“Upper Chest Exercises”Today, I’d like to go over some basic upper chest exercises that you can do to effectively hit your mid to upper pectoral region.
I think it’s important that you understand that the chest is a fairly large muscle group and should be hit from a variety of angles.
I'm sure if your reading this page now, your looking for upper chest exercises that can help you build more power and muscle to your upper chest.
The following upper chest exercises are primarily the main exercises. However, there are a few that I’ve picked up along my weight training journey that I know most trainers don’t know about. You’ll find some exciting upper chest exercises here. Let’s take a look at the chest exercises: Upper Chest Exercise #1 - The Incline Barbell Press
This is an excellent weight lifting exercise for the upper chest. But if the exercise is done incorrectly, the only muscles that will be developed are the front deltoids. A great upper chest weight lifting exercise. Position for the incline bench press 1. Lie back on an incline bench (35 to 45 degrees) with your feet firmly planted on the floor. Your back should be pressed firmly against the padding. 2. Grip the barbell with your thumbs roughly 3 feet (90 cm) apart. Make sure that the grip is balanced between both sides of your body. Lift the bar from the rack. Execution of the incline bench press 1. Take the barbell from the rack and lock your elbows at the top position. Keeping the arms away from the body, lower the barbell to the upper chest area slowly and controlled. 2. Lightly touch the upper chest area and push the weight back up in a controlled manner to the starting position. Try and keep your eyes on the barbell at all times as this will help out with balancing the weight and movement. 3. Keep the movement fluent, slow, and controlled. Upper Chest Exercise #2 - The Dumbbell Incline Press
The dumbbell incline press is a variation of the incline barbell press. This is a great exercise to do if your lagging on the incline press or looking for something new to try. This is a great upper chest exercise. Position for the dumbbell incline press 1. While seated in an incline bench, grasp two dumbbells in an overhand grip. 2. Rest the dumbbells in an upright position on the edge of your knees. 3. Carefully lie on the incline bench, bringing the dumbbells to the sides of your torso at chest level. Make sure to bring the dumbbells up simultaneously. Feet should be planted firmly on the floor. 4. Slowly adjust the dumbbells with your arms fully extended at right angles to the floor. Press the weight up to the locked position. The dumbbells should be held directly over your chest area, slightly touching each other with palms facing forward. Execution of the dumbbell incline press 1. Slowly bend you arms and lower both dumbbells in a slow, controlled fashion to your chest. The dumbbells should be at the sides of your chest. 2. Lower the dumbbells to a position where you feel a comfortable stretch. 3. Slowly press the weight back up from the sides of your chest to the starting position. Do not bounce the weight from the chest. Keep you elbows out and away from the trunk of your body. 4. Keep the movement fluent, slow, and controlled. Upper Chest Exercise #3 - The Incline Dumbbell Fly
Position 1. While seated on the edge of an incline bench, grasp two dumbbells in an overhand grip. 2. Rest the dumbbells in an upright position on the edge of your knees. 3. Carefully lie on the incline bench, bringing the dumbbells to the sides of your torso at chest level. Make sure to bring the dumbbells up simultaneously. Feet should be planted firmly on the floor. 3. Slowly adjust the dumbbells with your arms fully extended at right angles to the floor. Press the weight up to the locked position. The dumbbells should be held directly over your chest area, slightly touching each other with palms facing inward. 4. Elbows must remain flexed throughout the entire movement. Execution 1. Slowly lower your arms out to the side of your body with your arms at right angles. The dumbbells should be slowly lowered in an arc like motion toward the floor until your chest is comfortably stretched. 2. At the bottom position of the exercise your hands should be parallel the trunk of your body. Raise and repeat. The elbows should be slightly bent throughout the whole movement and should not be altered from start to finish (imagine your arms wrapping around a large tree). 3. Keep the movement fluent, slow, and controlled Upper Chest Exercise #4 - Straight Arm Pec Deck We are going to do a variation of the pec deck in order to hit the upper chest. I remember first hearing about this technique back in 1990 from a body builder friend of mine. If you are familiar at all with the pec deck, you will know that it is a pretty straight forward movement. Check out the images below. Start
Finish
Pec deck images courtesy of: Mega Pro As you can see from the above images, the movement involves your arms being bent at about 90 degrees. The variation I’m proposing will hit the upper chest with a lot more emphasis. Here’s what I want you to do: • Get situated in the pec deck position as you normally would • Instead of bending your arms at 90 degrees, extend your arms until they are straight. The pads should be at the insides of your elbows and your hands fully extended. • Move your arms up by about 3 to 5 inches. Doing this will have an incline effect on the movement which will stimulate the upper chest. • To start the movement, your arms should be straight and up by about 3 to 5 inches. • Do the movement as you normally would but when you come to the middle portion of the movement, your going to lightly clap your hands together (while keeping your hands straight). This will tighten your upper chest. • Repeat the movement. Upper Chest Exercise #5 - The Constant Tension Exercise The constant tension exercise is very simple to do. All your going to do is grab two ten pound plates and your going to squeeze both of them together with your hands, with your arms straight out in front of you (with a little bend). Lift your arms up by about 4 to 6 inches. This will add more tension to your upper chest. Your going to count to 15 and than put them down. Try it right now. Put your arms straight out in front of you. Now, turn your hands so that your palms are touching each other, sort of like clapping, only your hands are always going to be touching each other. Feel the tension in your chest? Now, try raising your arms by 4 inches and you’ll notice the tension going to your upper chest. All you want to do is use two 10 pound plates in between each hand. Now, if you can’t perform this with 10 pound plates, use 5 pounds, as long as you get a count of 15 out of it. Alright, these are some of the more popular upper chest exercises. Really, if you want to hit your upper chest, all you need is the first two exercises. I would say the last two exercises, the adjusted pec deck fly and the constant tension exercise are more of a finishing exercise so, I would leave them last. I’ve decided to attached a video lesson from Sean Nalewanyj. He's the owner of Muscle Gain Truth and really knows his stuff. Sean will tell you which exercises are the best for gaining strength and muscle. He will also help you structure a chest routine that will add slabs of beef to your upper body. Take a look at the video here. |
