Finding spongy pectoral muscles is challenging. You must concentrate on strengthening your inner chest if you want to develop that depth. Although the exact definition of an inner chest is elusive, there are some essential chest exercises and movements that can be used to achieve this impressive aesthetic, which is what this article aims to do.
In order to help you sculpt your pecs, we’ll go over the fundamentals of chest anatomy, training advice, and seven exercises you simply must do.
Table of Contents
What is the Inner Chest?
Your inner chest consists of pectoralis majors, two big chest muscles attached to the sternum, and also two smaller pec muscles, one on each side of the chest, named “pectoralis minor.” However, since they don’t extend to the sternum, they are not the focus of an exercise designed to lift the inner chest.
Besides the obvious fact that your body will look much better, this is another obvious noticeable fact. More strength and support are provided to the other upper body muscle groups by a chest region that is aesthetically developed.
This means that a strong chest will support your arms and shoulders, making vertical, lateral, and rotational movements easier. In addition to offering support, it also helps to improve posture and back strength. If you play rugby, it will also greatly enhance your tackles.
7 Workouts for Inner Chest
Fly
The most common and straightforward tool for flies is a dumbbell, but you can perform this exercise with any handheld weight. One more choice involves using a cable machine, like the pec deck, which enables controlled movements while sitting straight. You can perform flies while lying down, sitting, or standing. Working the pecs to move the arms horizontally forward while using the dumbbell fly and cable machine both involve moving your hands and arms through the same anatomical plane.
While performing the pec fly, the hands are usually brought out further than the elbows, with the biceps playing a minor role. The muscles stretch more when the elbow is held more straight. The advantages of using dumbbells over a cable machine lie in the fact that dumbbell exercises require the usage of stabilizer muscles associated with performing flies, giving more value to the workout.
Bench Press
As the name implies, the bench press weight training exercise is carried out by pressing the weight upward while lying down on a bench. It uses the pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, and triceps, together with other stabilizing muscles, to horizontally adduct the shoulder. Common weight-training equipment includes a barbell or two dumbbells. Wider hand spacing is more common in pecs training because it emphasizes shoulder flexion more.
Exercises involving the bench press come in a variety of forms. The lower head is the primary target of the flat bench press, which engages both pectoral regions. The bench press is most commonly associated with a flat bench press. The lower part of the pectoralis major and triceps are highlighted in a decline bench press. In contrast to an inclined bench press (which emphasizes more of the anterior deltoids with little effect on the upper head of the pecs), the reverse grip bench press uses a supinated grip to externally rotate the humerus. Guillotine presses, which strengthen the upper pectorals, involve holding the weight with a wide grip and lowering it to a very high point on the chest or even to the neck.
Cable Cross Cover
Select the resistance and draw the cable to the middle of your chest
A stretch in your chest will occur as you extend your arms in an arc. Make sure your arms are moving naturally and without any unnecessary jerks if you are.
Squeezing your pectorals toward the midline of your chest, hold for a while before resuming the starting position.
Single Arm Chest Fly
Lift the pulleys to start, choose the resistance to use, and grab a handle with one hand. Your elbow should be slightly bent as you extend your arm. Pull your hand to your chest’s midline while maintaining a straight upper body.
Take a brief pause before resuming the starting position to finish one rep. Follow these instructions to complete this unilateral exercise with one arm, then switch the arm and repeat the same instructions.
Plate Press
Squeeze a weight plate with your open palms while it is on a flat bench. Lift the plate up and down, making sure the center of your chest is exactly aligned.
Squeeze hard to keep your chest contracted. The idea is to perform a lot of repetitions with slow, controlled movements.
Hex Press
The hex press makes use of dumbbells and transfers tension differently, much like the close grip bench press. What really makes this exercise special is that you will be pressing the dumbbells together the entire time, which is great for muscle activation and the inner chest. In essence, it adds another contractional element.
How to do hex presses:
Similar to a dumbbell press, lie flat on a bench while holding two dumbbells. Keep both weights pressed against each other right on top of the middle of the chest (hex-shaped dumbbells make this a bit easier, hence the name).
Squeeze the inner chest and drive the weights straight up while pushing them in. You’ll want to maintain a lot of tension on the inner chest. Slowly draw the weights back down to the chest; don’t bounce them off the chest or rest too long here.
Dumbbell Pullover
The dumbbell pullover is excellent for the chest and back because it maintains arm rotation so you still hit the inner chest while activating a large portion of the chest from a slightly unusual angle. You can consider this exercise to be an upper-inner chest exercise overall.
How to do dumbbell pullovers:
Lie across a bench perpendicular to it, with your legs planted firmly and your shoulders on the bench with your head hanging over. Lift your arms up while holding a dumbbell above your chest between your hands.
Slowly bring the weight back over your head and stop when your arms are parallel to the bench. Return the weight to the starting position by bringing it up and forward while contracting your pecs and lats.
Conclusion
If you use efficient movement variations, appropriate challenging weights, controlled pacing, and enough repetitions to maximize training stimulation, developing a muscular inner chest is simple. The right amount of recovery time in between workouts is crucial to prevent overtraining and to give your body a chance to heal and regenerate.
FAQs
Is Inner Chest Just Genetics?
Before you dive in, take heed; there’s no such thing as a magical “inner chest workout” that will alter the shape or orientation of your pectoral muscles. The appearance of your physique comes down, in large part, to genetics, so you have to work with the hand you’re dealt and take things in stride.
Why Does My Chest Have a Gap?
A chest gap is the separation of your pectoralis major muscles. Since your sternum is not covered by a muscle body, a chest gap is normal. The natural anatomy of some people, which is largely determined by genetics, has wider gaps than that of other people.
