The upper chest is a notoriously difficult area to develop...

You may have experienced this yourself! Incline bench presses are the most often recommended exercise to do it with. And they CAN be very effective for some people.

However, what if inclines don't really work well for you?

The shoulders and triceps often have a strong tendency to take over the exercise (even more so than with flat bench presses) and can leave you with a flat, underdeveloped upper chest.

If that's the case for you, THIS exercise is going to be your new best friend.

It doesn't require any special equipment other than an incline bench and a dumbbell, but it puts a STRONG contraction on the upper chest as you move to the top of the exercise.

You're going to be "crushing" a dumbbell between the palms of your hands as you press it from your chest to overhead. It's the "crush" intention that is the key to the exercise.

I reccommend using this exercise either as a finisher or as a pre-exhaust exercise to make sure those upper chest (clavicular) fibers are activated.

To do this exercise, get a light to moderate weight dumbbell (you only need one). You're going set your palms on the outside surfaces of the dumbbell heads. You will NOT be gripping the dumbbell with your fingers, though you can have part of your palms underneath the bottom edges of the weights so there is a little bit of support (for safety).

The only thing that's going to keep this dumbbell from slipping out and falling on your head is the inwards "crushing" tension you're going to generate with the upper pecs.

Lie back and start with the dumbbell on your chest. Your upper arms should be tucked a little (shoulders held at 45 degrees or so). We don't want to flare the elbows out as this puts unnecessary stress on the shoulders.

Make sure your fingers are off the plates.

Now press up, squeezing inwards all the way up.

Unlike a normal press, as you come to the top, this exercise gets harder.

Make sure you straighten your arms and lock out your elbows completely.

Because as your arms straighten, there is less and less tension being contributed by the triceps. When you get to the top and the triceps are locked out, there is almost NO tricep tension...it's all upper pecs. The better you lock out, the better the contraction you'll get.

Hold for a few seconds, then lower back to your chest under control.

Repeat for 6-10 reps. This is a TENSION-focused exercise, not a load-focused exercise, so don't worry about how much weight you're using...worry about how much tension you're generating.

This is an amazing exercise to finish off your chest workout with. Even with light weight, it's very challenging and incredibly effective for putting a massive contraction on the upper chest.

I've got the video for this exercise here (3 minutes long)...

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Want More Killer Chest Exercises Like This?

I've got you covered! You need "The Best Chest Exercises You've Never Heard Of"

If you liked the exercise above, you'll love this. I've got some very cool stuff in here...exercises that can help you get the powerful, sculpted, rock-solid chest you're looking for (and that "normal" exercises may not be giving you!).

Nick Nilsson
The "Mad Scientist of Muscle"