Chest Development Question

[Hulk54]

Trying to sculpt my chest for the next few months while I'm on a cutting diet. I'm trying to target the upper pecs specifically because my chest looks like a slop at the moment with barely any mass in my upper pecs as opposed to my lower pecs which have muscle mass in them. My chest workouts on chest day are as follows:

DB Bench Press 10,5,5,5,5.
Incline DB Flyes 3x10
Flat Bench DB Flyes 3x10
Pec-Deck Machine 3x10

Should I add decline press to my workout? I've been reading that it is one of the better lifts to build the pecs overall.

Also, should I take anything out from my workout? I'm open to anything.

[Swifto]

In my opinion, decline BB or decline DB is the best mass builder for any chest exercise. It has been for me.

Its hard to "hit" a certain part of the chest as both the pec major and minor contract on the vast majority of movements, although you can target the pec minor moreso, but thats another thread...

I dont do anything flat, apart from flat DB and fly's.

Incorperate drop sets, rest pause, nagatives in your routine and lots of pressing movements, it will grow. Chest was a sticking point for me although its one of my strongest body parts.

[Hulk54]

Definitely will incorporate that into my sets. Thanks Swifto.

[youngbb333]

I think that lested dips are also good to build upper pec

[cherrydrpepper]

Chest is a wierd muscle.. Unlike more simplistic muscles, you can have wide variation between one dude's chest and anothers even when they are very built. I have been focusing on upper chest as well lately. What is working for me is to do Chest / Shoulders / Tris together. I do a wierd workout because I had a serious rotator cuff injury 10+ years ago.

First, lots of rotator cuff stretches.. They are all over youtube if you need some. I find this allows me to go heavier without worry (psychological/physical)

Reverse pec deck with side parallel grip - works rear shoulders, and is a good warm up of the stabilizer muscles.
Shoulder press machine slow and controlled. I can do the stack for reps and am debating moving into barbell front standing military presses. Dunno where you are strength wise.
I go into a superset of pushups off my knuckles with a tricep exercise such as lying down french press

Ok after that I am ready to attack upper chest with slow and controlled motions, feeling the contraction and squeezing, taking the negative part slowly, etc. I like to go into smith incline bench press or regular incline bench press. I really feel the motion in the chest with this and a lot of the related muscles are warmed up and starting to fatigue so I can isolate the pecs easier.

Finally I move into another superset, usually something like incline cable crossovers and dips, or incline cable crossovers and tricep rope pushdown. I also believe in dumbbell incline flys, but they are one of the few exercises that aggravates my cuff injury no matter how controlled my form is, so I have given up on them for now. Side lateral raise with cable or dumbbells is good to throw in here too.. again aggravating my injury, so I am trying to figure out a work around or how to rehab myself better. Shoulder day should include front side and rear from what I have heard.

I believe in mixed methods of attacks on the muscles to get them to sculpt and grow. If you are like me, you have been doing a lot of exercises the same way over and over. Try a chest day where you force the pec to do the work. Not the tricep. Not the front shoulder. The pectorals. Think about them, squeeze them, make them do the movement. Activate the core and breathe. All that good stuff.

[dec11]

Trying to sculpt my chest for the next few months while I'm on a cutting diet. I'm trying to target the upper pecs specifically because my chest looks like a slop at the moment with barely any mass in my upper pecs as opposed to my lower pecs which have muscle mass in them. My chest workouts on chest day are as follows:

DB Bench Press 10,5,5,5,5.
Incline DB Flyes 3x10
Flat Bench DB Flyes 3x10
Pec-Deck Machine 3x10

Should I add decline press to my workout? I've been reading that it is one of the better lifts to build the pecs overall.

Also, should I take anything out from my workout? I'm open to anything.

id drop the flat dbells and the pec deck and then add decline dbells

[DaGunz]

Do you do standing barbell military presses on shoulders day? If not, you should. They also work the upper pecs.

[dec11]

Do you do standing barbell military presses on shoulders day? If not, you should. They also work the upper pecs.

good point, i sometimes do my shoulders with chest for periods of time and get a better overall pump from both

[Blaz Kavlic]

id drop the flat dbells and the pec deck and then add decline dbells

Echo that. And like Swifto said, try some variations incline/decline with your dbell presses. I'm currently working the reverse pyramid system (heaviest set first) and have been getting some great pumps using incline/decline dbell presses. I did chest and tris today and left the gym feeling like my skin was gonna split open, heh.

[l2elapse]

Echo that. And like Swifto said, try some variations incline/decline with your dbell presses. I'm currently working the reverse pyramid system (heaviest set first) and have been getting some great pumps using incline/decline dbell presses. I did chest and tris today and left the gym feeling like my skin was gonna split open, heh.

i always do this..seems to work best for me

[dec11]

Echo that. And like Swifto said, try some variations incline/decline with your dbell presses. I'm currently working the reverse pyramid system (heaviest set first) and have been getting some great pumps using incline/decline dbell presses. I did chest and tris today and left the gym feeling like my skin was gonna split open, heh.

id feel worried starting off with my 50kg dbell incline presses!! i just cant get my head around that, how do you not get injured?

[Blaz Kavlic]

id feel worried starting off with my 50kg dbell incline presses!! i just cant get my head around that, how do you not get injured?

I always stretch thoroughly and complete a few lighter weight warm up sets at the start of my workout. I dont jump straight into a heavy set from the get-go.

[dec11]

I always stretch thoroughly and complete a few lighter weight warm up sets at the start of my workout. I dont jump straight into a heavy set from the get-go.

i might give it a shot when my rotator cuff has healed

[Hulk54]

Going to drop the pec-deck for sure, and the flat flyes. I want to try that cable crossover superset with the dips, it sounds awesome! And I've been alternating the shoulder presses for the past two weeks. I loved doing shoulder lifts but stopped after a shoulder injury. Going to start it up again this week. And for the reverse plateau, I'm with Dec11 lol. I don't think I'd be able to wrap my head around lifting heavy first when I first try it, hopefully over time it would work for me.

Good luck on your rotator cuff injury dec11, shoulder injuries suck. Tore my slapp during football, rehab sucked.

Thanks for the advice guys, greatly appreciate it!

[terraj]

i always do this..seems to work best for me

Yeah, I'm big into this as well.....works exceptional well for me, also means I can do less volume.

[devildog1967]

Incline press after flat press ..I find rep range of 16-20 on incline with lighter weight works as it forces the blood there .. And really burns .

[marcus300]

My upper chest exploded with incline dumb bell press & flyes. Incorporate some dropsets to failure and forced reps and go as heavy as possible, you will need a spotter for this but for me there is no other method for building size and mass on the upper chest. Drop the pec deck unless and start with incline exercises first and if you want to do something flat try to always put a slight incline on it even if its just slight.