Dominant delts might explain why your chest growth has stagnated. Jeff Cavaliere of Athlean X isolated common chest day mistakes resulting from improper form, insufficient tension, or exercise selection without a plan. Fixing flat pecs might not only be about effort or reps but also about reprogramming mechanics.
Tips to Fix Flat Pecs
- Lift the head during dumbbell chest press negatives.
- Pair explosive presses with slow and controlled eccentrics.
- Wide cable incline presses to improve mind-muscle connection.
- Dip for lower pec lines.
- Cable Y-Pullovers extend the upper pecs range.
- One-arm cable crossovers.
Here’s a further breakdown of how to implement these tweaks.
1. Better Bench Press Technique
Cavaliere noted two common blind spots during dumbbell bench presses:
- Head placement: Lifting the neck slightly off the bench as you lower the dumbbells to engage the pecs better. This shifts the load away from the shoulders.
- Tempo: Explosive concentrics paired with controlled, slower eccentrics can optimize pec activation, due to their high percentage of type II muscle fibers. (1)
2. Cable Incline Bench Press – A Wide Setup
If the first two tweaks don’t help, try what Cavaliere calls his “mind–muscle rehab.” During cable incline chest presses, the cables are usually closely positioned for more of a vertical pushing path.
Cables are the game-changer.
—Jeff Cavaliere
Perform cable incline chest presses with the cables farther apart to preactivate the chest by forcing it to work harder to adduct the arms in a strong pressing pattern.
Guaranteed you will 100 percent feel your pecs.
—Jeff Cavaliere
3. Dips — One-and-a-Half Rep Stretch
Defined lower pecs connect visually with the upper abs. Avoid shrugging the shoulders as you dip, as this hollows the chest and shifts demand to front delts and triceps.
Keep the shoulders down, lean forward, and bias the stretch with “one-and-a-half” reps. “Spending more time in the stretch will contribute more to the lower pecs line, and one that looks less flat,” Cavaliere explained. Descend into the stretch, come halfway up, dip again, then press up.
4. Cable Y-Pullovers
Cable Y-pullovers train the upper pecs via constant tension through their full range of motion. Start with the arms overhead in a “Y” shape. Pull the hands in as you pull them down, and squeeze the pecs.
5. Multi-Directional Cable Crossovers
Pec deck flyes are great, but cable crossovers, where the arms crossover into full adduction, are worth including.
- High-to-low crossovers for the lower chest line.
- Low-to-high crossovers for the upper pecs.
- Straight-across crossovers for mid-pec engagement.
6. The 3-D Crossover
If weak shoulders hinder chest day or cause pain after training, Cavalier swears by single-arm cable crossovers.
- Stand lateral to the cable pulley.
- Grab the handle.
- Twist away from the pulley.
- Bring the arm across the chest while contracting the pecs.
- Rotate back toward the pulley.
- Allow the arm to stretch
- Repeat.
Keep the arm close to the body to protect the shoulders.
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References
- Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Van Every DW, Plotkin DL. Loading Recommendations for Muscle Strength, Hypertrophy, and Local Endurance: A Re-Examination of the Repetition Continuum. Sports (Basel). 2021 Feb 22;9(2):32. doi: 10.3390/sports9020032. PMID: 33671664; PMCID: PMC7927075.
Featured image: @athleanx on Instagram
