Perfect pecs are no walk in the park, but these tips and exercise tricks will help you build bigger, more evenly defined chest muscles fast.

There is no single exercise or muscle movement that can activate all the muscle fibres in the chest region at once. Men who gym often find that the lower portion of their chests develop quickly while the upper part never seems to grow.

And the problem with this, of course, is that the muscle begins to resemble a teenage boob rather than Iron Man’s chest plate. It’s not that they aren’t working out hard enough, but rather that the basic recommended exercises for building chest muscles only target the lower portion of the chest.

There are a few slight tweaks you can make to your workout regime to ensure that you are getting the whole muscle involved. Incorporate these into your weekly routines and you’ll be on your way to perfect pecs in no time.

1. Dumbell Bench Presses

Dumbbells are great chest building tools. They allow you more control and variety of movement than the traditional weighted bar. Of course the bar is still an essential, but you will find that using dumbbells in your routine will allow you to build muscle faster.

2. The Twisted Bench Press

The twisted bench press is essentially the same, but with one slight variation. On the upward movement, the wrists rotate. This isometric movement activates a few more muscle groups than the traditional press, but it also activates the muscles fibres close to the collar bone, which will make it easier to achieve those perfect pecs.

3. Inclines & Declines

Whether you’re using a bar or dumbbells, doing presses or flyes, the easiest way to activate the various parts of the pectoral region is by alternating between flat, incline and decline bench presses. The upper chest is best stimulated from exercises done on a 30-45% incline bench. The middle chest is best stimulated from exercises done on a flat bench. The lower chest is best stimulated from exercises done on a 30-45% decline bench like the one below.

4. Push Up Varietals

To get the most out of your push ups, do variations on them to activate more muscle groups. Simply switch up the placement of your hands on the floor. The close hand push up offers a more intense movement.

The wide hand, which can be done with either the traditional placement of the hand facing forward or the sideway hand, is very effective for building the muscle close to the sternum, while the inward facing hand pushup builds muscle close to the collar bone. As with the bench presses, push ups can be done on the incline and decline, too.

5. The Forward Leabing Dip Press

This is a powerful move for building the perfect pecs and should be part of every chest building routine.