How to Grow Your Upper Chest: Evidence-Based Strategies for Maximum Hypertrophy

Building a well-defined and muscular chest involves targeting the pectoralis major, which has two primary parts: the sternal head (middle chest) and the clavicular head (upper chest).

While many focus on overall chest development, the upper chest can often be a challenging area to grow. If you're looking to increase muscle mass and strength in your upper chest, it’s essential to incorporate the right exercises, angles, and techniques that specifically target the clavicular head of the pectoralis major.

Below, we explore the most effective ways to build your upper chest based on the latest scientific studies.

What You'll Find Out

• 🤓 Benefits Of Unilateral Training

• 👉 How To Implement Into Your Training

• ✍️ TL:DR - Key Takeaways & Practical Applications

ANGLES
The Importance Of Including Incline Work

One of the most effective exercises to target the upper chest is the incline bench and dumbbell press. Incline presses, whether performed with a barbell or dumbbells, are superior for engaging the clavicular head of the pectoralis major. Research supports this, showing that incline presses at a 15°-30° angle significantly enhance upper chest activation compared to other variations.

A study published by (Rodríguez-Ridao et al., 2020) compared EMG activity in the several muscles while bench pressing at 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, and 60° in thirty trained adults.

There findings showed that the upper pecs had the highest readings when performed at 30°. Middle region of the pectoralis major and lower pecs showed higher EMG activity at a 0° bench, while anterior deltoids (front delts) had the highest EMG activity at 60°. Triceps showed similar EMG activities at all bench inclinations.

Although these findings show that upper pec activity falls away after 30°, an earlier randomised controlled trial by (Trebs et al., 2010), found that the clavicular head (upper pec region) of the pectoralis major experienced significantly heightened activity levels at bench angles of 44° and 56° but not at 28°; contrasting with the study above.

However it should be noted that in the trial carried out by (Trebs et al., 2010), they used a smith machine and not a free weight barbell or dumbbell.

The findings of increased upper pec activation while using a smith machine instead of free weights could lend itself to variation within your personal program. Perhaps incline press in the 15-30 degree angle with free weights once per week and 30-45 degree angle with a smith machine once per week.

INCLUDE INCLINE FLYS

A study by (Solstad et al. 2020) compared muscle activity of the pecs, front delts and triceps in the flat barbell bench press vs. flat dumbbell flys with 17 resistance trained males. Split into two groups, both groups performed the movement to their 6RM (repetition maximum).

Although the bench press (in figure B above) has higher pec activation than the dumbbell fly there is one key component of this study you should be aware of.

The difference in muscle EMG activity was mostly from the top portion of the movement, where the bench press still effectively trained the pecs but dumbbell flys don’t.

Which makes sense, however as we know, tension while under a deep stretch can be a powerful driver of muscle growth. Which is precisely what the fly trains, it provides a great stretch to the pec with maximal tension due to the external moment arm, which is maximal at the bottom of a fly. Something that the bench press cannot offer for most people, unless you have a really good cambered bar.

Fly’s however can be done in various ways, including using cables, an old school bodybuilder movement which is still a favorite and for good reason. They provide a great stretch similar to a dumbbell fly, but also provide tension throughout the whole range of motion.

You can also play around with angles, although this study used flat dumbbell flys, we know an incline angle can help target the upper pec more. Try doing an incline dumbbell or cable fly, or perhaps try using a low to high cable set up, you can effectively target the clavicular head of the upper pec more.

PRINCIPLES
The Basics Of Muscle Growth

Specificity aside, the basics of muscle growth still apply when trying to grow your upper chest:

• Controlled Eccentric - Ensure you are controlling the bar or dumbbell during the lowering phase of the lift, the eccentric portion of the lift has been found to be very hypertrophic.

• Progressive Overload - In simple terms, for adaptations to occur you must push past what you could previously do, even small weekly increases will be meaningful overtime. Add one rep week to week or a kg here or there.

• Full ROM (Range of Motion) - Don’t be a partial repper. Doing a full range of motion lift will increase the time a muscle is under tension and there is a growing body of research that shows training muscle through a full ROM increases the hypertrophic response.

• Adequate R&R - Ensure you are recovering from your training and resting. Eat enough protein and calories, train again when you feel you can have a good, productive session again.

• Specificity - Use more incline variations. Incline bench press, or perhaps the dumbbell incline bench press, which can for most, allow for a greater stretch at the bottom of the movement. Include fly’s either with a dumbbell or cables, at various angles to target the desired response.

TL:DR
Key Takeaways & Practical Applications

If your focus is to grow your upper chest more, perhaps bring it into proportion with the rest of your chest or perhaps you just want a big shelf supporting your jaw, including incline work is a no brainer.

This doesn’t mean ditch the flat bench or other movements like dips etc, these are great movements for overall chest development and pushing strength.

• Try different angles, studies have shown a 15°-30° angle significantly enhances upper chest activation. Play around with upto 45° and see how you get on.

• Use all means available at your disposal- barbell, dumbbell, smith machine, cables.

• Include fly’s for a variation and to increase the stretch on your pec to allow for more potential hypertrophy

If you have any questions you’d like answered, topics you would like discussed, or perhaps some feedback, email them over to me at: [email protected]

For more updates: 👉 Facebook Page & Instagram

Don’t Keep Us A Secret
If you found this helpful, share the article with friends & spread the word.

If this was sent to you and you’d like to receive next week’s issue straight to your inboc, join the 2.4K others who read us weekly and sign up here 👉 Sign Up