A sculpted chest is a key part of the desirable V-taper look and a muscular male physique. While there are plenty of moves that target your major chest muscles, plenty of people still tend to neglect the lower chest. This goes so much further than the classic bench press, and it’s worth adding these lower-chest bulking moves to your arsenal. There’s a good reason why fitness buffs say you shouldn’t skip out on lower chest day. Let’s look at the best moves.
The importance of working out your lower chest muscles
Not only will you get the best results aesthetically, but you’ll also likely improve your ability to perform popular powerlifting moves like deadlifts. There are plenty of benefits of strengthening and training different sections of your chest, including:
- Research shows upper body resistance training positively affects pulmonary function in male sedentary smokers.
- Research also reveals that the chest fly machine increases body mass and bone density, so performing these exercises could be good news for your bones and athletic performance.
- Enhance your chest symmetry.
- Strength training and chest exercises like pushups also burn calories, which helps promote weight loss and weight management.
Chest muscle anatomy
You’ll need to work your lower chest muscles for the most optimal chest-building outcome that really makes you stop and check those pecs. Your pectoralis major muscle in your chest is categorized into two different sections: the upper or clavicular area and the lower or sternal area. The sternal area refers to the biggest of the two main sections of your lower and middle pectoral muscle.
Exercises can emphasize the clavicular muscle fibers, the sternal muscle fibers, or both. Lots of exercises like the standard bench press also mostly hit your mid and upper chest.
As an example, exercises that involve adducting your arm straight across your body better target the sternal area of your chest. Lower chest-building exercises often target your serratus muscle, which works together with your lower chest and your abdominal head of the pecs found in the sternal area of your chest.
The best lower chest exercises to try
The following are the best lower chest exercises to try:
- Weighted dips
- Decline dumbbell pullover
- Cable crossover
- Incline pushup
- Chest fly
- Decline barbell bench press
- (Low grip position) machine chest press
