Developing the upper chest while minimizing front delt involvement

[darsh89]

I have had labrum surgery in the past which prevents me from doing any overhead exercises such as military and db presses or incline barbell/db with any significant amount of weight.

I have been having some success with low incline db/barbell and low incline flyes.

Basically i already have very large front delts, even though i barely work them anymore except when doing bench presses, but i want to develop my upper chest.

All help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[ZiR RED]

Work your middle traps and rhomboids and rear delts heavily. Keep your shoulder blades squeezed together whenever doing a pressing movement. I've explained why countless times on this forum if you are curious as to the logic behind it.

Br

 

[waynaferd]

Doing decline bench seems to take the shoulders out of it for the most part.....all I do is declines now since my shoulders started aching a few years back.

 

[darsh89]

Work your middle traps and rhomboids and rear delts heavily. Keep your shoulder blades squeezed together whenever doing a pressing movement. I've explained why countless times on this forum if you are curious as to the logic behind it.

Br

I have been doing this a ton for the past few months. It does seem to help, but it still does not necessarily allow me to do incline or military or anything that really nails the upper chest

 

[darsh89]

Doing decline bench seems to take the shoulders out of it for the most part.....all I do is declines now since my shoulders started aching a few years back.

declines have been my go to pressing exercise for the past 4 months. They have def helped me add mass and are very helpful, but my upper chest is still lagging somewhat

 

[Tuckdogg]

Have you tried pre exhausting your chest with an isolation movement, therefore not needing as much weight with your presses?

 

[darsh89]

Have you tried pre exhausting your chest with an isolation movement, therefore not needing as much weight with your presses?

as in pre exhausting the upper chest with incline db flyes or somethign similar and then doing incline barbell? Yeah and even with the lower weight i still feel it in my shoulder a lot

but yes I have done pre exhaust moves with flat and decline pressing movements and it works well, then again it still doenst quite hit the upper chest as much as id like

 

[Tuckdogg]

Hmm so do the flyes hurt your shoulders or just the pressing movement?

 

[owlicks]

Use dumbbells, you'll be able to have more control dealing with your shoulder issues than with a barbell. I would suggest ONLY doing upper chest exercises. Most lifters already have overdeveloped lower pecs, so I would cut out any decline movements. I like to do an entire incline series with dumbbells and an adjustable bench. Do 3 sets with the bench a little above flat, 3 sets a couple notches up from that, and 3 sets nearly upright. Make sure not to push it too hard on weight the further up you go, so as to not injure your already compromised shoulders.

 

[darsh89]

Hmm so do the flyes hurt your shoulders or just the pressing movement?

The pressing. I mean i can do one set of 135 for like 15-20 reps once a week and be ok, but anything beyond that makes my shoulder tighten up and get uncomfortable. I mean i could do them, but it would only be a matter of time before i was back to having the labrum repaired again.

 

[darsh89]

Use dumbbells, you'll be able to have more control dealing with your shoulder issues than with a barbell. I would suggest ONLY doing upper chest exercises. Most lifters already have overdeveloped lower pecs, so I would cut out any decline movements. I like to do an entire incline series with dumbbells and an adjustable bench. Do 3 sets with the bench a little above flat, 3 sets a couple notches up from that, and 3 sets nearly upright. Make sure not to push it too hard on weight the further up you go, so as to not injure your already compromised shoulders.

so you are suggesting that i basically cut out all pressing movements completely except for incline type presses? I have not tried this, but it may work as that would allow the front delts to get worked but still recovery pretty well. I would have to use barbell though, ironically dumbbells bother it a little more

 

[owlicks]

Well it's something to try at least. If you can do flys as well without hurting your shoulders, they are a great exercise. I would be worried, however, that the heavier you get with flys the more risk you might have of hurting your already compromised shoulders. It may be safer to stick with the pec deck for now. I would also try some dumbbell pullovers and see if those affect your shoulders. I would guess that range of motion with the pullovers may be an issue, but it should put stress on your lower pecs instead of your shoulders.

so you are suggesting that i basically cut out all pressing movements completely except for incline type presses? I have not tried this, but it may work as that would allow the front delts to get worked but still recovery pretty well. I would have to use barbell though, ironically dumbbells bother it a little more

 

[darsh89]

Well it's something to try at least. If you can do flys as well without hurting your shoulders, they are a great exercise. I would be worried, however, that the heavier you get with flys the more risk you might have of hurting your already compromised shoulders. It may be safer to stick with the pec deck for now. I would also try some dumbbell pullovers and see if those affect your shoulders. I would guess that range of motion with the pullovers may be an issue, but it should put stress on your lower pecs instead of your shoulders.

pullovers cause no issues, incline flyes with dumbells even fairly heavy cause no problems, but if i do incline cable flyes it hurts, pec dec also does not cause any problems but the pec dec at my gym blows so i usually avoid it

 

[Tuckdogg]

Maybe you'll just have to step up the intensity with your flyes and stick to your one set of presses. Try adding some drop sets or rest pauses in and see how you go, totally fry your pec minor before doing your one set of presses.

 

[darsh89]

Maybe you'll just have to step up the intensity with your flyes and stick to your one set of presses. Try adding some drop sets or rest pauses in and see how you go, totally fry your pec minor before doing your one set of presses.

Will try this and try making inclines my only pressing movement for a couple weeks and see how the shoulder handles it

 

[Tuckdogg]

Let us know how it goes

 

[darsh89]

Let us know how it goes

Will do, thanks for the responses