Best upper chest exericse | Exercise for upper chest - fitROSKY

 

Some people have stubborn chest to grow because it is the hardest area of the chest to build in comparison to middle and lower part. It is hard to grow because there are much less muscle fibers of the upper chest inserting into the clavicle bone or collar bone. so it required a specific movement or exercise to grow them, slightly changes in angle of training may distract the muscle tension to middle chest or front shoulder.

Upper pecs muscles are very apparent part of upper body. these muscles are the responsible for your bigger chest look. 

Anatomy of Pectoral region (chest)

Pectoral region contains four muscles:

• The pectoralis major
• The pectoralis minor
• Serratus anterior
• Subclavius 

Upper chest: Clavicular head is the the part of pectoralis major which makes upper part of chest. it originates from the anterior surface of the medial clavicle. 

Subclavius is a small muscle which lies directly underneath the clavicle which also makes the upper part of chest, originate from the junction of 1st rib and its coastal cartilage.

Chest contains three parts upper, lower and mid chest and to train them individual you need to change angle for individual muscle part for instance:

• Incline : This position will target your upper chest muscle part 
• Decline: This position will target your lower chest muscle part and 
• Flat: This one will target your whole chest (upper, mid and lower part)

Also read: Best workout to get rid of Gynecomastia and Pseudogynecomastia

 

This article shows you best exercise to grow your stubborn upper chest:

1. Incline Dumbbell press

Incline dumbbell is one of the best exercise to target your upper chest because dumbbell allows more free range of motion, which can easily stimulate your muscle to grow efficiently. 

How to do incline dumbbell press

Sit on an inclined bench, and lift the pair of dumbbells (weight according to your strength in which you can hit 10-15 reps) up, now slowly press down the dumbbell with straight arms hold for a sec and now lift the dumbbell to the starting position try not to lock you arms cause it may lose tension from your chest. 

Advantages of incline dumbbell press

• Dumbbells allows more free range of motion
• Dumbbells stimulate muscle more than barbell 
• Using dumbbell ensure that you put equal force from both of your hands. 
• It helps stabilize your shoulder and develop balance.
  

2. Incline bench press

Incline bench press is same as incline dumbbell press, with the only difference that you use barbell instead of dumbbells. 

Incline bench press is best to emphasize your upper chest than flat bench press. In incline bench press your upper chest muscles are directly in the line of work, which out more tension on your upper pecs muscle fiber. 

How to do the incline bench press

Adjust the bench to a 30 to 40 degree incline position and sit on the incline bench, hold the barbell lit wider to shoulder and unrack the barbell and hold it with straight arms above your shoulders. Now let the barbell down to your upper chest hold for a second and push the bar up to the starting position, don't lock your arm. 

Advantages of incline bench press

• Allows a good range of motion which is sufficient to stimulate your upper chest.
• Incline bench press is best in term of build upper chest than flat bench press
• Its give better stability.
  

3. Incline dumbbell fly 

Incline dumbbell fly is an isolation exercise which works on upper chest muscles. It offers a deep range of motion which activates the upper pecs. 

How to do incline dumbbell fly

Adjust the bench to a 30 degree incline position and sit on the bench and hold the dumbbell in each hand and lift the dumbbell over your chest. Now slightly bend your arms and let the arms slowly come down in an arc position until you feel stretch in your chest, exhale and slowly back to the starting position. 

Advantages of incline dumbbell fly

• Gives proper stretch to the upper pecs

4. Low cable fly 

Low cable fly is an isolation exercise which targets upper pecs muscles. For low cable fly you have to set pulleys low and pull the handle up. 

How to do low cable fly

Set the pulleys low and hold the handles in each hand, step forward a bit and lean slightly forward now push the handles forward with your slight bend arms until the handles meet in front of your chest. Slowly back to the starting position.

Advantages of low cable fly

• Low cable fly is an isolation exercise which allows to focus only upper chest muscles.
• This exercise keeps constant tension on your upper chest muscles throughout the movement. 

5. Machine chest fly

Machine chest fly works similar to lying chest dumbbell fly. Machine chest fly works on all chest muscles. It gives you more free range of motion. 

How to do machine chest fly

Sit on the machine, lean your back to the machine and hold the handles at shoulder height. Push the handles forward with slight bend arms until they meet in front of your chest, back to the starting position with a control motion. 

Advantages of machine chest fly

• Offers you a deep range of motion
• More stable than dumbbell chest fly

Also read: Home workout to get rid of chest fat

 

How many sets and reps should perform

Every exercise should contain 3-4 sets and every sets with 10-12reps

DAY 1

• Machine chest fly: 4 sets x 10 reps
• Incline dumbbell press: 4 sets x 10 reps
• Low cable fly: 3 sets x 10 reps
• Decline Push-up: 3 sets x 10 reps

DAY 4

• Incline chest press: 4 sets x 10 reps
• Incline dumbbell fly: 4 sets x 10 reps
• Low cable fly: 3 sets x 10 reps
• Decline Push-up: 3 sets x 10 reps

Also read: Muscular Chest : 5 best exercise for Big and Shredded Chest

Tips to grow upper chest

1. Progressive overload: It means gradually increase of the stress upon the muscles by putting extra weights or more reps. It helps to avoid a plateau in body strength and muscle mass.

2. Rest: Rest is very important when you are working out because when your body is in rest it helps muscles recover and repair damaged tissues. Rest allows your body to refuel your glycogen stores so that you can perform well next day.

3. Focus on deep range of motion: Range of motion is very important while you doing chest exercise because it provide more stretch and tension upon the muscle fiber which rest in gain more strength, increases flexibility and reduced stiffness.

4. Train twice a week: Training each muscle group twice a week promote hypertrophy. A meta-analysis of 2016 has found that frequencies of training twice a week promote superior hypertrophy. 

5. Don't forget to do warmup: Don't overlook warm-up, it plays a very important role in bodybuilding it prevents from injury, improve muscle and body temperature and increase flexibility.