best upper chest workout

Con9903

Quick Q, I've noticed that my lower chest is considerably more developed than my upper chest, what are the best exercises that would focus primarily on my upper chest? I have been bench pressing, but that doesn't seem to develop my upper chest. I want to even things out. Regarding equipment I have access to a bench press and dumb bells.
Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

ajk24

Inclined bench press and flys i reckon.

Check out these websites for muscle group specific exercises

http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/exercises/muscle-groups.aspx

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.htm

dioltas

+1 Incline bench press / dumbell press

If you dont have equipment for them you could do pushups with your feet elevated.

Stay away from the decline bench press

puntosporting

dioltas wrote: »

Stay away from the decline bench press

why?

brianthebard

Deep dips might be of some help.

dioltas

I said stay away from the decline because as far as I know it emphasises the lower pecs, whereas the incline puts more focus on the upper pecs / shoulders. The OP wants to develop his upper pecs because his lower is too developed in comparison.

There's a bit about it here: http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/exercise-workout/incline-bench-press-decline.html

Transform

got to ask - what are you currently flat benching? Reps, sets, days per week

BossArky

Con9903 wrote: »

Quick Q, I've noticed that my lower chest is considerably more developed than my upper chest, what are the best exercises that would focus primarily on my upper chest?

Up until recently I found that bench pressing didn't give me much chest DOMS.

Now I've cut down to only doing chest once a week (Saturday morning) but hammer it.

• Flat Bench (oly bar) - at least 5 sets, increasing 5x5 each week
• Pull Over (dumbbell) - 4x5
• Incline Fly (dumbbell) - 4x5, same weight as Pull Over - done as superset with them
• Incline Bench (oly bar)- 4x5, about 20% less than flat bench
• Incline Bench (dumbbbell) - 4x5
• Power Clean & Press - at least 3x5 ... 1 rep = from floor to locked out overhead

Maybe something like that will help you blast your chest all over, with a bit of emphasis on upper. I know my chest and tri's were in bits for 6 days after it even though I was eating lots.

RPGGAMER

benchpress to upper chest neck like oldstyle guys like arnie/columbo used to do. and ultra wide inclines. just mind your shoulders. make sure upper back and scapula muscles are strong enough to keep shoulder blades together and down.

Hanley

Transform wrote: »

got to ask - what are you currently flat benching? Reps, sets, days per week

I like where that's going...

Transform

no point talking about upper middle lower inside outside (BS) chest unless you have built to lifting decent weights already.

Doing 25sets as Boosarky has recommended for chest is NOT what i would recommend. JUst because your stiff from a workout does not mean much. Do lots of negatives and forced reps and you will be stiff BUT get stronger pregressively every week or over time and you will have a chest to stick out.

Persaonlly i do 4-5sets on any chest exercicse every week and some push ups

Eg yesterday

Deadlift 155kg 6reps for 5 sets followed immediately by -
flat dumbbell Bench press - 31.7kg (was heaviest available) 10reps for 5 sets

Lat pull down 89kg 8reps for 4 sets
Step ups onto a bench 12.5kg 8reps on each leg for 4 sets

Biceps curls Barbell 45kg 8reps for 4sets
Wheel rollouts 10reps for 4 sets

And next week i will add more weight to each where possible.

WolfForager

Hmm I noticed what you have with myself. I started doing bench, incline bench and pec fly and i'm really starting to notice some results.

BossArky

Transform wrote: »

Doing 25sets as Boosarky has recommended for chest is NOT what i would recommend. JUst because your stiff from a workout does not mean much. Do lots of negatives and forced reps and you will be stiff BUT get stronger pregressively every week or over time and you will have a chest to stick out.

Persaonlly i do 4-5sets on any chest exercicse every week and some push ups

Boosarky? Booos Arky? Don't boo me :eek: I'm just trying to help!

