The Bench Press has long been the gold standard of building upper body muscle. This is because the prime movers of the Bench Press are the largest muscles of the upper body, the pectorals (a.k.a. "pecs"). At some point, like all main lifts, the Bench Press is greatly aided by assistance exercises. This is due to the Law of Diminishing Returns or the training age of the lifter. Either way, other exercises are eventually called upon to continue progress, so let's discuss them.
Incline Barbell Bench Press
The Incline Barbell Bench Press primarily targets the upper pecs (clavicular head of the pectoralis major) and secondarily engages the front delts and triceps. The increased the involvement of the front delts can help boost shoulder strength and size. As a compound movement, it allows for heavy weights and a long range of motion, promoting upper body strength and hypertrophy. The barbell provides a stable movement path, aiding in control and progressive overload.
Dips
Dips primarily target the lower pecs (sternocostal head of the pectoralis major) and triceps, with secondary engagement of the anterior deltoids, lower traps, and rhomboids. As a compound movement, dips engage multiple muscle groups, making them
efficient for the upper body. Dips also require significant core stabilization, enhancing overall body control and core strength, and can be easily modified by adding weight for advanced lifters or using assistance for beginners.
However, some people experience strain in the shoulder and elbow joints from Dips. They are not a "must do" exercise for chest development but can be a great cherry on top of any upper body workout.
Close-Grip Bench Press
The Close-Grip Bench Press is similar to a regular Bench Press, except it places greater emphasis on the triceps and less emphasis on the pecs. Due to it's very long range of motion, the lifter can't use as heavy of weight as they would on a Bench Press, but can use heavy enough weight to drive hypertrophy and improve the strength of the triceps while also getting some general training for the pecs.
Press
The Press, in and of itself, is one of the "Big 4" lifts that everyone serious about having general strength should be performing. A great builder of the traps, front delts, and triceps, the Press is an outstanding lift to add to your arsenal. It's long range of motion means it won't be as heavy as the Bench Press, but it will be sufficiently heavy, because of the massive amount of muscle mass it trains. As an added bonus, the Press makes for a great supporting lift for the Bench Press. A program that focuses on the Bench Press to improve upper body strength can utilize the Press as little as 1x per week. Conversely, if a program focuses on the Press, it can be utilized as many as 3x a week effectively. The Press also has many variations and assistance exercises that make it as versatile as this list is for the Bench Press.
LTE's
Most popularly used with a curl bar, the Lying Tricep Extension (LTE's) is a great tricep and upper-back builder. The LTE's unique bar path gives it a very long range of motion and trains an awful lot of overall muscle mass. The weight used in an LTE isn't as heavy as the aforementioned lifts, but it deserves consideration as an assistance exercise as you're building your program.
Integration Into Your Strength Program
Incorporating these additional or complementary lifts into a routine is quite straightforward. Let's suppose the lifter works out four days a week, allocating two of these for the upper body. The primary focus on the first day is usually the Bench Press. Following the completion of the Bench Press, it is advisable to select one or two other lifts from the provided list to perform, ensuring that the intensity (amount of weight lifted) of these lifts is not too high to impede recovery for the Bench Press. This approach involves treating the other barbell lifts on the list as exercises with higher volume. The second day of the week should emphasize heavier versions of the barbell lifts, with the Bench Press or a similar exercise focused on volume following it. Many lifters find it beneficial to combine these "Push" movements with "Pull" exercises like Rows and Chin Ups to create a well-rounded upper body training split.
Example training set up:
Day 1
Squat Day
Day 2
Bench Press 1 x 5, 2 x 5 @ 85%
Press 3 x 5
Rows 3 x 5
Dips 3 x AMRAP
Day 3
Deadlift Day
Day 4
Incline Bench Press 3 x 5
Close-Grip Bench Press 3 x 8
LTE's 3 x 8-12
Chin ups 3 x AMRAP
Conclusion
By including these exercises in your program and progressively overloading them, you can comprehensively build greater upper body strength and muscle mass. Remember to maintain proper form (cheating the assistance exercise is literally pointless!) gradually increase the intensity, and ensure consistency in your training to maximize the benefits of these exercises.
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