For upper chest development and strenght… which one is better? I mainly do powerbuilding and powerlifting but would like to focus on upper chest development for this cycle cause it is nearly invisible contrary to medium/lower pecs which are huge.
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Supposedly reverse grip bench press involves the upper part of the pecs more than any overhand pressing variation.
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Most of your upper chest development is genetic IMO but strict incline bench right below to chin seems to stimulate more muscle in this area for me.
Just to do a slight derail, I know decline press has become the red headed step child of the pressing family but for hitting tris and pecs, I reckon they are gold.
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Might I suggest doing DB inclines at a 35 degree angle.
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Also, many people advocate the neck press (or guillotine press) as a decent upper pecs builder.
I tried it and can’t tell yet, but you definitely feel a deeper stretch than with the standard bench press in the clavicular area of the Pec…
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Not trying to make cute by combining two of the suggestions above, but in my experience, the best upper-chest exercise, bar none, is decline guillotines. Can’t do them any more (shoulder issues), but they put mass on my clavicular heads like nothing else.
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In my own experience, I’ve always found that the traditionally stocked 45 degree incline bench in most commercial gyms hits more front delts than upper chest. My best upper chest progress came from employing:
1- LOW (about 15 degrees!) incline db work (stick a pair of 45 lb plates under one side of a flat bench!)
2- LOW incline cable flyes (but keeping the ROM to your chest, not to your head! - watch my old videos or any of the number of guys I’ve coached on here in their chest videos! It’s mine! -lol)
3- Reverse Grip standing cable presses. I tried these after my first shoulder surgery when I couldn’t do traditional presses, and unlike reverse close grip presses that people like to use for triceps, I found that utilizing a free-motion cable machine and keeping my hands palms up really allowed me to get a tight contraction in the area just below my clavicle. I’m not saying that this wouldn’t work as well laying on a flat bench, merely that I would probably end up muscling the weight up and utilizing my triceps more in such a situation.
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Would not call a floor press a chest builder myself.