I'm giving advice based on my personal experiences. Increasing the volume on chest has certainly helped me. This is the plan I'll follow to get from 1.2 bodyweight bench (87.5kg @bw 73kg) to 1.33 (100kg @~75kg).

The volume increase pushed my 5x5's up week on week. Now, I just need to figure out the optimal way of going about a 1 rep max.

The OP was asking about upperchest. Wouldn't he be better off incline pressing rather than 5x10 on the flat?

kevpants

There's no point in saying you definitely wouldn't recommend one method over another. There are infinite ways of getting stronger, I can say the method I used is completely different from both Transform's and BossArky's but that's not the point.

The OP asked about developing his upper chest and the straight answer is forget about upper or lower chest and just get a big strong chest. Until you bench more than your bodyweight I think it's irrelevant.

If you need help in getting a stronger chest then feel free to ask.

Transform

Totally agree with kevpants and boss that was a typo

Boss the program you are doing will work for a few months (especially if your under 25yrs as recovery tends to be faster) but it will not work over time as there is too much volume.

Where as if you focused on getting just plain old stronger on all lifts then you will have a great chest.

I just do not fall for the bodybuilding crap that is pushed about by most i.e. chest/triceps one day, legs another etc Doing focused workouts is fine for a change but if i am seeing a client twice a week i am going to be doing full body workouts. Leave the split programs to those that have the time to waste and the genetics to pull it off.

Finally, i couldn't give a toss what i bench as long as its going up over time and through injuries.

Size=everything

I have an ex pro helping me out right now and for chest I don't even do flat benchpressing or decline.

Essentially I concentrate all my strength on incline pench press
1st set - 15 reps
2nd set - 12 reps
3rd set - 10 reps
4th set - 8 reps
5th set - 4-6 reps

Followed by 4 sets of incline flyes
1st set - 15 reps
2nd set - 12 reps
3rd set - 10 reps
4th set - 8 reps

then 4 sets of weighted dips
1st set - 12 reps
2nd set - 12 reps
3rd set - 12 reps
4th set - 12 reps


Noticing considerable growth in my chest basically your man said you should be concentrating on those 3 exercises putting all your energy and strength into them.

RoosterIllusion

This article should give you an idea about building up overall strength as opposed to focusing.

kevpants

Size=everything wrote: »

I have an ex pro helping me out right now and for chest I don't even do flat benchpressing or decline.

Essentially I concentrate all my strength on incline pench press
1st set - 15 reps
2nd set - 12 reps
3rd set - 10 reps
4th set - 8 reps
5th set - 4-6 reps

Followed by 4 sets of incline flyes
1st set - 15 reps
2nd set - 12 reps
3rd set - 10 reps
4th set - 8 reps

then 4 sets of weighted dips
1st set - 12 reps
2nd set - 12 reps
3rd set - 12 reps
4th set - 12 reps


Noticing considerable growth in my chest basically your man said you should be concentrating on those 3 exercises putting all your energy and strength into them.

Yeah but you're already a strong guy focusing on competitive bodybuilding. For a newbie trying to get bigger a bodybuilding program wouldn't suit.

Case in point the amount of guys in the gym who weigh <70kg doing Ronnie Colemans workouts.

Transform

kevpants wrote: »

Yeah but you're already a strong guy focusing on competitive bodybuilding. For a newbie trying to get bigger a bodybuilding program wouldn't suit.

Case in point the amount of guys in the gym who weigh <70kg doing Ronnie Colemans workouts.

exactly!!!!

BossArky

Transform wrote: »

Boss the program you are doing will work for a few months (especially if your under 25yrs as recovery tends to be faster) but it will not work over time as there is too much volume.

Ok cool - I trust your experience training multiple folk.

I'm 27, but have only tried this approach for max 2 months (with a 2.5 week break in between). I was hoping to stimulate growth/strength gain over the next month or two before reverting to something a bit more standard if I hit 100kg by the end of the year.

I need to meet this years new years resolution of a 100kg bench :pac:

Transform

And it will possibly work for you but will it help in the total scheme of things i.e. to build an impressive total body - possibly not.

