Tips and facts to improve and focus on the upper chest. Is it even possible?
Clavicular pectoralis. No, we're not taking Latin lessons or anatomy. Let's talk normally and say that when we talk about the chest, we are talking mainly about the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor. Consistent training, progressive overload and facts + tips from our articles, plus enough calories and chest will grow. Forget the inner chest, outer, middle left or upper right. Nothing also exists. What exists, however, is the clavicular pectoralis, the upper chest, with which many people have a problem and are lagging behind. Let's talk a little bit more about this part. Tips, exercises, facts, studies, opinions, application in practice.
Can the clavicular head (red part in the picture above) actually be improved by basically neglecting the exercises and movements that reduce the activation of the other part of the chest? Or does the rest of the chest 'work' equally hard, whether we do exercises at one angle or another? In short, he will.
Upper pectoral muscles have a great effect on shoulder flexion, even better than the front deltas. It is only on the basis of this that we can conclude that a narrower grip will engage the upper breasts more and better than a classical or broad grip within the various variations of the benchpress (slanting down, straight, slanting up). And what about EMG (electromyography, which makes it possible to find out a lot of information about nerves, muscles, etc.)? Twenty years ago, something like this has been studied, and the result was not surprising. The theory that a narrower grip engages the clavicular head of the breast more than a standard grip for large barbell pressure exercises has been confirmed. In general, the oblique pressures up the head engage the upper part of the breast slightly more than the classical presses on a flat bench. But when we look at the graph below this paragraph from the above research, we see that it is not as big a difference as one might think. These findings are consistent with the research 2 years ago.
So the question is, what is the ideal angle to maximize upper chest activity? Based on the graph from the study, there are no extreme differences between 0 to 56 degrees, but the ideal angle seems to be 44 degrees. In this analysis, bench press on a flat bench appears best in most of the eccentric phase (lowering the dumbbell on the breast) and a 30-45 degree bench upside down in the upper breast activity at the concentric phase (we press the dumbbell)
B. Contreras also investigated the upper chest involvement. Mean EMG activity and peak activity were measured, i.e. the one with the greatest muscle activation. The most effective exercises were stretching on the pulley, but with the pulley position not up, not down, but in the middle. Furthermore, resist rubber handles (by the way, for the most common mistakes in this exercise and a few tips, read this article), squeezed bench presses, guillotine presses (but watch out on the shoulders here, get a good deal and we don't recommend them). Certainly it is interesting to note that presses with a large barbell on the sloping bench or stretching with dumbbells on the sloping bench did not get into this list, while they are also excellent exercises
In my opinion, however, we would be a little naive if we were to focus solely on EMG activity, which is not the most relevant indicator in the world. In addition, it was an experiment within one person, although about 20 different exercises were tested! But these are exercises where you undoubtedly activate the upper chest in a very good way. The training should be mainly included and tested benchpress variants on the incline bench (whether with a large barbell or dumbbell), stretching on the pulley (certainly less used design from the bottom up), stretching with dumbbells on the inclined bench or even peck-deck.
Of course, technology also affects activity. Therefore, focus on pushing the blades backward, expiring, and a subtle lower back bridge. The role of the elbows also plays a role. The closer to the body, the more you activate the triceps and the less breasts, the more from the body, the more shoulders suffer. However, the technique is a topic for a separate article, so watch the Layn Norton video for a closer look.
It is important to realize that we are talking about training. This means that while you feel in your skin and simply the best in such an exercise, someone feels in your skin in that exercise. Everybody has to get to know different exercises during his training career, to find out which “feels” most, which, for example, does not hurt his shoulders, which makes his chest seem to go up and feel progress in every sense of the word. Although the article in the article suggests which exercises are really worth it and even some other experiments and studies more or less agree, it would be very naive to say that these are clearly the best upper chest exercises. Try, increase the load, pay attention to technology, eat well, regenerate and it will work!
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