If you've been working out your chest and doing traditional push-ups since the first day at the gym, you may have noticed that one section of your chest lags behind the others. The innermost part of the pec muscles – where the muscle fibers join the breastbone – appears to be lacking in size and definition no matter how strong you get or how much you pump your pecs.
Such development, however, is thought to be genetically determined - either you have the potential for it or you don't. Some trainers believe that steroid use causes a well-defined chest and that "natty" lifters simply can't isolate their pecs well enough to achieve that level of definition.
The truth is that with consistent effort, anyone can chisel out a deeper inner-pec grove. The keys to getting there are mastering three inner pec-focused motions and adding one chest workout to your weekly program.
Anatomy of the Chest
Before we go in and pick up those weights, let's take a look at the anatomy of the chest.
The chest area is made up of the principal pectoral muscles, which start at your collarbone and stretch down your sternum. The upper chest is attached to the collarbone, whereas the lower chest is attached to the latter.
It's difficult to target the inner chest directly because of the muscle's connection to the rib cage, but some regimens target the entire chest while focusing on the inner pectoral.
Why Doing Inner-Chest Workout is Important?
Apart from the obvious truth that your physique will appear to be in much better shape. The other muscle groups in your upper body benefit from additional strength and support from a well-developed chest region.
A powerful chest supports your arms and shoulders, making vertical, lateral, and rotational movements easier. Apart from giving support, it also helps to enhance posture and back strength, and, if you play rugby, your tackles will significantly improve.
3 Best Inner-Chest Exercises to Build a Massive Chest
Isolation workouts are ineffective for the chest muscles, as previously noted. However, the best strategy for strengthening your inner chest is to undertake workouts that encourage you to move your arms towards your chest's midline.
1. Hybrid Flye-Press Combo
This workout is a cross between a flye and a press, as the name implies. In the down position, you keep a neutral grip (palms facing each other) and conduct an arcing action with the arms, similar to a flye, but you also bend your elbows quite a little, as in a push.
"At the peak of the movement, the hybrid flye-press combo tackles horizontal adduction,". "This exercise goes against the popular assumption that you need to do these incredibly lengthy moment-arm flyes," or flyes with your elbows nearly fully extended. While some lifters believe it helps them obtain a better stretch on the pecs at the bottom of the exercise, it is unnecessary and hazardous to the elbows.
This hybrid motion can be done with dumbbells or cables, but we recommend cables due to the consistent stress they generate. "With dumbbells, we lose our line of pull when the arms are in a vertical position," he explains. That is, there is no strain on the pecs when the elbow and shoulder joints are stacked at the apex of the movement—the weight is just resting on the joints. When you utilize cables, on the other hand, the pulley system keeps the weight resisting your muscles throughout the range of motion, "keeping the strain on the tissues through that portion of the action."
It's important to note that the hybrid flye-press combination is not a standing cable crossover. Rusin like it to be done on a flat bench or with a modest slope (the incline will emphasize those clavicular head fibers more, and therefore give you a better inner, upper-chest hit). "People tend to compensate too much-withstanding flyes," he explains. "They use the hips and enhance upper back involvement when they should be focusing on compressing the pecs to get the most out of them."
2. Hammer Squeeze Press
Squeezing a light medicine ball between your hands, similar to the flye-press combo exercise, combines a pressing movement with an added focus on horizontal adduction.
"This exercise is fricking incredible, It will trigger the section of the pecs we're talking about right away. It's something that will make you sore in the correct way, particularly in the inner-pec region. This is going to blow your mind.
3. Diamond Pushup
Pushups are an underappreciated chest builder. With a pushup, you may easily target the inner pecs by narrowing your hand spacing into the "diamond" position, in which the tips of your index fingers and thumbs contact or are near to touching, making a diamond shape between your hands. More triceps muscles will be activated as a result of this.
"The most difficult muscle to develop is the one you can't feel," Rusin explains. "That's why the diamond pushup is one of my favorites. Because you can feel the inner-pec area working, you're more likely to be able to develop it."
Related article: 5 Chest Exercises That Are Better Than the Bench Press
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