The next time you walk into your gym just take notice to some of the people doing chest exercises. A common theme will develop as you see them work out, almost all of them start their workout with the flat bench press. In my experience, this is NOT the best way to build chest muscles, and it can even LIMIT your chest size. A lot of people reading this will say, what is the problem with doing flat bench first? I will teach you the keys to building chest muscles properly in this post.
Why do people always start with the flat bench
I understand why people start with this exercise. The traditional bench press is simply what men do to LOOK GOOD! Whether it's done intentionally, or it's some deep-seeded subconscious thing, this act lets other men (and women) know just how "tough" you are! You are at your strongest when you first begin your training session so hitting the flat bench first is common sense. But I will teach you why this is a mistake.
Let me go into greater detail to explain my point.
Basically, a routine that goes right into the traditional bench press focuses too much on the middle and bottom of the chest. As a result, the top part of the chest will wind up underdeveloped. If this is where you consistently start your workout, it will give you a high intensity training session. those first 4 to 5 sets will crush your middle, lower and outer pecs, but your upper chest won’t get much work and that is the where 99% of the people get it wrong.
But I am going to do upper chest after flat bench
Although it's certainly better that not doing them at all, putting the upper chest workout last will NOT give this area of your chest the definition you are looking for. Not to mention that when our bodies become "programmed," doing the same things repeatedly, it's time to mix it up a bit anyway. If you are working your upper chest afterward, try switching things around.
If you want that "built like a wedge" look, the idea is to create the square, masculine look to your chest. It's only in defining that top part of your chest that this is truly accomplished. Try switching it around the next time you do a chest workout and hit the upper chest exercise first before hitting the flat bench.
Here are several good exercises to help build your upper chest muscles.
Remember, before doing anything else on chest days, jump right into one or more of these excellent exercises.
* incline bench press
* incline dumbell press (various angles)
* dumbbell fly
* incline machine press
When each of these are done at an incline, for an extend period of time, you will see the top part of your chest coming out, and begin to blend more evenly with the overdeveloped bottom half of your chest. In fact, you could even pick two of these and just do them for two months to really catch up fast. 5 sets of 5 reps for each exercise makes up your chest workout.
Here is a tip that I rarely here anyone in the personal training world talk about
If you are unable to feel your upper chest muscles contract while doing incline exercises, you need to increase your mind-to-muscle link for your upper chest. The best way to do this is through a high volume of lifting for that lift. Basically, you will need to pump out more repetitions with less weight to really take those upper chest muscles to "burnout." Over time you will be able to contract that muscle hard and then lift with heavier weights in a more traditional manner.
Note: These were just some of the keys to building chest muscles. We'll go even deeper in an upcoming article, covering three more OUTSTANDING chest routines that don't focus just on the top of the chest, but will actually define each peck with a distinctive line that separates them, from the very tip of your collar bone, right down to the lowest part of the chest where it meets your abdominal muscles!
