The Middle Chest Mistakes That Are Costing You Gains

In gyms all around the world, Monday is chest training day. For a lot of lifters, that means joining the queue for the bench press. After all, the barbell bench press is considered by many to be the number one pec-building exercise.

However, while the bench press can be an effective chest builder, it’s not without drawbacks.

For some, the bench press causes shoulder pain, while others find it awkward because of their long limbs, narrow shoulders, or shallow rib cage.

But, in my opinion, based on over 30 years of working as a personal trainer, the real problem with the bench press is how it fails to target the inner chest. It’s a great general chest exercise and a very effective strength builder. But when it comes to improving your aesthetics, the bench press often falls short.

As a former powerlifter, I’ve done more than my fair share of bench presses, and while that made my chest big, it definitely lacked visual appeal. In fact, my chest aesthetics only improved when I started bench pressing less and built my workouts around alternative exercises.

Think about it like this—if the bench press was a tool, it’d be a hammer. But if you want to shape your chest and sculpt the pecs of your dreams, you need a chisel.

In this article, I reveal the mistakes you must avoid if you want to build a chest that’s both muscular and well-shaped.

Chest Anatomy 101

To build a balanced, aesthetically pleasing chest, you need to understand how the pectoralis major—your main chest muscle—is put together. Contrary to what many people think, it isn’t just a single slab of muscle. Rather, it has distinct regions (called heads) with different fiber angles and functions.

Here’s a quick breakdown (1):

1. The Clavicular (Upper) Head

In my experience, the clavicular head or upper pecs are often the hardest to build. And yet, when well developed, they add the most to the shape and size of your chest. The best way to work the upper pecs is with incline movements—ideally with the bench set to around 20-30 degrees.

This appears to be the optimal angle for hitting the upper pecs. Steeper angles tend to work the deltoids (shoulders) more than the chest.

• Origin: Runs from the inner part of your collarbone.
• Fiber Direction: Angles downward and outward.
• Action: Lifts the arm forward and up (think incline press).

2. The Abdominal/Costal (Lower) Head

Decline presses, flyes, high-to-low crossovers, and chest dips are among the best exercises for the lower pecs. But, here’s the kicker—most lifters don’t need to spend too much time working their lower pecs as A) they tend to grow quite easily and B) overdeveloped lower pecs will make your chest look bottom-heavy and unbalanced.

Consequently, if you train your lower chest at all, a few weekly sets of dips or high-to-low cable crossovers are probably all you’ll need to get the job done.

• Origin: Starts from the abdominal wall (external oblique aponeurosis).
• Fiber Direction: Angles upward toward the arm.
• Action: Helps pull the arm down and in (think decline pressing and dips).

3. The Sternocostal (Middle) Head

Training your middle pecs will give your chest separation and depth. So, instead of your chest being one single, shapeless mass, developing the center portion will emphasize the split between sides and make your chest look more sculpted.

This is what differentiates a bodybuilder’s chest from a powerlifter’s. Both are muscular and dense, but the bodybuilder has better shape and definition.  

All chest exercises work the middle chest to some degree; however, exercises that involve drawing your upper arms into and across the midline of your body are the best way to target this region.

• Origin: Comes off the breastbone (sternum) and the upper six ribs.
• Fiber Direction: Runs horizontally across your chest toward your arm.
• Action: Draws your arm across your body (think pec deck, dumbbell flyes, cable crossovers).

Understanding how the pecs are built is the first step. The next is making sure your workouts don’t undermine that knowledge. With that in mind, let’s look at the most common middle chest training mistakes that could be holding back your progress.

The Mistakes That Are Killing Your Middle Chest Gains

Even if you understand chest anatomy, a few common training errors can stop your middle pecs from reaching their full potential. Here are the pitfalls you need to avoid:

1. Relying Too Much On The Bench Press

I get it—the bench press is the world’s favorite chest exercise. It’s how many gym bros measure their strength. Get two lifters together and, dollars to donuts, at some point one will ask the other, “So, how much can you bench?”

While it might be hard to imagine a chest workout without bench presses, it’s important to understand that this lift is not the best way to target your middle chest. That doesn’t mean you have to drop the bench press from your program. But you should definitely move it down your list of priorities.

2. Skipping Isolation Work

Compound exercises are time-efficient, the best way to get strong, and are great for building mass. As such, they are the cornerstone of most lifters’ workouts.  However, if you want to target specific muscle groups with more accuracy, you need isolation exercises, too.

If compound exercises are like high-explosive mortar rounds, isolation exercises are like bullets from a sniper rifle—much more precise.

3. Neglecting Full Range of Motion

Watch many lifters train and you’ll see them cutting their reps short, either by failing to lower the weight all the way down or not fully completing their reps. While such strategies may allow you to lift more weight, they often make training less effective. This is especially true for chest exercises.

