The Rader Chest Pull

[Michael]

Since this is a fitness forum,  always wanting to learn, and curious I'm posting this. , I don't think I'm interested in adding this to my sessions but I'd like to hear what people who have tried it think. I can say I never tried any of the Peary Rader 20 rep squat thing and it never appealed to me. I'm just curious. Now I get the purpose of the chest pull is to expand the chest. But wouldn't just doing chest exercises like the bench press just work fine? I know they say it expanded the rib cage. What is the purpose of expanding the rib cage? What purpose does an expanded rib cage provide besides a barrel chest? 

[gruntbrain]

A barrel chest enhances your chances at romances or so I've heard

[Michael]

Oh 

[stormshadow]

There are those that believed that by expanding the rib cage this was beneficial to the internal organs and provided them with more room to breathe deeply and work better. Also that you could pack more muscle around a larger chest as a base. And many felt that a large chest was a symbol of physical power and virility. Like Grunt alluded to.

.

I did them for a different reason. I thought that if I could make my rib cage bigger it would increase my bench because I could reduce the distance the bar had to move.

[stormshadow]

Some links
www.t-nation.com/training/ribcage-expansion-fact-or-fiction

www.muscleandfitness.com/flexonline/training/expanding-rib-box

[Michael]

Thanks, Stormshadow! I knew either You or Fred would know about this. I've learned a couple of things from You and it's much appreciated. Interesting stuff.