The upper chest is typically one of the toughest areas of the upper body to develop. There are various reasons for this, and like most things, there are ways to work around it.
The best exercises for chest muscle growth are the standard Bench Press for the middle pecs, the Incline Bench Press for the upper chest muscles and the Weighted Dip using heavy barbell plates for the lower chest.
Want to build a bigger upper chest? Calisthenics and bodyweight exercises are effective for targeting the upper pecs. At the gym incline bench press or flys are best for bodybuilding. For the at home workouts, using decline push-ups and rings are the answer.
Doing 100 push-ups a day can be an impactful element of your overall strength-building and -maintaining routine. And you don't need to be at a gym to do them. “It's a quick and efficient way to strengthen some upper body muscles,” Rad says. “It is a bodyweight move that can be done virtually anywhere.”
Most chest exercises work the entire chest and even include some other upper body muscles, but if you want to achieve upper chest growth, you'll need to use exercises that preferentially hit the upper portion of the chest muscle fibers such as an incline barbell bench press, an upper chest dip or a jammer press.
Within a single week (microcycle) of training, we recommend between 2 and 5 different chest exercises. For example, if you train chest 3x a week, you can do a heavy barbell bench on one day, a lighter barbell bench on the next day, and a flye version on the last day for 2 total exercises in the week.
There's no magic number of push-ups you should do per day. Try working your way up to 1 to 3 sets of 10 to 20 repetitions to strengthen your upper body. If building bigger chest muscles is your goal, doing more push-ups might seem ideal.
Monday: Chest and triceps. Tuesday: Back and biceps. Wednesday: Legs and shoulders.
As a blanket recommendation, four to six exercises is a good number for a single training session, says Kyle Krupa, doctor of physical therapy, certified strength and conditioning specialist, and founder of KRU PT + Performance Lab.
After the abs, the lower chest is an area that many guys struggle to develop. There are some great exercises for lower chest training, but if you have excess body fat you may need to work on that first before you're able to see chest development.
Incline Dumbbell Fly
If you've been lifting for a while, you know that incline bench exercises reign supreme when it comes to upper–chest activation. The great thing about the incline dumbbell fly is that in addition to activating the upper pectoralis major, it also works the anterior deltoid muscles and biceps.
Muscles Worked During the Chest Dip
The pectoralis major makes up most of the chest. The pectoralis minor is located under the pectoralis major. The chest dip works more than just your chest muscles though. This bodyweight upper body exercise targets the chest, triceps, shoulders and back.
Another reason why you are lacking in upper chest development is that you do not specifically train the upper chest with isolated movements or angles. This may be as simple as adding more incline bench pressing and chest isolation exercises to your workouts for a few months.
Completing 100 Push Ups a day can lead to increased muscle mass and upper body strength, specifically in the chest, shoulders, triceps, and core. It can also improve endurance and cardiovascular health.
How Many Pushups You Should Be Able to Do in a Day. THE ANSWER WILL ultimately vary based on goals and experience. That said, “big picture, everybody should at some point, be able to get to 20 to 25 consecutive pushups,” says Men's Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S.
But for the best results, aim for two-three sessions a week. Start with 20 seconds per set and two sets per workout, gradually increasing the time to a minute. Then, you can try more challenging variations. Planks are a great coordination exercise for your core, especially when you're working on other muscle groups.
On average, you would need to perform 3 – 4 chest exercises per workout if your goal is growing your chest through muscle hypertrophy and 2 – 3 exercises if you're aiming to build strength. The exact amount of chest exercises you should do per workout ultimately depends on your fitness level, goals, and preferences.
Within a single week (microcycle) of training, we recommend between 2 and 5 different ab exercises. For example, if you train abs 3x a week, you can do a heavy machine crunch on one day, a lighter machine crunch on the next day, and a hanging knee raise on the last day for 2 total exercises in the week.
The wide push-up is excellent for targeting your chest muscles. Be sure to avoid taking your hands out too wide, and keep your elbows pointing back to protect your shoulders. How to do it: Start with hands slightly past shoulder-width, a bit farther apart than a standard push-up position.