We all know someone, possibly yourself, that has done mostly flat bench pressing methods paired with dips as the main chest exercises for the majority of their training career. These folks are normally characterized with a large lower/outer chest and a smaller to non-existent upper chest.
This is a great way to train all the time while still looking like you have man boobs with a t-shirt on. While there are obvious aesthetic benefits to building the upper and inner chest, even powerlifting and strength athletes can gain an advantage by implementing it in their training.
While bigger muscles may not always be stronger muscles, a bigger muscle does have the potential to be stronger than its smaller counterpart. This means that if a strength athlete begins to incorporate some bodybuilding style training to bring up the upper/inner chest into their routine, it will help to reach their goal of increasing their bench press numbers.
For those trainees that are not concerned with our bench press numbers, it will not only greatly improve the aesthetic of the upper body, but it will also allow for greater weights to be used in all chest exercises which will, in turn, lead to even larger pectoral muscles. It is a self-reinforcing circle.
So, how do we ensure that the upper and inner chest is getting their fair share of the training volume? We will use the two methods shown below:
1. Warm Up to Activate the Target Musculature
2. Isolation Exercises to Target the Desired Musculature
The first method is very straightforward and simply involves pumping the target muscle group full of blood during the warmup.
For the upper and inner chest, I like to perform light cable crossovers, standing V-bar cable presses, V bar presses on the smith machine, or the pec deck with a intense contraction at the top of each movement.
When doing the cable crossovers and pec deck, make sure to go from low to high (pressing up like on an incline press) to activate more of the upper chest and bring each arm past the center line of the body to really activate and contract the inner part of the chest.
The second method is just an extension of the first but with the work sets of the training session instead of the warmup. Try substituting all your flat bench work (BB bench press, DB bench press, Smith Machine Press, etc.) with the incline version. As with the warmup, make sure all your flye movements are going from low to high with a hard contraction at the top.
Any exercise that keeps the hands close to the center line of the body such as V-bar presses, landmine presses, etc. will work the inner chest. Any exercise that moves the weight from low to high such as any incline press, landmine press, low to high cable crossovers, etc. will work the upper chest. Keep these guidelines in mind when selecting your exercises.
Now go build top chest shelf you can rest a beer on.