Exercise for this?

[Viper555]

I need an exercise I can do that will build up the top of my chest. I already do dumbell flys and bench press but I can't seem to build up the top part of my chest and it's starting to look funny. I'm talking about the part that is right under your collar bone if anyones confused right now. I would prefer that the exercise involve weights. I can post a pic too if that would help.

[Ras-Tanu]

Are you doing flys and bench press on an incline? If not, then use an incline bench to hit the upper part of your chest. Decline pushups also work that specific area;you can place weight on your back for mass.

[Viper555]

Thanks for the help. One more question though. When you do inclined flys do you take the weight straight out in front of you like you would if you were laying down or do you take it up so that it would be parallel with the floor?

[Ras-Tanu]

Hold the weights straight above you, that's parallel to the floor, I guess. Here's a better explanation with a picture: Link (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/excercise/incline%20dumbellflys.htm)

Remeber the slight bend in elbows and hugging motion. I think of hugging a barrel when correcting my form.

[Toby]

Try doing it straight out in front, then post the followup pictures of your crushed abdomen :D. Seriously, there's a certain plane that you have to follow. Basically vertically upwards, against gravity. Out in front of your torso (90° to your body) is impossible with any significant weight.

[Viper555]

That's not exactly what I was talking about Toby. I meant with the weights having the same position with your body as if you were laying down.

[IronFist]

Originally posted by Viper555
That's not exactly what I was talking about Toby. I meant with the weights having the same position with your body as if you were laying down.

That is what Toby was talking about. At least that's what it sounds like to me.

Time for some of my famous workout pictures. Hold on and I'll explain it.

Ok ready? Pic 1 is correct. You push the weight up and down. This is perpendicular to the floor. If you think about it, looking at the angle of your arms and pecs, this is the way you would have to do it, anyway, to engage your upper pecs.

Pic 2 is incorrect. First of all, since it's the same angle as doing flat bench, it wouldn't be hitting your upper pecs very much, would it? And second of all, with any moderately heavy weight at all, your front delts would give out and you wouldn't be able to hold it up there anyway.

[Toby]

I meant what you meant, Viper555. Iron summed it up. Try it with lightish weights. As soon as you get even a few inches out of the vertical (against gravity) plane, it becomes a struggle to hold it.

[Viper555]

Yep. You're right. I tried it yesterday and almost squashed my....well you get the idea. Thank god I didn't have much weight on their or I would've been in trouble.

[Toby]

That's why I said
Originally posted by Toby
Try it with lightish weights.
:D

Hope you didn't hurt yourself. As it is, I used to do regular bench to failure, then incline, then decline. I used to do up to around 220 regular but only about 175 incline. Decline was much easier than incline, so I'd be back up to around 200. All exercises to failure each set. Dunno how much the reduced weight was to do with fatigue from the previous exercise(s) or just more difficult motion, but incline is definitely harder than regular bench or decline. I'd be aiming for a max of around 3/4 of your regular bench max, so don't try for too much, especially while getting used to the (sometimes difficult, as you found out) motion. Crucially important is to get the form right because it seems to be one of the most tricky exercises to keep your balance just right and any deviation results in, well, you found that out :p.