Want to build up your lower pectoral muscles but not sure which exercises to use? According to a bodybuilding personal trainer, here are three exercises to include in your next upper body workout.
Strength training to develop and define your lower pectoral muscles is a great way to build a fuller chest and improve the performance of any upper body workout. However, as a bodybuilder and certified personal trainer, I Alan Gonzalez “For many people, the lower chest is the hardest part of the pectoral muscles to train,” he said in a recent YouTube video.
Thankfully, he didn’t tell me anything about working my lower pectoral muscles, instead telling me that I only needed three exercises to build round pectoral muscles, and no push-ups or decline presses were necessary.
Gonzalez’s workout requires gym equipment like a barbell, dumbbells, and a cable machine. But if you don’t have a gym membership, don’t worry: With the best adjustable dumbbells and these dumbbell chest exercises, you can build your chest muscles at home.
What are Coach Gonzalez’s lower pectoral exercises?
According to Gonzalez, the pectoralis major, commonly referred to as the chest muscle, is made up of two main heads: the upper (clavicular) head and the lower (sternocostal) head.
“However, if you look at some textbooks, you’ll see that the lowest section of the pectoral muscles splits off into a third head, the abdominal muscles,” Coach Gonzalez explains. “The whole chest is involved in horizontal induction, or bringing the arms out to the side of the body, but the lower pectoral muscles are also involved in shoulder extension, bringing the arms down from a forward position.”
This is important to keep in mind when choosing the most effective exercises to target the lower pectoral muscles. Now that you have a better understanding of the anatomy of the lower pectoral region, let’s look at three exercises that will help you develop well-rounded lower pectoral muscles.
Flat Bench Press
While many people consider the decline press to be one of the best exercises for working the lower chest, the flat bench press offers a better overall effect for building your chest.
“Not only does it feel more natural and lend itself to progressive loading, but the flat bench also more effectively targets the sternal rib head, which makes up roughly two-thirds of the chest.”
Gonzalez in 2020 study Comparing pectoral muscle activation at five different bench press angles, researchers found that activation of the mid and lower pectoral muscles was highest at 0 degrees incline (flat bench).
If you’re interested in incorporating the flat bench press into your training but aren’t sure whether to use a barbell or dumbbells, Gonzalez has some advice. In the barbell vs. dumbbell debate, both types of bench press have their advantages: Barbells offer more stability and allow you to lift more weight than dumbbells.
“Dumbbells, on the other hand, allow you to bring your hands closer together at the top of the movement, which allows for a greater range of motion and stronger abduction at the top of the movement,” he noted.
In both cases, he adds, you should draw your shoulder blades back and arch your spine slightly, which not only stabilizes your shoulders, but also engages your lower pectoral muscles more, effectively creating a slight downward angle.
Bench pullover
While bench pullovers are traditionally thought of as a back exercise, Gonzalez says that bench pullovers can significantly activate the chest, particularly the lower pectoral muscles. The video above goes into detail about why pullovers are so effective at activating the pectoral muscles, but for those who just want the gist, here’s a more basic overview:
Your lower chest muscles play a big role in lowering your arms over your head. When you lower the weight behind your head during a pullover, your lower chest muscles stretch. Then, when you lift the weight up, those same muscles work hardest to pull it up. This combination of stretching and contraction makes pullovers a great way to work your lower chest.
For best results with bench pullovers, Gonzalez says it’s best to limit the range of motion by bringing the weight just above your head rather than all the way up to your chest. “This keeps your pectoral muscles under tension and keeps you in a range of motion where your lower pectoral muscles are exerting force.”
High Low Cable Crossover
Gonzalez explained that high-to-low cable crossovers isolate the pectoral muscles by performing a horizontal abduction movement while engaging the lower pectoral muscle fibers. This type of movement eliminates the involvement of the triceps, helping to further isolate the pectoral muscles.
For example, “during the bench press, the triceps may fatigue first, limiting muscle tension, but using a cable crossover ensures that the pectoral muscles are maximally mobile and fatigued before other muscles.”
For best results, set the cable high, grab the handles, and step forward in a staggered position, says Gonzalez. Start with your arms parallel to the floor with a slight bend in your elbows. Keeping your torso straight, pull the handles down near your hips. For a better contraction, cross the handles at the bottom.