If you want to hammer your middle chest, you must fully contract your pecs, and that means taking each rep through its fullest safe range of motion. Not locking out will take work away from your mid pecs.

4. Poor Mind–Muscle Connection

It’s very easy during chest training to let your ego take over and pay more attention to the weight you are lifting than to your form. Before you know it, your triceps and shoulders are doing all the work, and your pecs are just along for the ride.

Make sure you can feel the target muscles working by switching on what bodybuilders call the mind-muscle connection. If you can’t feel the exercise in the area you are trying to work, it probably won’t be effective.

In many cases, using less weight, a more deliberate movement, and a slower tempo will produce better results than heavier loads lifted using poor form.

5. Using Too Much Weight

While I covered this in the previous point, it’s such an important lesson that it needs repeating: Going too heavy on flyes or presses shifts tension away from the pecs and onto supporting muscles or joints.

Remember, controlled, moderate loads are better for sculpting the middle chest.

Powerlifters should train heavy, as they don’t usually care about hitting specific parts of their chest. They just want to bench big weights. However, if you value aesthetics over brute strength, lighter loads provide a much better way to isolate and build specific pec regions.

6. Ignoring Arm Path and Grip Width

A critical thing to remember with inner chest training is that, to target your middle pecs, your arms should come in toward the midline of your body and, better yet, cross that midline. As such, narrow grips and arms that arc inward are better than wide grips.

You can check this for yourself—extend your arms in front of you with your hands wide apart; you probably won’t notice much tension in your chest. But bring your arms closer together and you’ll be able to see and feel your inner chest contracting.

So, remember that your arm path dictates pec recruitment. Too wide or too narrow a grip can shortchange the middle chest. Proper alignment keeps fibers engaged through the full range.

7. Forgetting Peak Contraction

Make every chest exercise better for your middle chest by squeezing your pecs at the top of each rep. Press your hands and arms inward and hold for a couple of seconds to ensure your inner pecs are getting the stimulation they need to grow. This is called the peak contraction method, and one of the best ways to make every rep as productive as possible.

Now you know the mistakes you need to avoid, in the next section, I reveal my favorite middle chest exercises.

The Best Exercises for your Middle Chest

Avoiding the mistakes outlined above is only part of the equation for building a middle chest you can be proud of. You also need to construct your workouts around the best mid-pec exercises. Here are some of my favorites, all tried and tested by my army of personal training clients over the last three decades!

Cable Crossovers

Cable crossovers are a must-do exercise for working the middle chest. Drawing your arms in toward the midline of your body is not just optional—it’s an integral part of the movement.

In addition, there is no drop-off in muscle tension at the midpoint of each rep, providing plenty of opportunity for peak contraction. You can do cable crossovers with one or both arms, and with a variety of arm angles.

Read more about this essential exercise in our detailed guide.

Pec Deck

If you want to zero in on your middle pecs, the classic pec deck machine is a great way to do it. Your movements are guided, which means you are free to put all your mental energy into your mind-muscle connection. Squeeze your arms together at the midpoint of each rep to virtually feel your middle pecs growing!

Dumbbell Flyes

While not quite as effective as crossovers and the pec deck, dumbbell flyes are a pretty decent middle chest exercise and are ideal for home workouts. Make sure you pause and squeeze at the top of each rep to wring every gain you can from this free weight chest builder.

Svend Press

While I have no idea who Svend is or was, this unusual exercise is a low-tech way to work your middle chest. All you need is a flat weight plate and a willingness to squeeze your arms together as hard as you can. The Svend press is an excellent finisher exercise that will leave your chest pumped to the max!

Learn how to do the Svend press here.

Dumbbell Squeeze Press

The close-grip dumbbell press, also known as the hex press and dumbbell squeeze press, is a shoulder-friendly inner chest exercise that’s hard to beat. It puts your pecs under near constant tension and forces you to push your arms inward toward the midline of your body.

While it does look a little odd and takes some mastering, this is probably my all-time favorite middle chest exercise. Use a slightly inclined bench to make this great exercise even better!

Closing Thoughts

Building a chest that’s both strong and sculpted takes more than just piling plates onto the barbell. If you want real shape and definition, especially through the middle and inner pecs, you need to avoid the common mistakes, train with precision, and prioritize exercises that keep tension where it matters most.

Remember, it’s not about lifting the heaviest weight—it’s about training smart, feeling every rep, and maximizing muscle recruitment.

So, whether you’re chasing aesthetics, balance, or simply a more complete physique, these tips and exercises will help you carve out a chest you can be proud of. Now it’s your turn—ditch the guesswork and put this knowledge into action in your next workout. Your best chest is waiting.

References:

1 – Solari F, Burns B. Anatomy, Thorax, Pectoralis Major. [Updated 2023 Jul 24]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK525991/

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