5 upper body exercises you must try today
What's the story
Strong pectoral muscles are essential for upper body strength. They play a major role in movements involving pushing and lifting. In this article, we focus on five exercises that will target your pecs and make you stronger and more stable than ever. Each exercise targets a specific area of your chest, so you get balanced muscle development.
Tip 1
Bench press basics
The bench press is a classic exercise to build pec strength. It primarily works the middle part of the chest while also working the shoulders and triceps. To perform this exercise, lie on a bench with feet flat on the ground. Grip the barbell slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, lower it to your chest, then push it back up till arms are fully extended.
Tip 2
Push-up variations
Push-ups are the most versatile exercises that can be modified to make them more difficult or target different areas of chest. While standard push-ups are great for overall pec engagement, incline push-ups focus more on the lower chest. For a challenge, try decline push-ups by elevating your feet on a platform or using one arm at a time.
Tip 3
Dumbbell flyes technique
Dumbbell flyes isolate and stretch the pectoral muscles perfectly. Lie on a flat bench holding dumbbells above your chest with palms facing each other. Slowly lower them out to your sides in an arc motion until you feel a stretch in your chest before bringing them back together over your torso.
Tip 4
Cable crossover benefits
Cable crossovers provide constant tension throughout each movement phase due to their pulley system setup. This enhances muscle activation across all angles within the range-of-motion limits set by equipment design features like adjustable height settings. Making this exercise an ideal choice when aiming to improve both size and definition simultaneously without sacrificing either aspect.