Test your sternum angle with a phone to find your ideal bench incline. A steep sternum needs 30-45 degrees to hit upper chest; a flat sternum works fine with a slight incline or flat bench.
Test your sternum angle with a phone to find your ideal bench incline. A steep sternum needs 30-45 degrees to hit upper chest; a flat sternum works fine with a slight incline or flat bench.
Struggling to grow your upper chest, Try this Lay on a flat bench and place your phone between your pecs, right on top of your sternum. If it angles down, you've got a steep sternum, whereas if it sits more flat, you've got a flat sternum like me. Now here's how this affects your chest training. So if you've got a steep sternum angle, your flat bench actually acts more like a decline press because your chest fibers angle downward. So to really hit that upper chest, you'll need a higher incline of around 30 to 45 degrees. But if you've got a flat sternum angle like me, the flat bench works as intended. In this case, usually all it takes is a very slight incline, just one or two notches up to fully activate your upper chest. Anything more and you'll start to feel it in your shoulders. But what sternum angle are you working with? Comment below. And if you want more personalized help, you can try two weeks free of my new fitness app over@builtwithscience.com.
