Wrap your left arm around your rib cage and bend your knees slightly. Push with your right arm and allow your body to raise off the ground as you push. Once your right arm is almost fully extended, hold for a second before slowly lowering yourself back down to the floor.

Load a barbell and lie on the bench with your back arched slightly and your feet on the floor. Grab the bar with your thumbs over your front delts. (Wrap your thumbs around the bar, both for safety and to save your wrists.) Lift the bar off the supports and hold it over your chest with your arms straight. Slowly lower it to your chest with your elbows close to your ribs—don’t flare them out, in other words. Push the bar back to the starting position and repeat.

In the ‘high’ version of this exercise we are trying to take that arm from the low and away position, up and across your body, following the direction of the fibers of the upper chest. Standing with feet flat on the floor and holding a dumbbell in your left hand lift the dumbbell straight up, keeping it at arms length, bending your elbow slightly. Lower the dumbbell slowly and repeat. If we can ‘follow the fibers’, we can get good chest activation.

The Saw gets its name from a back and forth sawing motion across your chest. You might think of it as a resistance band crossover, but it’s not technically a crossover, because a true crossover would take your arm farther out in front of your body, inviting a lot more shoulder into the exercise. It’s not about getting your arm away from your chest. We want to isolate the chest as much as possible and make it do the work. Starting position is standing with feet flat on the floor next to the anchor spot for your band. Set up for the saw by anchoring a heavy band to something sturdy at about chest height, and put your hand inside the band with the elbow locked. Plant feet firmly, and using the heel of your hand, drive your arm across your chest into adduction, keeping it about chest level. The farther you drive the arm, the more you’ll pull the band taut and the more contraction you’ll feel. Maintain your core strength the entire time.

Position the anchor of the bands on the middle hook. Stand 3 to 4 feet away from the door with your active side facing the door. Position your arm so that it is pointing towards the door anchor and has a slight bend. Your palm should be facing forward. Keep your back straight, head straight, chest up and feet shoulder width apart. Pull the handle around until your arm is right in front of your chest. Keep your arm frozen with a slight bend in your elbow throughout the movement. Keep your shoulders square, do not rotate your upper body as you pull the handle.

If you’re looking for an exercise that will allow you to incorporate heavy weights, this next option fits the bill. That’s because it allows us to shorten the range of motion and the moment arm, making it possible to load the upper chest more effectively. Using cables for this exercise allows us to use a consistent line of force because the cables can follow our movement all the way up.
Start with your elbow at your side and drive it upward until it’s in front of your chest. You should feel a strong contraction in the upper chest.

Position the anchor of the bands on the lowest hook. Stand 3 to 4 feet away from the door with your active side facing the door. Position your arm so that it is pointing down towards the door anchor and has a slight bend. Your palm should be facing forward. Keep your back straight, head straight, chest up and feet shoulder width apart. Pull the handle up and around until your arm is right in front of your chest. Keep your arm frozen with a slight bend in your elbow throughout the movement. Keep your shoulders square, do not rotate your upper body as you pull the handle.

Wrap your left arm around your rib cage and bend your knees slightly. Push with your right arm and allow your body to raise off the ground as you push. Once your right arm is almost fully extended, hold for a second before slowly lowering yourself back down to the floor.