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Trying to build upper chest

Ripped2153

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No matter what I do I can’t fill in my upper chest enough...I hit it 4 times a week minimum just can’t seem to gain the size I’m looking for....any suggestions ?
 
No matter what I do I can’t fill in my upper chest enough...I hit it 4 times a week minimum just can’t seem to gain the size I’m looking for....any suggestions ?
Do something different with training and diet.

Whatever you've been doing, do the opposite
 
Make sure you're hitting your upper chest. For a long time, I did incline presses that worked great with dumbbells, but with barbells, focused too much on delts and tris. By contrast, a standard military press with good form definitely hits my upper chest, along with delts, tris, traps, etc., and it hits my chest from a different, almost more direct angle. Using different angles is important in stimulating the optimal fibers so that a particular muscle grows. Upper chest can be hit in a number of ways, but a lot of people rely too much on presses to build it up because they don't want to be seen using light weights with their chest. I like using Dumbbell presses at about a 45 degree angle. I also think my body responds well to volume and TUT (or frequency and TUT withc some groups), so I do like 2 sets, 12-15 and 10-12 (or 12-15 again), then a drop set that looks like 6,4 or 6,6 and finally another drop set that looks like 4,4,4, or 4,6,4, or 4, 6, 8.
Barbell presses I use with lighter weights and shoot for high reps. My goal is to fill my upper pecs with blood and stimulate those fibers, not recruit other muscle groups by going to heavy. Some days I'll do 2 sets of 20 with maybe a rest pause around 15-16, then do about three sets with dumbbells, two of them drop-sets ideally. Don't be afraid to let people see you going light on your chest, even with barbells, focus on building a mind-muscle connection. I think you should maybe skip the barbell presses if you do those and focus on dumbbells. Alter the set and rep scheme, as well as the tempo at which you lower the weights.

Incline push-ups also hit upper chest and can help fill the area with blood for a great pump by using at the end or beginning, or even throughout the day. Dips hit other areas aside from the chest as well, but they might hit your pecs at just the right angle, or at least confuse them a little. Go slow and see where in the process you feel the most tension, work on isometric holds in that position.

Another option you may want to incorporate into your routine is cables and machines. Incline cable crossovers can really help develop the upper pecs and help define the line dividing the two pectorals. Try similar movements with dumbbells and barbells and see how your body reacts. Smith machine presses can help you isolate where the bar comes down to on your chest if you do a straight up and down rep (I know that's not optimal technique for max performance). There's also incline flies with or without a machine to try to keep a solid pump and hopefully develop some striations in that area.

I'd also suggest incline hammer strength presses. In general, aim for higher reps (or drop sets / rest pause sets). I'm not talking crazy high reps, maybe between 12-20 on cable crossovers and 8-15 for incline hammer strength presses. Try to keep the reps at 8 or higher, try not to fall below 6, but keep most of your sets in the 12 rep range.

These are just some ideas based on workouts I used to try to bring my upper pecs up to par with the rest of my chest. Again, using my experience, I'd suggest hitting incline dumbbell presses 2x a week, incline push-ups 2x a week, Incline flies 2x a week, military press (with delts) 1 x a week, hammer strength incline press 1x a week, dips 3x a week, and, very important, incline cable crossovers 3 x a week. Also, in addition to military presses, go heavy and use use Arnold presses for shoulders, close grip upright rows, and use plates, Dumbbells, or kettle balls for front raises while trying to grip the weight so that your hand is facing inward to the side, or even slightly upward. Going heavy on lifts that focus on the front delts might cause your body to recruit the upper pecs for help. Just make sure you go hard on the middle, top, side, and rear delts as well as back.
 
I have a really flat upper chest but the single exercise that has really started to make a difference that I never used to do is Incline Flyes. Yes, that single exercise is a game changer for me atleast and now I totally understand why all the pros do them so much. I don't do a deep stretch bc that is bad for my shoulders, but even so my chest gets stimulated and I can really squeeze my inner/upper pec on the positive. 3-4 sets for 10-12 reps
 
Stop training it 4 times a week. Less frequency and more intensity. You have to recover.
 
I have a really flat upper chest but the single exercise that has really started to make a difference that I never used to do is Incline Flyes. Yes, that single exercise is a game changer for me atleast and now I totally understand why all the pros do them so much. I don't do a deep stretch bc that is bad for my shoulders, but even so my chest gets stimulated and I can really squeeze my inner/upper pec on the positive. 3-4 sets for 10-12 reps
This i concur. I like cable flyes better tho cause easier on my shit shoulders. I assume it's the line of pull difference.

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I see people all the time with no upper chest so for some years now I’ve been starting my chest workout with an incline movement always. And it’s made a big difference in my upper chest.
And finish with incline flys is good.
 
