. It's going to look really weird though.

The guys you see at they gym who have huge pecs, shoulders, arms, legs and back are people who have been working out five days a week for a decade or are taking steroids. You don't get those kinds of muscles without many years of dedication.

 

[devBunny]

If you look at the chests of athletes such as gymnasts, they tend to have pecs that are well developed all over rather than having the more isolated-looking buns that body builders and weight trainers get. If you look at the chests of people who do climbing, there's often even less development. In some cases these guys look skinny though you could never accuse them of being weak. The term for them is wiry because they have reduced fat and muscles that are strong but not bulky.

I'm not sure whether the flat pecs that you aspire to would be more the gymnast style or the wiriness of the climber but the difference between both of them and the more usual weight trainer is that they train for skill, not just strength and stamina. The nature of their sports means that they are using their muscles at lots of angles and depths of stretch that ordinary weight training just doesn't provide.

One general piece of advice from body builders is you that need low reps with high difficulty, and that high reps won't build bulk.

The suggestion, therefore, is to put some gymnastics and climbing into your exercise routines (for instance handstands in the park, climbing on goal posts, scaffolding, etc). On the weight training side, do a lot more variation in grips and angles than you'd usually do and go for higher reps that will build stamina rather than roundness.