Jim Gem: Carve Out Your Upper Pecs

When it comes to trouble spots on a guy's physique (and a woman's too, for that matter), the upper pecs are a common complaint. And it's not only upper chest thickness that people tend to lack, but also a definitive separation between the right and left pecs. This upper, inner chest area is highly visible when you wear a V-neck shirt, tank top or button-down, so we're talking about a critical element to having a complete physique.

This is a hard-to-reach spot for many individuals, and if you're only focusing on it with incline dumbbell flyes, you're missing the tension where you need it most: at the top of the movement when the hands come together. At this point, you're no longer moving the resistance against gravity, as the last bit of range of motion on a dumbbell flye is basically just horizontal (moving parallel with the floor). Switching to cables, however, will provide the continuous tension you need to target the inner pec muscle fibers that come into play when the hands touch at the top. So there's an easy fix to your inner pec problem right there – switch from dumbbell incline flyes to incline cable flyes.

Chances are, you're already doing incline presses to focus on the upper pecs. That's great. To zero in on the inner chest as well, opt for incline dumbbell presses. The arc the dumbbells allow you to form as you press up and together targets more of the upper/inner pec fibers than a barbell where your hands are fixed on the bar. (Not that you should stop doing incline barbell presses, of course, as this is a great exercise for building overall mass and thickness up top.)

Below is a workout that will target the upper, inner chest while also promoting overall size and thickness to the pecs, top to bottom. In this routine, you're subjecting the chest to relatively heavy weight on the first two exercises with 6-8 reps, dropping to a moderate weight for incline cable flyes, then finishing on the lighter side with cable crossovers.

Exercise Sets Reps Rest

Barbell Bench Press 3-4 6-8* 1-2 min.

Incline Dumbbell Press 3-4 6-8* 1-2 min.

Incline Cable Flye 3-4 10-12* 1 min.

Cable Crossover 3-4 12-15* 1 min.

*On the last set of each exercise, do 1-2 drop sets.

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