How to Build Big, Balanced, and Sculpted Pecs

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TweetHow to Build Big, Balanced, and Sculpted Pecs

This article was originally posted on FitnessGeared.com, one of the leading fitness and bodybuilding forums on the web.
Over at FitnessGeared.com, we often like to talk about bodybuilding. One of the biggest topics that we cover is on chest development, you know, because everybody wants to have big pecs. A question we always get from fans is this — “How do I build big pecs that are balanced (upper and lower) and well-sculpted? I see a lot of people walking around the gym with big pecs, but their upper chest seem to be lagging. I don’t want that to happen to me so what should I do?”
If you think that building a big chest is all about doing as many different types of chest movements, think again. Working out your pecs isn’t just all about doing the flat bench press either. Yes it’s one of the most effective exercises to do in the gym, but what people tend to forget is that it’s compromised of two different muscles: the upper and lower pectoral muscles.
You need to strive for balance. Having an unproportioned chest is like working out your biceps without ever trying to develop your triceps; you’ll end up with weird looking arms. In this case though, you’ll have a chest that look more like boobs than anything else.
What you need to shoot for is a balanced chest that is NOT round but more square-shaped like the image above. Genetics do play a part in how your chest is going to ultimately look like, but you can control if they look like boobs or not.
So What Should I Do?

Most people make the mistake of making the flat bench press their main and first chest exercise, then proceed to do other variations of chest movements like the incline bench and flys. There’s nothing wrong with this, but the problem is that by always performing the regular bench press first, you’ll develop the lower chest a lot more than the upper chest.
This won’t make a big difference to novice lifters who still have a lot of work to do, but for intermediate lifters who want a balanced and defined chest, try to switch things up by prioritizing your upper chest. Here’s what we mean…
1. Perform compound movements that specifically target the upper chest first like the incline press (barbell or dumbbell) before you do other chest exercises like the flat or decline bench. This will allow you to really push your upper chest strength because you are starting out fresh. By working on your upper chest first in a workout, there is no reason for you to not be lifting really heavy and hard.
2. If your upper chest is significantly lagging, just get rid of the regular bench press altogether from your training program. This way you can focus solely on the incline press whether you’re doing the dumbbell or barbell variation. Do this for a few months until your upper chest starts to catch up to your lower chest. You’ll notice a significant difference as soon as it does. This doesn’t mean though that you will only be doing upper chest exercises. You will still want to maintain your chest strength and development, so continue doing pushups and any sort of horizontal pressing.
3. On top of compound movements, perform isolated upper-chest movements like incline flys. There are all sorts of variations such as using dumbbells, cables, bands, and even a barbell. Go high reps for these isolation movements if the goal is hypertrophy.
4. Build a strong upper back. Yep, you read that right. If you want to develop big, balanced, and well-sculpted pecs, you will also want to build up your upper back. You don’t want to walk around with a big chest sticking out and no back muscles to balance your look from the side view. Having a big upper back will actually make your chest look even bigger! Additionally, back training will help strengthen your compound chest exercises, improve your posture, and prevent injures to your rotator cuff.
Wrapping Up

As you can see, there’s more to building your chest than just doing endless bench pressing. You have to consider the fact that the upper chest need as much work as the rest of your pecs. In order to create a well-rounded look from both the front and the side, your training should encompass different types of modifications and not just your typical chest-day workout. Make sure to perform both compound and isolation movements that target the upper chest, put your lower chest in maintenance mode, and don’t neglect building a strong upper back.

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