Overall it could be argued that doing more rotator cuff and scapular retraction work ie seated rows, band pulls, face pulls can have a greater impact on bench perfomance than benching in ANY form.

Would i get anyone to bench before they can do 15-20press ups with their nose touching the floor on each rep - emmmm possibly not (unless they really struggle to do press ups to begin with)

To the original poster - what are you currently flat benching???????

Hanley

Transform wrote: »

Overall it could be argued that doing more rotator cuff and scapular retraction work ie seated rows, band pulls, face pulls can have a greater impact on bench perfomance than benching in ANY form.

Are you stating that an argument could be made which says that doing all rotator and scap retraction work, and no chest, shoulder or tricep work could be better for your bench than working your triceps, chest and shoulders at the expense of upper back work?

BossArky

Transform wrote: »

And it will possibly work for you but will it help in the total scheme of things i.e. to build an impressive total body - possibly not.

Off topic but for the record I'm not just training chest a la the muscle out of proportion thread!

kevpants

Hanley wrote: »

Are you stating that an argument could be made which says that doing all rotator and scap retraction work, and no chest, shoulder or tricep work could be better for your bench than working your triceps, chest and shoulders at the expense of upper back work?

I think I'd definitely stand behind the argument that most novice benchers would benefit more from a lot of back work and rotator cuff prehab at the expense of working their shoulders,chest or tri's as much.

Probably because the average punter doesn't understand the importance of back work in benching and has neglected it and because most novices will pick up a rotator cuff injury at some point if they don't do any prehab work.

Of course I'm basing this assumption on my own period of newbiness.

Transform

in the long term yes.

Most people have poor posture i.e. rounded shoulders, to begin with and benching is just going to make that worse without a balance in their back/scap work.

So if you have been benching and all is going well and improving from week to week stick to it, however if your stuck lifting the same weight from week to week then you need to stop benching and spend a month on getting yourself a good strong base to push from.

I do not think you would have to stop tricep work but most people put a program together based on bodybuilding (chest one day, back another etc) NOT based on their limiting muscles.

Overall, the bench is overemphasised by almost all people most of which can't do 15-20press ups to begin with. Same goes for biceps curls and chin ups.

Learn to walk first then run.

Patto

My bench is by far my weakest lift. Recently however with the help of an expert on the subject I went from a 90kg bench to just over 100kgs by sorting out my scap mobility, scap retraction and subpression strength. I don't believe I would have been able to get to 100Kg without without sorting my scap mobility out and I would have endured persistent shoulder injuries. I think this is also why so many people plateau around this mark.

I got sorted with loads of chest supported/pull up scap shrugs, band pull aparts, YTWLs and Inverted rows. This added strength in my middle and lower back also helped improve my chins, deadlifts and squats.

I also changed my bench form bringing the line lower on my chest. This takes the pressure off the shoulders and onto the chest and lats. I agree that the bench press is somewhat overrated in its normal guise, however if you know what you are doing the bench press can be very useful.

BossArky

Patto wrote:

I got sorted with loads of chest supported/pull up scap shrugs, band pull aparts, YTWLs and Inverted rows.

YTWLs?

Transform

Lying face down on an incline bench while holding a pair of say 2kg dumbbells then you perform a Y with your arms, then T etc can be done as if doing bent over lateral raises which for most are performed with wayyy too much weight and ****ty form i.e. swinging lots and upper body not staying perfrctly parallel to the floor.

Keep weight light

Band pulls and inverted rows on rings are IMO the best though

Patto

YTWL
First hit on google:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xck3d8LidME

They are a good mobilty or prehab excersise. I often use them as an upper body warmup before chins or bench pressing. As Transform said keep the weight very low and just focus on your shoulder blades, middle and lower traps, there should be no tension in the upper traps.

You need to use the inverted rows and scap shrugs to build scap retraction control and strength.