I see people all the time with no upper chest so for some years now I’ve been starting my chest workout with an incline movement always. And it’s made a big difference in my upper chest.
And finish with incline flys is good.

Barbell Bench to neck is another good one to add to Arsenal.

Max
 
I kept reading incline press incline press for upper chest. So that's what i did always toast my delts. Finally I discovered a Ben pakulski video wheres he's discussing flat pressing hits upper pecs instead of delts for alot of dudes. So I switched and it made a huge difference. I save incline for cable and dumbel flies. Try it out.

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This i concur. I like cable flyes better tho cause easier on my shit shoulders. I assume it's the line of pull difference.

UNCLE Z REP
WWW.UNCLEZ.RU FOR LIST/ORDERING

ORDERS@UNCLEZ.RU FOR ORDER QUESTIONS

PM FOR ALL OTHER HELP

Cable Flyes would probably be even better with the constant tension. I know Jay Cutler likes those.
 
I kept reading incline press incline press for upper chest. So that's what i did always toast my delts. Finally I discovered a Ben pakulski video wheres he's discussing flat pressing hits upper pecs instead of delts for alot of dudes. So I switched and it made a huge difference. I save incline for cable and dumbel flies. Try it out.

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Yeah it's weird like that for me too, inclines barbell never give me a pump in my chest. Besides the outer chest by the armpit which I have enough of and for me flat bench or Flyes/pec deck works that part enough. So far for me incline flyes are valuable because I can really squeeze my upper chest at the top of the movement. I think the chest really needs that squeeze to get that full look.
 
Yeah it's weird like that for me too, inclines barbell never give me a pump in my chest. Besides the outer chest by the armpit which I have enough of and for me flat bench or Flyes/pec deck works that part enough. So far for me incline flyes are valuable because I can really squeeze my upper chest at the top of the movement. I think the chest really needs that squeeze to get that full look.
I agree I shoulda mentioned focus on that muscle contraction. Dropping weight and realy focusing on theind muscle contraction helped me alot as welll.

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Thanks everyone been busy so took a minute for me to respond ...a lot of good input - def planning on putting some of these into action !
 
Do you feel a strong pump in your upper chest? Or mostly shoulders and/or triceps? For a long time, my ego led me to heavier weights only to put 80% of the workload on my shoulders and tris ... once I got past that with much lighter weight, I was able to hone in on them and get a good pump and work up with weights from there.
 
You cant target your upper chest. Your entire chest contracts as a whole with pressing. Its all genetics unfortunately.
 
if u r training your upper pecs 4times a week i would have to bet u Over training them severely.
r your front delts dominant over upper pecs?
 
Last edited:
if u r training your upper pecs 4times a week i would have to bet u Over training them severely.
r your front delts dominant over upper pecs?

Imo if you're hitting your chest with enough intensity to grow then once every 5-7 days is enough. On gear your MPS is elevated for much longer so no need to train it twice a week unless you have great genetics and can actually benefit from it, even then it's probably only a short term benefit until burnout occurs.
 
Low incline bench press barbell and dumbell, as well as overhead press.
 
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Try replacing the flat press and just start with doing incline DB's with a spotter so you can get the most out of it, and lots and lots of incline cable flies.
Ditch flat press in all and just use machines/hammer press for those, and try and really really focus on your contraction hold with the cables, dial down the weights and just try to activate and god for the feel and tune in..its all about activation...
 
Low incline bench press barbell and dumbell, as well as overhead press.
On this note -

The high ass incline most guys use and, most fixed benches are in, isn't doing you any good unless you want more strain on the delts.

A very slight incline or decline is plenty to shift load. Just a single plate under an adjustable bench will be sufficient.
 
On this note -

The high ass incline most guys use and, most fixed benches are in, isn't doing you any good unless you want more strain on the delts.

A very slight incline or decline is plenty to shift load. Just a single plate under an adjustable bench will be sufficient.
Good stuff Monte...

I like to hit inclines on 2 or 3 as far as setting goes on the incline seat. When you hit 4, (around 45° or so) which is what most people put it on, front delts come into play big time.

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You cant target your upper chest. Your entire chest contracts as a whole with pressing. Its all genetics unfortunately.
To elaborate and to give a quick review of anatomy for those who are interested. The muscles of the chest are made up of two primary muscles- the pec major and minor. The pec minor is NOT a "mover." It is a fixating muscle whose only action is fixate and stabilize the scapula by drawing it inferiorly and anteriorly against the thoracicwall. In other words, it wont gain significant hypertrophy from bench pressing, because that is not what it does- it fixates and helps keeps the shoulder joint in place; it doesn't move and contract the way that the pec major does.

