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Bodyweight Do push ups give you breast-like pecs?

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@Boomer 373737, you've chosen an odd way to word your question.

Hypertrophy of the pectoral muscles in men does not result in "breast-like" protuberances unless perhaps _fat_, and not muscle, is at issue, and exercise is not known to cause the addition of fat to the best of my knowledge.

NB: I find myself now wondering how many posts besides mine it will take before I will have to close this thread. I'm guessing it won't take many.

-S-
 
I’ve seen plenty of calisthenics athletes who regularly crank out lots of push-up and dip variations who don’t have this issue. I think it’s an issue of, like Steve said, some excess body fat, or possibly just differences in individual muscle formation/anatomy. I wouldn’t get too focused on it.
 
@Boomer 373737, you've chosen an odd way to word your question.

Hypertrophy of the pectoral muscles in men does not result in "breast-like" protuberances unless perhaps _fat_, and not muscle, is at issue, and exercise is not known to cause the addition of fat to the best of my knowledge.

NB: I find myself now wondering how many posts besides mine it will take before I will have to close this thread. I'm guessing it won't take many.

-S-
He is quoting Pavel verbatim, the chapter is literally titled “I don’t want my pecs to look like breasts”. Pavel asserts that decline and flat benching will give men breasts, in a female way. (Pavel specifically states the kind of breasts given by decline and flat benching is a female attribute not a male)
 
I own beyond bodybuilding and even though it does say that. We have to remind ourselves of the use of creative writing.
I think what is being eluded to is the typical bodybuilding overly built pectorals in place of the older generation bodybuilders with less overall chest development and in particular less lower chest development.
This does not mean that those exercises will literally build pectoral that resemble breasts.

The shape and overall look of a muscle is largely determined by genetics. We can mostly only manipulate the size of the muscle.
 
I own beyond bodybuilding and even though it does say that. We have to remind ourselves of the use of creative writing.
I think what is being eluded to is the typical bodybuilding overly built pectorals in place of the older generation bodybuilders with less overall chest development and in particular less lower chest development.
This does not mean that those exercises will literally build pectoral that resemble breasts.
lol, what magic ball do you use to determine what Pavel is saying seriously and what he isn’t? Seems that reading what he wrote and interpreting it as he wrote it and even clarified in the next paragraph is the most effective way. And that way says Pavel calls the bench and decline bench as exercises that will cause you to grow female breasts.
 
He is quoting Pavel verbatim, the chapter is literally titled “I don’t want my pecs to look like breasts”. Pavel asserts that decline and flat benching will give men breasts, in a female way. (Pavel specifically states the kind of breasts given by decline and flat benching is a female attribute not a male)

Thank goodness I don't bench very often!
 
lol, what magic ball do you use to determine what Pavel is saying seriously and what he isn’t? Seems that reading what he wrote and interpreting it as he wrote it and even clarified in the next paragraph is the most effective way. And that way says Pavel calls the bench and decline bench as exercises that will cause you to grow female breasts.
There are many style of bench, describe in multi books of Pavel.
 
I own beyond bodybuilding and even though it does say that. We have to remind ourselves of the use of creative writing.
I think what is being eluded to is the typical bodybuilding overly built pectorals in place of the older generation bodybuilders with less overall chest development and in particular less lower chest development.

Rippetoe has used the term 'chesticles' for this phenomenon.
 
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I own beyond bodybuilding and even though it does say that. We have to remind ourselves of the use of creative writing.
I think what is being eluded to is the typical bodybuilding overly built pectorals in place of the older generation bodybuilders with less overall chest development and in particular less lower chest development.
This does not mean that those exercises will literally build pectoral that resemble breasts.

The question in the book is: "Is it true that decline bench presses could give me drooping, breast-like pecs?"

Pavel's answer: "Yes. Especially as you grow older. There is no convincing reason for a bodybuilder to do declines at all. And even the ever so popular flat bench could do the same for some bodybuilders." He goes on to recommend incline benches and keeping flat benching to low sets and reps, and concludes, "Needless to say, the recommendation to avoid decline presses altogether and just do a moderate volume of flat benches are just opinions. But hanging pecs are a fact."

I'm not seeing a whole lot of obvious hyperbole here. He qualifies the training advice as an opinion, in contrast with emphasizing that the phenomenon of drooping pecs is a fact. Seems pretty unambiguous. Then there's the context of including the question in the book, not to dispel the fear as a myth, but to validate it as real.

I happen to think that this worry over "breast-like" pecs is silly, but in this case is clearly based on the plain meaning of Pavel's own words.

And to the OP's question, in my experience pushups will NOT lead to anything breast-like.
 
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The logic here is questionable….

It seems to me that the advice is to exclude any exercise that does not emphasis the upper peck over the lower peck in a training plan so as to avoid over developing the lower peck - an imbalance that people believe will result in breast like pecks.

This ignores any context to a training plan. It also ignores that “non chest” exercises such as pull ups will train the pecks (an exercise clearly loved by SF by its inclusion in the TSC and enter the kettlebell).
 
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lol, what magic ball do you use to determine what Pavel is saying seriously and what he isn’t? Seems that reading what he wrote and interpreting it as he wrote it and even clarified in the next paragraph is the most effective way. And that way says Pavel calls the bench and decline bench as exercises that will cause you to grow female breasts.
No magic ball needed. Just common sense
 
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