9 Best Upper Chest Exercises for Building Muscle

There’s a reason Mondays are colloquially known as “International Chest Day.” An impressive set of pecs can change your whole physique. Beyond helping you look good at the beach or pool this summer, a strong chest can also help you perform better in everything from powerlifting to gymnastics. 

Targeting your upper chest specifically can elevate both your appearance and performance if you know what you’re doing. That said, you can’t just throw in any old exercises and expect to build a shelf you could balance a soda can on. You need the right upper chest exercises. You need these nine best upper chest movements. 

9 Best Upper Chest Exercises 

1. Incline Hex Press
2. Close-Grip Bench Press
3. Incline Bench Press
4. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
5. Guillotine Press
6. Low Cable Crossover
7. Dip
8. Dumbbell Chest Flye
9. Incline Push-Up

Editor’s Note: The content on BarBend is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. When starting a new training regimen and/or diet, it is always a good idea to consult with a trusted medical professional. We are not a medical resource. The opinions and articles on this site are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional.

1. Incline Hex Press 

Equipment Needed	Dumbbells, weight bench, wrist wraps (optional)
Muscles Worked	Chest, shoulders, triceps
Sets & Reps	2-3 x 12-15

Tension is the name of the game when it comes to breaking down muscles so they bounce back bigger and better. And few movements elicit more tension than the hex press — an exercise that has you squeeze two dumbbells together as you press them. Doing the hex press on an incline will angle the weights so your upper chest is doing the brunt of the work. 

How To Do It

1. Set an adjustable bench at a 30-45 degree angle and grab a pair of moderately challenging dumbbells. 
2. With the dumbbells touching one another while resting on your chest, press up and back slightly.
3. Keep your elbows tucked and lower until the dumbbells gently touch your shirt. Actively “squeeze” the dumbbells together for the duration of the movement.

Modifications

• Make It Easier: You can place a small medicine ball between the weights to artificially “widen” your grip. This may reduce or prevent wrist or elbow discomfort.
• Make It Harder: If you have access to cylindrical dumbbells, use those, as the tendency of the plates to roll over each other will require greater stability. 

2. Close-Grip Bench Press

Equipment Needed	Bench press station or weight bench, barbell, weight plates, wrist wraps (optional) shoulders
Muscles Worked	Chest, triceps, shoulders
Sets & Reps	3 x 6-10

Benching is the bread and butter of chest day, no matter how (or why) you like to hit the weights. For building your upper chest specifically, you should consider bringing your hands in and performing the close-grip bench press instead. Benching with a narrow grip incorporates more motion at the shoulder than a wide grip, which should activate your upper pecs to a greater degree.

How To Do It

1. Set up in a bench press station with your eyes directly underneath the barbell and your feet planted firmly on the floor. 
2. Grip the bar with a narrow, shoulder-width (or slightly closer) grip, and unrack it from the station by pulling it straight out until your arms are extended directly over your shoulders.
3. From here, lower the bar down to your torso while keeping your upper arms tucked tightly to your sides.
4. Once the bar makes contact with your chest, reverse the motion, pressing up and back until the bar is at arm’s length over your shoulders once again.

Modifications

• Make It Easier: You can do this move lying on your back on the floor as well to reduce range of motion.
• Make It Harder: Pick your feet up onto the bench or hold your legs aloft in the air to increase the stability demand.

3. Incline Bench Press

Equipment Needed	Incline bench press station or adjustable weight bench, barbell, weight plates, wrist wraps (optional)
Muscles Worked	Chest, shoulders, triceps
Sets & Reps	2-3 x 8-12

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Weight room lore dictates that the decline bench is for building your lower chest; the flat bench is an all-around pec trainer, and the incline station is where you belong if you’re trying to build your upper chest. Luckily, these ideas go beyond bro science. 

Using the incline bench press to train your upper pecs has plenty of valid scientific backing to it, with some data showing that the incline bench is unequivocally superior to the flat bench for upper pec development. (1)

How To Do It

1. Sit in the incline bench station. Adjust the seat so the barbell is slightly behind your eyes while you look upward towards the ceiling. 
2. Grab the bar with a wide, beyond-shoulder-width grip and pull it out of the weight rack until your arms are straight above your shoulder joints.
3. Bend your elbows to lower the bar down until it touches high up on your chest, then press the weight back to the starting position.

