How to train your upper chest muscles with two movements that will help you easily

　　How to train the upper chest muscles? As we all know, whether your chest muscles look good or not actually has a very important impact on how you feel about your body. So how to train the upper chest muscles to make the upper chest muscles look better? If you want to shape your upper chest muscles, what exercise techniques do you need to know? You might as well follow the editor together!

　　How to Exercise Upper Chest Muscles

　　Lying on your back with arm curls

　　1. Preparatory position: Lie on your back on the bench, with your head slightly exposed from the end of the bench, your legs bent, your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, your whole feet supported on the ground, your lower back relaxed, your buttocks sunk, your chest lifted and your abdomen lifted. Bend your arms, cross your hands at the top of your head and hold the inside of one end of the dumbbell with your palms facing upward and the dumbbell hanging down.

　　2. Pull-up action: While holding the bell in both hands, slowly bend your elbows and lower them toward the top of your head. Gradually bend your elbows until your upper arms are in a horizontal position, and the angle between the upper and lower arms is about 100 degrees to 120 degrees. At this time, the pectoralis major muscles should be fully expanded, the chest should be expanded, the abdomen should be tightened and the waist should be relaxed, and the buttocks should be sunk. When the dumbbell reaches its lowest position, use the strength of your pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi muscles to lift the dumbbell along the original path until your arms are straight in front of your chest.

　　Things to note:

　　1. When holding the dumbbell and falling, use the strength of the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi muscles to control the dumbbell and make it fall slowly. Falling too fast can easily cause shoulder strap sprain.

　　2. When pulling up, the upper arm is below the horizontal position, mainly using the contraction force of the latissimus dorsi.； When the upper arm exceeds the horizontal position, the force should be concentrated on the contraction of the pectoralis major muscle.

　　Close-grip push-ups (one of the best ways to exercise your upper chest muscles)

　　1. Support both hands on the ground or on a support. The distance between the hands is slightly narrower than the shoulders. The arms are straight, the shoulders and chest are slightly forward, so that the vertical line of the shoulder joints is at an angle of 10 to 15 degrees with the ground. The legs are close together and supported by the toes. Keep your chest up and your torso tight.

　　2. Raise your head forward so that the pectoralis major muscle has a full sense of stretch and is in the "peak contraction" position, and pause for a moment. When pushing up, always maintain your body position until your arms are straight. repeat.

　　Things to note:

　　1. Pay attention to the difference in target muscles caused by different grip distances: push-ups with a narrow grip distance, and keeping the elbows inward and close to the body are beneficial to the development of the strength of the triceps brachii muscles.； Push-ups with a wide grip and a slight abduction of the elbows are beneficial to developing the strength of the serratus anterior muscle of the pectoralis major. Both of them take into account each other in developing the strength of the triceps brachii and serratus anterior pectoralis major, mainly in different primary and secondary exercises. In order to maximize the concentration on the pectoralis major and minimize the participation of the triceps and deltoid muscles, you need to maintain a wide grip when performing push-ups.

　　2. When supporting with bent arms, fully lower the shoulders and lengthen the pectoralis major. When lifting upwards, do not lift the hips or collapse the waist.

　　Upper chest shaping tips

　　1. Put upper chest training first

　　It's the same with any training exercise. Put your weakest point at the beginning of the training, so you can put more effort into training when you have the most energy. This concept can be used in any part. Put your weakest link first. If you feel that the upper chest is not strong enough, then put the upper chest training first. Use the incline bench press instead of the flat bench press, and use the incline fly instead of the flat fly!

　　2. Inclined angle

　　Generally speaking, when training the upper chest muscles with dumbbells, the larger the incline angle, the more the deltoid muscles are involved, and the more likely it is that the front beam will be overstressed, so the seat angle does not need to be too tilted. But the smaller the angle is, the better it is for bench press. What is the best angle?

　　Practice has proven that an incline angle of 30 degrees is the best choice for training the middle and upper part of the chest muscles (less than 30 degrees may tend to lean towards the middle muscles). An incline angle of 45 degrees is most effective for the clavicle pectoral muscles, which is the uppermost part of the chest muscles. (If it exceeds 45 degrees, the front deltoid muscles will bear too much pressure.) Therefore, if you want to train the upper part of the pectoral muscles, the incline angle should be controlled between 30-45 degrees.

　　3. Try the reverse bench press

　　In terms of pure stimulation of the chest, the effect of the backhand bench press may be stronger than the ordinary bench press!

　　This is because it is affected by the direction of fiber arrangement in the upper chest. The muscles near the clavicle are mainly used to help the shoulder joints bend forward. With the backhand grip on the bar, the position of the lower bar is usually lower than the normal bench press. At this time, the upper chest will be more involved. Research shows that the stimulation of the upper chest by the backhand bench press is about 25 to 30% higher than that of the wide-grip bench press. (Reference website: Fitness bar)