Looking for some great upper chest exercises? Well, you’ve come to the right place. The upper chest – or if you want to get technical – the “pectoralis minor”, is best targeted through incline pressing movements. Profiled below are 3 of the absolute best exercises for the upper chest.

Upper Chest Exercises

Incline Press: The incline press – as mentioned above – is a great way to target the upper chest. You can perform the exercise using dumbbells, a barbell or even a piece of stationary equipment (hammer strength etc). You’ll find that you’re unable to lift as much weight on the incline press as you would when performing the flat and decline presses. The reasoning behind that is simple – you’re targeting a smaller muscle.

Out of all the variations (machine, barbell, dumbbells), I recommend that you progress in that exact order. If you’re just starting out, use the machine. From the machine, you can then move onto the barbell press and from there, naturally – you could move onto the dumbbells. Once you’re advanced and have been training for a while, you can switch back and forth between them all to keep your body guessing.

Incline Flies: Notice a pattern here? Like I said, upper chest exercises are pretty much all performed on an incline. Flies – as you probably already know – are a lot harder to perform than pressing movements so you’ll have to use lighter weights. Pay close attention to your form and ensure that you do not make the same mistakes that so many people seem to make. For one, make sure that your elbows are pointed towards the ground as your arms are spread. If not, you’ll be putting a lot of unnecessary stress on the elbow joint.

Inverted Push Ups: These are basically just push-ups with your legs elevated and placed on a platform of some sort. Exercises balls work well for this. Since your legs are elevated, you’ll be performing the push-ups at an angle that targets the upper chest. It’s basically the “push up” equivalent to the incline press exercises – same concept.

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Source by Bill Forestell