Usually, the abdominal muscles are conventionally divided into upper abs, lower abs, and lateral abs. The upper press is called the upper part of the rectus abdominis. Pumping up the upper press is much easier than the lower or side press, as it is more involved in everyday life.
Basic exercises
According to experts, a good press with cubes can be obtained even at home. It is only important that the work on oneself be correct, regular and conscientious. To learn how to pump up the upper press, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with a number of key exercises.

Twisting
Very effective when acting on the upper press is twisting with turns. It is performed as follows: lie on your back, bending your knees. Feet can stand on the floor, lie on a bench at a right angle, or actively participate in the exercise. Hands are folded behind the head. It is necessary to slowly lift the body and turn it – first to the left, then to the right, trying to ensure that the elbow touches the opposite knee. The lower back is completely pressed to the floor, only the upper back should be involved in the exercise. The rise is done on the exhale through the mouth, lowering – on the inhale through the nose. To begin with, 8-10 times in 3 sets is enough. Gradually increase the number of repetitions to 50.

Hip lift
Starting position: lying on your back, arms extended along the body, palms down. The legs are just straight out. You can also perform this exercise on a horizontal bench, holding it with your hands behind your head. The essence is to raise the legs up at a right angle as you exhale and lower them to their original position as you inhale. The correct technique for performing this exercise for the press involves the absence of jerks, the movements should be smooth. Slight bending of the legs is allowed. When lifting, the pelvis is completely off the floor.

“Penknife”
Starting position: lying on the floor in an extended position (“string”), arms extended behind the head. On exhalation, the body and legs are simultaneously lifted. At the end point, you need to linger for 1 second and slowly return to the starting position. Due attention should be paid to coordination. For a better study of the abdominal muscles, try not to lower your legs and arms to the end, holding them at a short distance from the floor.
Leg twists
To perform in this case, you need to sit on the mat, raise your legs perpendicular to the floor, and then lower them: once straight, then on the sides. You do not need to bring your legs to the floor surface, it is desirable that there is a distance of about 15-20 centimeters. Note that the turns of the legs allow you to pump up the upper and lower press cubes.

Exercises on simulators
The exercises described above are great for home use. In the gym, you can additionally perform some more.

Twisting на блоке
You need to stand with your back to the upper block, kneel down, and then grab the cable handle. You can hold the handle behind your head, or you can also in front of your chest. When doing exercises for the upper press, remember that the load increases in proportion to the height of the arms. The bottom line is to lean forward while twisting the body.

Raising the body on an incline bench
You need to sit on the upper edge of the bench, fix your legs, lean back. Starting position – the body is almost parallel to the floor. Raise the body perpendicular to the floor. Return to starting position. In this case, the hands can be brought into a “lock” behind the head, crossed on the chest or folded behind the back. At the top of the exercise, the stomach almost touches the hips, at the bottom – the body is parallel to the floor.

Twisting на тренажёре
The execution technique is as follows. Sit on the simulator, fix your legs, grab the handles. Perform a tilt to the knees, twisting the body. Return to starting position. On some simulators, resistance is produced by lifting the weight, on others – by pressing the chest against the stop. This exercise is effective for the upper abs, obliques, and serratus anterior.

A little more about classes
Basic exercises should be enough to achieve high results, subject to quality performance, of course. However, there are a number of other, additional exercises that will be useful if you want to pump up the press:

try just lifting your upper body. To do this, lie down on the mat, bend your knees at a right angle and start lifting. During the exercise, the upper press must be in an extremely stressed state. Hands must be pulled forward. Having raised the torso to the top point, you need to try to maintain this position (aim for a 10-second retention);
Alternative option: when performing the exercise, clasp your hands behind your head;
Another option: the same actions, but the arms are crossed on the chest;
Sit on a bench (any other object that will allow you to bend) and start doing slopes. At half the fold, you should linger (the longer the better).
About the effectiveness of training
In order to properly pump the press, it is necessary to take into account several factors that accompany a high level of exercise efficiency.

First of all, it is important to consider that the anatomical structure of the body, which cannot be changed, is essential. Nutrition also has an impact on the effectiveness of training, so it is necessary to properly balance it. And with all this, you need to understand that only the upper press will not work. Many, as they perform exercises, ask themselves the question: “why don’t the press cubes appear, but is there still fat?”. To effectively solve this problem, you need to perform additional exercises. A great option is regular high-intensity cardio. A minimum of 20 minutes of such loads per workout is recommended.

Additional inventory
In general, exercises for the upper press can be performed without equipment. However, certain items in some cases will still come in handy. First of all, you need a bench, since some exercises are performed on it. For more comfortable and safe performance, it is also recommended to stock up on a practice mat. Finally, you will need pancakes from the bar: when the exercises begin to be performed with ease, pancakes can be used as a weighting agent.

About contraindications
Before you start pumping the upper press, you need to make sure that there are no contraindications. So, it is strongly not recommended to start training for those people who suffer from high blood pressure, have problems with the vascular system. It will be difficult in the presence of thoracic osteochondrosis, lumbar lordosis. It is very important to pay attention to all these factors.

With a competent approach to working on the upper press, taking into account all possible contraindications, as well as related favorable factors, the result will be very impressive, and besides, it will be achieved quite quickly.