Symbol of Strength
Building a powerful chest is the first milestone to develop an impressive upper torso. Monday being the unofficial “International Chest Day” in the weightlifting community makes this statement more obvious.
The bench press is a good test of power and stability on a vertical plane, but it takes more work than “high bench press numbers” to build a muscular chest.
The lower chest doesn’t seem to be a problem for many weightlifters since the bench press is the focus of so many exercise programs. The upper chest is much more challenging to target since the muscle group mainly responds to pressing movements that don’t involve the shoulders.
Targeting the upper chest in addition to your regular chest exercises will not only widen your upper torso but also gives you more a linear, “square” look.
Without training the upper chest, your lower pecs will overpower the chest, giving you a “saggy chest” look.
To properly develop the chest, we need to study the exercises that target the upper chest the best.
How to Build Up Your Upper Chest
Developing the chest doesn’t have to be restricted to the weight room, especially not just the bench press for that matter. You have a few options to choose from when it comes to the type of exercises to choose from.
Barbells are frequently chosen as the first solution for training the chest as it’s the best way to load the heaviest weight possible.
Barbells can move a lot of weight, but restrict the action potential to one plane of movement. You can get a much better range of movement with dumbbells, rings, or bodyweight exercises.
Dumbbells allow you to go deeper on the pressing movements as your elbows can reach lower near the sides of the bench than you can with a barbell.
Gymnast rings or suspension bands are much more difficult since you have to balance your body weight while bringing your arms together midline of your chest. This adds intensity to the exercise and causes your stabilizer muscles to really engage.
Recommended Exercises
Incline Bench Press – This is the main exercise that you will rely on for your upper chest development, with a bench angled anywhere from 30 to 45 degrees. If upper chest development is your problem, you should be doing inclines before any of your other exercises since the upper chest will fatigue faster. When incline bench press at the end of the workout, the upper chest doesn’t get the same intensity as the lower chest and you won’t be able to do as many reps.
Bench Press – The bench press should never be removed from your chest day, but realize that bench press targets the lower and mid chest because the bench is at a flat angle. Lagging upper chest development is often from doing partial reps with weights that are too heavy. When you practice the bench press with squeeze at the top and stretch at the bottom of the movement, you’re more likely to engage those upper chest fibers. You can perform the bench press with either barbells or dumbbells.
Chest Pullovers
The chest pullover is a great exercise as it’s a compound movement that targets two stubborn muscles, the upper chest muscles near the clavicle and the serratus anterior underneath the pecs. The upper chest is specifically activated during the exercise as the upper arms stabilize the weight from the top of the head to the middle of the sternum. Performing this exercise in a 8-12 rep range will develop this area greatly.
The Wrap Up
To properly develop your chest, you need to take the time to focus on the exercises that develop the upper chest. Prioritizing incline pressing movements over your other chest exercises can improve this weak point and dramatically change the build of your torso over time.
