The one muscle that is lacking with almost everyone is not just calves, the upper chest also gets ignored in the long run too. The upper chest growth becomes a tough cookie to break when you just have bodyweight workout at your disposal. The avid strength athletes and bodybuilders also sometimes overlook this muscle. With all the equipment and machines it still becomes a difficult task to grow the upper chest. When it comes to a calisthenics athlete it becomes a next to impossible task to grow the upper chest with bodyweight workout. Let's see how we can put some pounds on the upper chest region. 

Understanding the upper chest muscles

The upper pectoral muscle activation is rather hard, hitting them would require a middle angle between a regular push up and a shoulder press. The muscle fibers of pectorals are always crossing the shoulder joint in a way they are activated more in an inclined angle so technically speaking an inclined angle is optimal for a greater activation of the upper chest muscles.

The incline chest bench press is the staple exercise/" title="exercise" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked">exercise to properly hit the muscle but that also requires a bit of skill and experience so let's look at some home workout that you can do for growth and development of your upper chest. 

Decline push up

The decline chest press trains the lower chest but the decline push up targets the upper chest. This is a proper progression to the regular push up. 

How to do

• First you need an elevated surface on which you can keep your legs as leverage
• Then lay down on the floor with your chest facing the floor
• Next you place your feet on the leverage and assume the push up position with your chest out and your lower back straight and erect. 
• This is your starting position
• Take a deep breath and slowly lower yourself down until your chest touches the floor
• Push with force and go back to starting position and exhale 
• Take another deep breath and repeat

Tips

Try not to keep your feet on too high leverage. Find something that will take you feet up so your entire body remains parallel to the ground in the starting position. 

You can progress by placing your hands on another leverage and get a deeper stretch at the bottom position. 

Decline Bosu Ball push up

This is a direct progression to the decline push up, in this exercise you place your feet on a bosu ball for an unstable leverage which activates your core and chest muscles even more. 

How to do

• First place your bosu ball so it moves freely
• Then lay down on the floor with your hands apart and place your feet on the ball
• Push your chest out and keep your lower back erected
• This is your starting position
• Take a deep breath and lower yourself down slowly till your chest touches the floor
• Push with force till you reach starting position and exhale
• Take another deep breath and repeat

Tips

Do not use the wall as leverage for placing the ball; the imbalance the ball creates for foot positioning is what we aim for. 

Pike Push up

This is a classic movement dating back to old circus artists who used it to develop athletic abilities. This movement is mainly shoulder dominant but if you manipulate your body angle a bit then it also hits the upper chest greatly. 

How to do

• First lay down on the floor with your chest facing floor 
• Lay down your arms on the floor and raise your hips above your head level by slowly bringing your feet and hands together. 
• This is your starting position
• Take a deep breath, keep your back straight and lower down till your head touches the floor
• Push yourself to the starting position and then exhale
• Take another deep breath and repeat

Tips

Your back position is very important here. Try to maintain the v-bend throughout the entire motion and always mind your breathing technique for a better pump. 

Elevated Pike push up

This is the advanced version of the pike push up, where you uplift your legs on an object to increase the pressure on the upper chest and shoulders. 

How to do

• First find a suitable and stable object which you can use as leverage to raising your lower body
• Get down on floor with your chest facing the floor and place your legs on leverage while maintaining a v-bend in your hips
• This is your starting position
• Take a deep breath and lower yourself to floor till your head touches the floor
• Push with force to reach the starting position and then exhale 
• Take another deep breath and repeat

Tips

The elevated pike push up requires a lot of hip mobility. Try to warm up your hip flexors before you start the exercise. 

Handstand wall push up

This is an advanced calisthenics movement which involves the entire upper body. Doing the handstand wall push up requires you to master all the push up variations mentioned above. 

How to do

• Go to a wall and lay down on the floor with your chest facing the floor
• Slowly go back to the wall and place your feet on the wall to assume a handstand position with wall support
• This is your starting position
• Take a deep breath and keep your shoulders tight and slowly lower yourself till your head touches the floor
• From this position push hard and go back to your starting position and exhale
• Repeat again 

Tips

Try to keep your shoulders tight and rigid. Your entire weight is going to be on your shoulders and any mistake in form could possibly lead to an injury. 

Always stay in your comfortable rep range, don't push yourself in this exercise, always stay 3-4 reps away from failure. 

Takeaway

The upper chest growth potential is slightly limited without the gym, the progression in using any calisthenics exercises also takes longer time. So be ready to put in a lot of work and expect slow results but whatever progress you make doing home workouts is going to be a longer lasting result. 

The home workout routines for upper chest growth are also heavy compound lifts, these movements require a lot of balance and core strength to perform them and they take a toll on the endurance also. Working out in this manner gives slow but strong results.

People who do home workout for muscle growth have not only develop a stronger base and longer lasting pump they have the most aesthetic muscle mass also, so if you are someone who has no time for gym and has a limited space and equipment at home you can definitely try out the home workout routine to buff up your upper chest with ease

FAQs

How to workout the upper chest with just push ups? 

You can use different variations of push ups like pike push up, decline push up, wall handstand push up. 

What equipment can I buy for a home workout to train my upper chest? 

You can buy a bosu ball, resistance band or a pair of dumbbells to train your upper chest at home.