Having a well-developed chest is key to having an aesthetic physique.

Chest training is the one thing that gym bros love to complicate more than necessary.

The problem is that despite this, we often see people who’s chest is well-developed, but not aesthetic.

You see, just training the bench press over and over again will surely develop your chest, but it will end up giving your chest more of a droopy look.

Don’t get me wrong, your chest shape is mostly genetic.

But the proportion in which your chest develops isn’t.

This means that if your goal is purely to create a jaw-dropping physique, it’s important you develop your chest in the right proportion!

What do I mean by that?

I mean that if you want to get that rock hard chest which compliments your shoulders, you should focus on targeting your upper chest.

It’s not just me who is saying this!

Go around and look at some of the most aesthetic physiques and in most cases, you’ll notice that they have an amazing upper chest development!

In fact, it is very rare to see an over-developed upper chest.

You’ll usually find guys with over-developed lower chests and under-developed upper chests.

Before we go any forward, I want to make sure that we’re on the same page!

How many heads does the chest muscle have?

The chest muscle is called the pectoralis major.

It has two distinct heads;

The upper chest a.k.a the clavicular head

The middle or lower chest a.k.a sternocostal head

This means that if aesthetics are the goal, you should spend equal, if not more, time on working on the clavicular head of your chest.

Also, you have to keep in mind that no exercise is magical and that you will only see growth if you apply the principle of progressive overload.

If you’re not progressing over time, you won’t be able to build an aesthetic chest!

That said, here are my top two chest exercises for aesthetics.

1. Incline dumbbell press

As I mentioned earlier, if aesthetics is the goal, special love needs to be given to the clavicular head of your chest, a.k.a. the upper chest.

Incline pressing is one of the best ways to hit your upper chest.

While this exercise is usually incorporated in routines, it is very rarely given the importance it deserves.

If you are training primarily to create a visually appealing physique, start your chest workouts with an incline press.

This might seem unconventional because everyone is so used to starting with the flat bench press but if you truly want to maximize your upper chest development, it’s best you hit it fresh!

You might be wondering why I mentioned the dumbbell press instead of the barbell press.

This is just a personal choice so I highly recommend you to try out both!

Here are my reasons for selecting the dumbbell variation:

1. Most commercial gyms I’ve been to have a fixed angle for the incline barbell bench press.

I don’t know if you have noticed this but most incline bench press setups in commercial gyms are fixed at an angle and that angle is usually a bit too steep for my liking.

While there is nothing wrong with training at an incline of 45° or higher, the anterior delts tend to do a lot more of the work as the angle increases.

This is why I generally prefer performing the incline press at an angle of around 30°.

I find this to be the sweet spot for myself.

2. The range of motion on the barbell bench press feels a little unnatural to me.

Again, this is based on my mobility and anthropometry so I don’t think you should rely completely on this.

I’ve found that I get a better stretch and contraction using the dumbbell variation so I prefer to stick to it most of the time.

3. I don’t always have a spotter around.

If you train alone, the last thing you want is to be pinned under the bar with no spotter around.

This is why I lean towards the dumbbells since I can just drop the weight if I hit failure.

These are the reasons why I choose the dumbbell incline press over the barbell version in most of my training blocks.

That said, when I do plateau on the dumbbell variation, I switch to the barbell variation for the next training block.

In either case, make sure you include the incline press in your routine.

If you want to maximize aesthetics, getting stronger on the incline presses is the key.

2. Weighted Dips

This is my second favorite chest exercise.

This exercise is one of the most powerful upper body exercises.

Many lifters even call it the squat of the upper body (because of the sheer amount of muscles and stabilizers it uses).

This exercise will emphasize the sternocostal head of your chest thus giving you complete chest development along with the incline press.

There isn’t much to explain here as it is just a parallel bar dip with weight added as your progress over time.

Are dips a better chest builder than the flat bench press?

Possibly.

But there is no black and white answer.

While I love this exercise, I can’t deny the fact that the learning curve is steep on this one, especially if you lack the mobility.

I’ve tried going to or below parallel countless times in the past and I’ve found that it’s just not possible without me messing something up in my shoulders.

The key here is to only perform a range of motion that is comfortable for you.

There is a difference in cutting range of motion short because of load and cutting range of motion short because your body doesn’t permit you to get into a certain position.

Dips can be dangerous if try to push them too far which is why I can see beginners leaning towards the bench press.

But if you’re ready to be careful (which you always should be), the dips are just as safe as any other exercise.

I usually rotate dips with the paused flat bench press depending on my training blocks.

So if you feel this exercise isn’t for you, my second choice would be the paused flat bench press.

It’s the flat bench press with a pause at the bottom.

It does a great job of putting your ego aside as you can no longer bounce the weight off your chest.

But if had to just choose one between the two, I’d go with the dips.

Conclusion

These are my top two exercises for building an aesthetic chest.

Try incorporating these into your routine for the next 6-8 months and you’ll see the difference.

That said, don’t be afraid to try out different exercises as different things might end up working for different people.

Your key takeaway from this article should be that if your goal is building an aesthetic physique, start your workout with the incline press and follow it with the weighted dip or paused bench press.

These two exercises together can help you build that rock hard chest in the right proportion that’ll allow you to take your physique to the next level.

Tired of trying to lose weight? Here’s 3 simple steps you can follow to get ripped.

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