How to Get Lean Muscle: Shaping Your Pectoral Muscles - Myth or Fact?

This is an interesting topic I think a lot of men would like to know about. Usually, something triggers us to seek a better body. Whether it'd be someone at work or uni who's physically more fit, or a public icon like a movie star who we aspire to be like, it's usually their bodies that acts as the catalyst to make us want to learn how to get lean muscle. Chest or pectoral muscles, are the ones we secretly envy. Barrel-chestedness symbolizes strength and superiority. Once at school, an acquaintance who now works out full time asked the gym teacher whether you can shape your pecs.

I can't remember what the gym teacher told my mate, but a fast forward a few years later now, I can't say that my chest is as big as I want to be, but I'm getting there. Now, this guy wanted square pecs. We're not talking totally square, but roughly square in shape, as opposed to round. The last time I looked a pecs, I didn't really register their shape, but whatever floated his boat I guess. Well what do you think? Can you shape your pectoral muscles, or any muscles for that matter?

I know that when I talk about muscle, I often refer to it as if it were its own alive, sentient being. However, as far as I know, no matter how skilled you are at gaining lean muscle, you won't be able to shape your muscle to your heart's content. All muscle "knows" what to do is RESPOND TO FORCE. If you apply a strong enough force on a muscle, the brain will initially respond by sending pain hormones to the muscle and causing the muscle to grow larger so that if the force came around again, it could better oppose the force and feel less pain.

Of course, if you focused on different areas in muscle groups, you could exploit the muscle in certain places and "bring it out" more than others, but our bodies are designed to only move in certain directions. My biceps are OK, I want them to grow wider, along my arm. That's doable. I want to increase the size of my tricep, also doable. However, to increase the width of my bicep might be a bit more difficult, since our arms are simply not designed to grow in width.

If there's anyone who wants to prove me wrong, by all means, show me literature or actual proof of shaping your muscles and I'll gladly write a new article that corrects my error. Otherwise, when you're learning how to get lean muscle, don't even bother trying to shape your muscles. Spend your time growing muscle instead.