The Upper Chest Solution!

Today we’re going to go over some techniques to help you activate more of your upper chest when training, because if that’s a lagging area for you, it could be due to a few different reasons. It could be because you have poor mind-muscle connection (which we’re going to fix), or it could be because your form is off just a bit when you’re doing your incline bench press and believe it or not, there’s a few minor details to the incline bench press that if you are doing wrong, you’re not going to get much upper chest activation and in fact you might be bringing more shoulders into the movement.

Anatomy Of The Chest

When it comes to the chest, we have the pectoralis major. But there’s the clavicular head and the sternal costal head. Now what we want to do is place a bit more emphasis on that clavicular head because that’s technically the ‘upper chest’, but keep in mind, whether you’re flat bench pressing or incline bench pressing, the entire chest is being activated. 

But, if you have poor mind-muscle connection (MMC), you might not be getting as much activation as you want out of that upper head.

Improving MMC Of The Upper Chest – High-To-Low Cable Fly

This is an exercise that I like to do with my clients to try to get them to know exactly what it feels like to place more emphasis on that upper area. Or, as I like to say, increase their MMC. This movement is a high-to-low cable fly and this is probably an exercise that a lot of you have in your workout routines right now, but you’re utilizing it more as a muscle building exercise, versus a technique to help activate that area more. 

Remember, that’s what we’re doing here so we’re not going to go super heavy with the weight and we’re going to change the form a little bit, so we can get what we want out of the movement.

When setting this up, you want the cable to be about the same height as your head and this includes if you’re doing this exercise in your regular routine as well. Just because it’s a high-to-low cable fly doesn’t mean you need to put it all the way to the top of the cable machine. When you put it all the way to the top, it causes your arm to go into a higher angle and you end up bringing more shoulder into the exercise and you’re definitely not activating that upper chest.

Now for the purpose of what we’re using this exercise for (which is activating the upper chest), what you’re going to do is step away from the machine so the weight stack is barely off the bottom portion of the stack. Then you’re going to turn your body and make sure your elbow is down and maintain a slight bend in your elbow. 

Then right from the start, you should already start to feel a stretch in your upper chest (in your chest in general, but A LOT in the upper chest). From here, you want to come through and bring it in and across your body, which is why you’re doing this exercise with one arm instead of two. If you use two hands at a time, you have to stop in the middle or do some kind of awkward criss-cross. You just want to focus on targeting that area, so you’re going to do one arm at a time. 

As you come across, focus on pumping your chest up and squeezing and flexing and feeling the entire upper chest area activate. If you’re still having a hard time feeling it, I want you to take your other hand and I want you to caress that area real good as you go back and forward with the cable.  

This is actually a technique you can use (as long as you don’t need your other hand) at least when training your chest to try to focus more on that area. You’re going to do 8 – 10 reps per side with this exercise and some of you might only need to do it once, some might need to do it twice, but just make sure you do it enough that by the time you put the weight down, you feel some activation in that upper chest, that it has been activated and that you’ve increased that MMC.

What If I Don’t Have Access To A Cable?

For those of you who don’t have a cable machine, just grab a band and again, wrap it around a structure at about head height. Then all you’re going to do is the exact same thing as you did with the cable – take a step away, come all the way across your body, flex your chest, then come back nice and slow and repeat for 8 – 10 repetitions on one side before completing another 8 – 10 repetitions on the other side. Once you’ve done this, you’ve completed the pre activation.

Go For The Incline Bench Press

In your chest workout, if you’re always rushing to the flat bench press first because you can bench the most there, that’s OK, but if the upper chest is lagging, go to the incline bench press first, it just makes sense. But on the incline bench press, some of you might have an issue for a few different reasons. 

Number one: if the gym you go to has an incline bench press machine, unfortunately, a lot of these are set up where the angle of the bench could be too high. I’ve been in gyms where the incline bench press is way too high, which brings a lot more shoulders into the movement.

Number two: they could have some adjustable benches, but they go to the same area as the incline bench press machines and don’t allow you to get into the proper position. Personally, I find about a 45 degree angle of the bench to be the best position that you want to be in, in order to get the best out of the exercise when trying to hit more upper chest. 

So what do you do if the adjustable bench doesn’t allow you to get into this position? It’s very simple, you can get a regular flat bench, take some plates and stack one or two on top of each other under the bench to get you in the position where you need to be.

How To Properly Incline Bench Press

Now when it comes to your form (and this is SUPER important), you know the form cues when doing a flat bench press. All of those same form cues apply when doing an incline bench press. You want to retract and depress your shoulders, have a slight arch in your back, flex your glutes, keep your feet flat on the ground and make sure you’re pushing your knees out as you’re performing the repetitions to give you a solid base so you can lift as much weight as possible.

But what tends to happen, because you’re going back on an incline, is as you throw yourself backwards (especially with heavy dumbbells), is even though you start with your shoulder blades retracted and depressed, when you fall back and throw the weights up, the shoulder blades are often no longer depressed. That slight movement can bring a lot more shoulders into the exercise. If you come back and your shoulder blades are retracted but no longer depressed, you’ll end up benching more over your upper chest and bringing more shoulders into the movement.

You might even be feeling pain when you do the incline bench press for this very reason. You have to get into the habit of, when you roll backwards, push off your toes and get your hands into the correct position, then stay in that position and just slightly turn your elbows in. Believe it or not, this is exactly where you want to be when benching – elbows slightly turned in, able to go all the way down and as you press through the movement, you’ll instantly notice more chest activation and you’re pushing through your triceps and your shoulders are no longer involved.

Conclusion

To wrap things up, if you’re trying to work on your upper chest and you’ve been having a hard time building it, there’s no secret. There’s no amazing technique that I’m holding back. It’s literally increasing that MMC in the upper chest and then just fixing your form when doing the incline bench press!