Next, the pec major- the large muscle that fans our from the sternum to the shoulder joint, with fibers running out in that direction. Muscles, as we all know, can only contract in the following ways- one, either completely or not at all (like a light switch), so there's no way to work only a portion of the muscle; in other words, you can't cause a nerve impulse to contract from one portion of the muscle without contracting the entire thing- just doesn't work that way. Two, they only contract in the direction that the fibers run (which is why pullovers are not a "chest" movement- they cause the chest to move up-and-down, not in and out).

Finally, Electromyography (EMG) is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. It actually measures where and how hard a muscle contracts. Basically, when a muscle contracts it produces electrical energy. The higher the electrical energy the more work the actual muscle is producing. By attaching electrodes to the skin over the bellies of each of these muscles this electrical energy can be measured and read using an electromyograph (EMG).

OK, now that that's out of the way, some logic should dictate my next point- if you can only contract a muscle entirely or not at all, significant changes in how that muscle contracts shouldn't be caused by changing the angle of a pressing movement. This is why inclines do not cause significant growth in the "upper pecs"- first, there are no upper pecs, just pecs; second, moving the angle will not increase greater contraction across this gradient.
When applying EMG activity to the chest, what do the results say? Rather than citing each of the several studies that say this, I'll direct you to the following meta-analysis, which has done just that, and quote some of the particulars. Have a read of the entire thing if it interests you:

https://thesportjournal.org/article/optimizing-development-of-the-pectoralis-major/

The first noteworthy piece here, states, "It has been perceived that by performing the bench press at the incline position the clavicular head is targeted while the horizontal position targets the sternocostal head. Barnett, C., et al. (1995) showed that the clavicular head showed no significant difference in EMG activity from the horizontal to the incline position but was least active during the decline bench press. "

Barnett, C., et al (1995), also found this to be true, noting "The incline press does not result in greater activation of the clavicular head of the pectoralis major than the horizontal bench press." (http://www.daveywaveyfitness.com/wp...the-EMG-Activity-of-Five-Shoulder-Muscles.pdf)

Glass, S. C., & Armstrong, T. also found this to be true, concluding that, "there was no significant difference in activation of the upper pectoral portion during either the incline or decline bench press."
All of the the emg studies I know of said the same thing- isolation of the upper pecs, or even noticeably greater development of them is not going to happen from doing inclines.

I don't believe that inclines are bad, they are great because they offer variation to your workouts and and certainly have their place. It's just that they aren't going to hit the clavicular head of the pecs much more than flat benching, and thus, offer no advantage over a supine bench press in terms of that. Just my 2 cents, feel free to do which ever exercise that works for you.
 
To elaborate and to give a quick review of anatomy for those who are interested. The muscles of the chest are made up of two primary muscles- the pec major and minor. The pec minor is NOT a "mover." It is a fixating muscle whose only action is fixate and stabilize the scapula by drawing it inferiorly and anteriorly against the thoracicwall. In other words, it wont gain significant hypertrophy from bench pressing, because that is not what it does- it fixates and helps keeps the shoulder joint in place; it doesn't move and contract the way that the pec major does.

Next, the pec major- the large muscle that fans our from the sternum to the shoulder joint, with fibers running out in that direction. Muscles, as we all know, can only contract in the following ways- one, either completely or not at all (like a light switch), so there's no way to work only a portion of the muscle; in other words, you can't cause a nerve impulse to contract from one portion of the muscle without contracting the entire thing- just doesn't work that way. Two, they only contract in the direction that the fibers run (which is why pullovers are not a "chest" movement- they cause the chest to move up-and-down, not in and out).

Finally, Electromyography (EMG) is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. It actually measures where and how hard a muscle contracts. Basically, when a muscle contracts it produces electrical energy. The higher the electrical energy the more work the actual muscle is producing. By attaching electrodes to the skin over the bellies of each of these muscles this electrical energy can be measured and read using an electromyograph (EMG).

OK, now that that's out of the way, some logic should dictate my next point- if you can only contract a muscle entirely or not at all, significant changes in how that muscle contracts shouldn't be caused by changing the angle of a pressing movement. This is why inclines do not cause significant growth in the "upper pecs"- first, there are no upper pecs, just pecs; second, moving the angle will not increase greater contraction across this gradient.
When applying EMG activity to the chest, what do the results say? Rather than citing each of the several studies that say this, I'll direct you to the following meta-analysis, which has done just that, and quote some of the particulars. Have a read of the entire thing if it interests you:

https://thesportjournal.org/article/optimizing-development-of-the-pectoralis-major/

The first noteworthy piece here, states, "It has been perceived that by performing the bench press at the incline position the clavicular head is targeted while the horizontal position targets the sternocostal head. Barnett, C., et al. (1995) showed that the clavicular head showed no significant difference in EMG activity from the horizontal to the incline position but was least active during the decline bench press. "

Barnett, C., et al (1995), also found this to be true, noting "The incline press does not result in greater activation of the clavicular head of the pectoralis major than the horizontal bench press." (http://www.daveywaveyfitness.com/wp...the-EMG-Activity-of-Five-Shoulder-Muscles.pdf)

Glass, S. C., & Armstrong, T. also found this to be true, concluding that, "there was no significant difference in activation of the upper pectoral portion during either the incline or decline bench press."
All of the the emg studies I know of said the same thing- isolation of the upper pecs, or even noticeably greater development of them is not going to happen from doing inclines.