Modifications

• Make It Easier: Stick a small weight plate under the foot of the bench to lower the angle.
• Make It Harder: Pause with the bar on your chest for every rep. 

4. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

Equipment Needed	Adjustable weight bench, dumbbells, wrist wraps (optional)
Muscles Worked	Chest, shoulders, triceps
Sets & Reps	2-3 x 8-12

[Read More: How to Do a Dumbbell Bench Press, With Expert Tips & Video Guide]

The incline dumbbell bench press is a popular movement among bodybuilders and powerlifters. Pressing on an inclined surface allows for a greater degree of shoulder flexion, which the clavicular head of the pecs (the upper chest) is primarily responsible for. This increased range of motion should dramatically increase fiber engagement in the upper chest. (2)

How To Do It

1. Set an adjustable bench at a moderate incline between 25-40 degrees. With a pair of dumbbells resting on each knee, brace your core and lean back. 
2. As you fall into position, “kick” the dumbbells into the starting position with your legs and then plant your feet on the floor.
3. Press the weights up, slightly back, and inwards towards your midline.

Modifications

• Make It Easier: You can rely on a workout partner or spotter to cradle your elbows while you perform the movement and learn the technique.
• Make It Harder: Try one-and-a-half reps in the bottom half of the range of motion. 

5. Guillotine Press

Equipment Needed	Weight bench, barbell, weight plates (optional), Smith machine (optional)
Muscles Worked	Chest, shoulders, triceps
Sets & Reps	1-2 x 10-15

When done properly, the guillotine press is a fantastic exercise for the upper chest due to the intense stretch and limited involvement of the triceps. This exercise is also well suited for performance in a Smith machine, since the ideal bar path is completely or nearly vertical. The Smith machine sometimes catches a bad rap, but research suggests that it can stimulate muscle activation and just as well as free weights. (3)

How To Do It

1. Take a wide grip and unrack an empty or lightly-loaded barbell while lying on a flat or slightly inclined bench. 
2. Lower the weight slowly straight downwards towards your neck or clavicle while keeping your elbows flared. 
3. Do not rest the bar on your neck at any point, but hold the bottom position for a moment before pressing back up while attempting to “bend” the bar into a U-shape. 
4. Stop before any noticeable shoulder discomfort. 

Modifications

• Make It Easier: Do this move on the floor with an empty barbell to limit your range of motion while you learn the technique.
• Make It Harder: Try adding resistance bands to the ends of the bar to introduce some elastic tension. 

6. Low Cable Crossover

[Read More: The Best Cable Machines for Small Spaces, Bodybuilders, and More]

Equipment Needed	Adjustable dual-cable station
Muscles Worked	Chest, shoulders
Sets & Reps	2 x 12-15

A good chest day cannot be complete without at least one flye movement — in this case, one specifically targeting the upper chest. By setting the cable attachments at a low angle, you can perform an upper chest cable exercise like the low cable crossover.

How To Do It

1. With the cables set below waist level, assume a staggered stance. Allow your arms to hang slightly behind the body, palms facing forward. 
2. “Scoop” the handles up and inwards while rotating the arm such that your elbows are pointing to the sides at the top.
3. Squeeze your chest and drive the upper arm against the torso at the top for a strong contraction before slowly returning to the starting position.

Modifications

• Make It Easier: Try this move one arm at a time, holding onto the other side of the cable station with your free arm for stability.
• Make It Harder: Pause at the top of each rep. 

7. Dip

Equipment Needed	Parallel dip bars or dip station, wrist wraps (optional), dumbbell or dip belt and weights (optional)
Muscles Worked	Chest, shoulders, triceps
Sets & Reps	2-4 x AMRAP

The standard dip is one of the few bodyweight chest exercises you can do. Dips, especially with extra weight, target your upper pecs because you must lean your torso forward as you perform the movement in order to protect your shoulder. They’re also a great all-around upper body strength movement and will prioritize your upper chest if you use a narrow grip. (4)

How To Do It

1. Suspend yourself in the air by placing one hand on either dip bar and extending your elbows.
2. Tilt your torso forward slightly and brace your core.
3. Descend by bending at the elbows until your upper arm is parallel to the ground.

Modifications

• Make It Easier: Do chair dips instead with your feet on the ground.
• Make It Harder: Pause in the bottom of each rep to emphasize the stretch, or hold a small weight between your ankles. 

