Exercise to Square Off Pecs at Home

Fifty years ago, bodybuilders focused on doing endless bench presses on flat surfaces, which overdeveloped their lower and middle pectoral muscles. This type of training results in the appearance of a well-built but saggy chest. To square off your chest, you need to target and build mass in your upper pecs. Do this by modifying the angle of execution of common chest exercises -- pushups and presses -- which you can perform at home. Do a proper warm-up of five to 10 minutes of light aerobic activity to warm your muscles before exercising.

  1. Dumbbell Incline Press

    • Bodybuilder Steve Reeves had the perfect square-cut chest and physique, as immortalized in his film role of “Hercules.” The two exercises he used to square off his pecs were the incline dumbbell press and chest flyes. When Reeves performed an incline press, he drew the weights together at the top of the movement and squeezed his pecs, according to the Chest Sculpting website. During Reeves' time, people used barbells instead of dumbbells and failed to isolate their pecs in the press. To do the dumbbell incline press for a square-cut chest, begin by lying on an incline at anywhere from a 30- to 40-degree angle from the floor. Hold a dumbbell with an overhand grip or a filled water jug in each hand. Raise the weights to chest height with elbows bent, which is your starting position. Exhale and press the weights up, fully extending your arms. Allow the movement to arc at the top so the weights touch at the peak of the exercise. Squeeze your pecs hard at the top before inhaling and returning to your starting position. Perform three sets of four to six reps.

    Towel Flyes

    • By doing chest flyes with towels, you introduce instability and boost the intensity of an exercise that’ll hit your upper pecs. Begin the exercise in a pushup position on a tile or hardwood floor, avoiding carpeted surfaces. Put a small towel under your right and left hands. Exhale and extend your arms up and out to your sides, using your hands to slide the towels across the floor with controlled and fluid motion. Keeping your hands aligned with your ears, hold the peak position for a second or two and then return to the starting position. Perform eight reps for three sets.

    Pushup With Incline

    • Performing pushups at home is an efficient and convenient exercise to build your arms, shoulders and chest. To target the upper chest, do pushups with your feet elevated about 30 degrees from the floor. Use a stack of telephone books or a stair to provide a base for your feet. Perform one set of 15 to 20 reps. Also, use an exercise ball to introduce instability, boosting the workout for your core musculature. At the top of the movement, contract your upper pecs for a second before lowering your body back down. Another variation of an incline pushup is to perform a leg lift, raising one leg a few inches off the elevated base while lowering and raising your chest. Your abdominals will have to work that much harder to maintain balance.

    Cable Crossover

    • If you have a pulley machine at home, perform cable crossovers with the pulleys set at the low position to target your upper pecs. If you don’t have a machine, use elastic resistance and perform one-armed crossovers, attaching one end of the band to the bottom of a door. Begin the exercise by attaching two D-handles to the low pulleys. Assume a split stance in the middle of the machine, holding a handle in each hand with an overhand grip, palms facing down. Extend your arms to your sides without locking your elbows and lean slightly forward. Exhale, squeeze your pecs and pull your handles forward and up to the midline of your body. Inhale and slowly return to starting position. Perform 12 reps for three sets.