I don't believe that inclines are bad, they are great because they offer variation to your workouts and and certainly have their place. It's just that they aren't going to hit the clavicular head of the pecs much more than flat benching, and thus, offer no advantage over a supine bench press in terms of that. Just my 2 cents, feel free to do which ever exercise that works for you.

But were those test subjects actively squeezing their upper pecs during the incline movements? They were likely just moving the weight up and down. I think inclines are more effective if you are more conscious of the muscle during the lift, aka the mind muscle connection, imo it really makes a difference.
 
To elaborate and to give a quick review of anatomy for those who are interested. The muscles of the chest are made up of two primary muscles- the pec major and minor. The pec minor is NOT a "mover." It is a fixating muscle whose only action is fixate and stabilize the scapula by drawing it inferiorly and anteriorly against the thoracicwall. In other words, it wont gain significant hypertrophy from bench pressing, because that is not what it does- it fixates and helps keeps the shoulder joint in place; it doesn't move and contract the way that the pec major does.

Next, the pec major- the large muscle that fans our from the sternum to the shoulder joint, with fibers running out in that direction. Muscles, as we all know, can only contract in the following ways- one, either completely or not at all (like a light switch), so there's no way to work only a portion of the muscle; in other words, you can't cause a nerve impulse to contract from one portion of the muscle without contracting the entire thing- just doesn't work that way. Two, they only contract in the direction that the fibers run (which is why pullovers are not a "chest" movement- they cause the chest to move up-and-down, not in and out).

Finally, Electromyography (EMG) is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. It actually measures where and how hard a muscle contracts. Basically, when a muscle contracts it produces electrical energy. The higher the electrical energy the more work the actual muscle is producing. By attaching electrodes to the skin over the bellies of each of these muscles this electrical energy can be measured and read using an electromyograph (EMG).

OK, now that that's out of the way, some logic should dictate my next point- if you can only contract a muscle entirely or not at all, significant changes in how that muscle contracts shouldn't be caused by changing the angle of a pressing movement. This is why inclines do not cause significant growth in the "upper pecs"- first, there are no upper pecs, just pecs; second, moving the angle will not increase greater contraction across this gradient.
When applying EMG activity to the chest, what do the results say? Rather than citing each of the several studies that say this, I'll direct you to the following meta-analysis, which has done just that, and quote some of the particulars. Have a read of the entire thing if it interests you:

https://thesportjournal.org/article/optimizing-development-of-the-pectoralis-major/

The first noteworthy piece here, states, "It has been perceived that by performing the bench press at the incline position the clavicular head is targeted while the horizontal position targets the sternocostal head. Barnett, C., et al. (1995) showed that the clavicular head showed no significant difference in EMG activity from the horizontal to the incline position but was least active during the decline bench press. "

Barnett, C., et al (1995), also found this to be true, noting "The incline press does not result in greater activation of the clavicular head of the pectoralis major than the horizontal bench press." (http://www.daveywaveyfitness.com/wp...the-EMG-Activity-of-Five-Shoulder-Muscles.pdf)

Glass, S. C., & Armstrong, T. also found this to be true, concluding that, "there was no significant difference in activation of the upper pectoral portion during either the incline or decline bench press."
All of the the emg studies I know of said the same thing- isolation of the upper pecs, or even noticeably greater development of them is not going to happen from doing inclines.

I don't believe that inclines are bad, they are great because they offer variation to your workouts and and certainly have their place. It's just that they aren't going to hit the clavicular head of the pecs much more than flat benching, and thus, offer no advantage over a supine bench press in terms of that. Just my 2 cents, feel free to do which ever exercise that works for you.
Yate and meadows will be opposed to this, these guys swear by it, and Yates often talks about how guys do then wrong by going to much on a incline, you simply dont need much, and John said he hardly does flat.. they don't get down to the brass of it all and simply keep it simple by saying, its works, give a shot if you like..
 
Hit it once a week with high intensity/ low volume and make sure you are eating enough to grow
 
Follow the good advice given above, if that doesn’t work get different parents.
 
Make sure I’m your gumdrop is not too wide.. or at least vary it the same way you should vary the incline... closer grip 20 degree incline really hits inner portion right under the clavicles

- - - Updated - - -

Make sure I’m your grip is not too wide.. or at least vary it the same way you should vary the incline... closer grip 20 degree incline really hits inner portion right under the clavicles
 
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