8. Dumbbell Chest Flye

[Read More: The Best Adjustable Dumbbells for Your Home Gym]

Equipment Needed	Weight bench, dumbbells
Muscles Worked	Chest
Sets & Reps	2-3 x 12-15

This is one of the best dumbbell upper chest exercises you can do. The flye motion isolates your chest and mostly removes your triceps and deltoids from the equation. Moreover, if you have a pair of adjustable weights, this is an upper chest exercise at home that’s on offer for you.

How To Do It

1. Lie down on the bench with a dumbbell in each hand your arms held toward the ceiling, elbows straight.
2. With your palms facing each other, lower and sweep your arms out to the side until your upper arm comes parallel with the floor.
3. Reverse the motion, squeezing your chest together as you return to the starting position.

Modifications

• Make It Easier: You can perform chest flyes on the floor if you’re worried about losing control of the weights as you lower them down. 
• Make It Harder: Do these on an adjustable bench set to a very low incline. 

9. Incline Push-Up

Equipment Needed	Plyo box or weight bench or chair
Muscles Worked	Chest, shoulders, triceps
Sets & Reps	2-4 x AMRAP

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Want to do some upper chest exercises at home? We recommend the incline push-up. If you’re on the hunt for an upper chest exercise with no equipment, this one really stands out because it targets the muscle effectively and is accessible. You may have trouble loading or progressing with it, though, so bear that in mind. 

How To Do It

1. Find a stable surface to lean against such as a plyo box, countertop, or heavy chair.
2. Brace your hands against the edge of the surface and assume a push-up position.
3. Bend at the elbows and lower torso toward the surface you’re leaning against.
4. Contract your pecs and push with your arms to return to the starting position.

Modifications

• Make It Easier: The more upright your torso is, the easier this move becomes. You can even do it against the wall if you have enough wrist flexibility. 
• Make It Harder: Pause in the bottom position or lower the height of the object you’re using.

Upper Chest Workouts

If you’re ready to start prioritizing your upper chest for muscle growth, the next step is to put these exercises into a workout routine. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered there, too. Here are two upper chest workouts you can do — the first is aimed at beginners, while the second one is for those with gym experience who consider their upper chest a weak point. 

Upper Chest Warm-Up

While it is somewhat of a catch-all, the link between excessive pressing and shoulder pain is theorized to be a result of soft tissue aggravation in the pec minor specifically. (6) Since the movements in this article heavily target the upper chest, a proper dynamic warm-up is absolutely critical. 

When it comes to upper body warm-ups for a heavy chest day, the name of the game is activation and stabilization. Common rehabilitative exercises such as the face pull or rear delt raise are fantastic for “waking up” the small muscles in the upper back that articulate the shoulder.

[Read More: The Anatomy of Your Chest Muscles, Explained (and How to Train Them)]

Afterward, a rudimentary movement that forces the shoulder blades to remain inert against resistance will work wonders for stability: an inverted row, scapula push-up or pull-up, or even a drag curl, focusing on pinching the shoulders back and down while pulling the elbows back behind the body closely mimics the action of the arm during most presses.

How To Train Your Upper Chest + Top Tips

To develop the upper regions of your pecs, you need movements that emphasize that area — but you don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Your upper pecs don’t need an entire workout day dedicated to them. Make a few smart swaps and adjust your sets and reps accordingly and you’ll make gains just fine.

Upper Chest Exercise Selection

The best way to shift some training emphasis onto your upper pecs is to simply swap out one or two of your standard chest moves for ones that tax the upper fibers directly. In practice, this can look like switching the incline bench press out for the flat bench press, or finishing your workouts with dips instead of push-ups or cable flyes. 

Upper Chest Sets and Reps

Your upper chest is only a portion of your pecs. As such, it lacks a bit of overall power and many upper chest movements respond better to slightly higher rep sets.

• For Muscle Mass: Shoot for 3 to 4 sets per exercise, with 8 to 12 reps on presses and 10 to 15 repetitions on flyes or bodyweight moves.

Upper Chest Training Tips

Here are a few actionable tips to help you prioritize upper chest growth during your workouts.

• Find Your Incline: A large body of scientific research shows that training your chest while lying on an inclined surface will engage your upper pecs. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the grade of the bench and find the exact angle that lights up your pecs. It probably won’t be the same as your gym partner’s.
• Focus & Concentrate: The mind-muscle connection is a real phenomenon. If you incorporate new upper-chest-focused movements into your training, take time during the first few workouts to really mentally connect with your upper pecs before you start loading those movements. 
• Do It First: To bring up a lagging body part (such as your upper pecs), you should target it early in your workout when you’re fresh, focused, and ready to work hard. This can mean performing incline presses before your flat presses, for instance, instead of the other way around. 

Benefits of Training Your Upper Chest 

Even though targeting small, specific muscles is often the province of competitive physique athletes, including a few upper-chest-focused movements in your training can yield benefits without requiring you to step on a bodybuilding stage. 

Improved Aesthetics

However, the primary benefit is undeniably visual. Physique icons like Arnold Schwarzenegger were known for their impossibly massive chests, and that kind of reputation only comes from making sure the entirety of the muscle is trained properly. Neglecting the pec minor in your workouts long-term will likely create an imbalanced appearance. 

Joint Health & Longevity

That doesn’t mean that targeted chest workout is all style and no substance. Surprisingly, focusing on the clavicular head of the pecs may improve shoulder health since the muscle does attach to — and thus affects the behavior of — the scapula. 

For long-term joint integrity, even isolation exercises commonly found in bodybuilding programs can be helpful if they properly stretch the tissues. (5)

More Power & Higher Performance

Finally, all accessory training will have some level of carryover to your main sport or activity, upper chest work included. Since the pec minor is so well-stimulated by performing anterior pressing movements on an incline, doing so will likely augment your pressing power overall, helping you push heavier weights overhead in weightlifting, strongman, or CrossFit workouts.

What Muscles Make Up the Chest

The chest is separated into two distinct components: the pectoralis major, or sternal head, is the superficial muscle most people are familiar with, while the pectoralis minor, or clavicular head, runs underneath and attaches to the shoulder blade. The pecs are the major engine behind many common activities both in and out of the gym, from sled pushes to swimming. 

[Read More: The Best Chest and Triceps Workout, Scaled for Every Experience Level]

Since both heads are part of the same muscle complex, their structures are quite similar. However, the different attachment sites (humerus and scapula, respectively) mean that they sometimes perform different functions. The pec major takes a large role in adducting the arm, while the pec minor, your upper chest, is heavily involved in shoulder flexion — raising the arm forward in front of the body.

Bring Your Upper Chest Up

If you want to build an impressive chest, you need to do more than hit the flat bench. The right exercises can help you craft three-dimensional pecs that stand out in a t-shirt and complement your physique as a whole. Use these upper chest exercises to build a chest that Schwarzenegger would envy. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are a few common questions about the upper chest that you might want answered.

References

1. Chaves, S. F. N., Rocha-JÚnior, V. A., EncarnaÇÃo, I. G. A., Martins-Costa, H. C., Freitas, E. D. S., Coelho, D. B., Franco, F. S. C., Loenneke, J. P., Bottaro, M., & Ferreira-JÚnior, J. B. (2020). Effects of Horizontal and Incline Bench Press on Neuromuscular Adaptations in Untrained Young Men. International journal of exercise science, 13(6), 859–872.
2. Trebs, A. A., Brandenburg, J. P., & Pitney, W. A. (2010). An electromyography analysis of 3 muscles surrounding the shoulder joint during the performance of a chest press exercise at several angles. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 24(7), 1925–1930. 
3. Saeterbakken, A. H., Olsen, A., Behm, D. G., Bardstu, H. B., & Andersen, V. (2019). The short- and long-term effects of resistance training with different stability requirements. PloS one, 14(4), e0214302. 
4. Barnett, Chris, Kippers, Vaughan, and Turner, Peter (1995). Effects of variations of the bench press exercise on the EMG activity of five shoulder muscles. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 9 (4) 222-227.
5. Van Straaten, M. G., Cloud, B. A., Zhao, K. D., Fortune, E., & Morrow, M. M. B. (2017). Maintaining Shoulder Health After Spinal Cord Injury: A Guide to Understanding Treatments for Shoulder Pain. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 98(5), 1061–1063. 
6. Bhatia, D. N., de Beer, J. F., van Rooyen, K. S., Lam, F., & du Toit, D. F. (2007). The “bench-presser’s shoulder”: an overuse insertional tendinopathy of the pectoralis minor muscle. British journal of sports medicine, 41(8), e11. 

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