How to Work Out the Clavicle Muscles

The clavicle muscles, or the muscles attached to the collarbone, include the pectoralis major muscle group, the trapezius muscles and the deltoid muscle group. Working these muscles will give you a stronger-looking chest and can contribute to a V-shaped torso. Because the clavicle muscles are somewhat separate from one another, you will need to work each group separately with different exercises. Incorporate these exercises into a weekly workout, performing them once or twice per week.

Shoulder Presses

Hit deltoid muscles with shoulder presses. Sitting at a shoulder press machine or holding a barbell behind your neck and over your shoulders, press straight up. After reaching full extension with your arms and after your elbows are straight, slowly bring the weight back down. Repeat this nine times, rest for two minutes, and perform two more sets of 10. Rest in between sets.

Shrugs

The trapezius muscles extend upward from the clavicle, making up the muscles of your neck. To hit these muscles, use shrugs. Hold a barbell -- either a free weight or one attached to a smith machine -- in front of your body so that your arms hang down and your elbows naturally lock. From here, shrug your shoulders as high as possible; the barbell will move up a number of inches. Return to the start position and repeat the shrug nine times. Rest for two minutes and perform two more sets of 10, resting in between.

Decline Pushups

The muscles coming straight down from the clavicle and into the chest area are the pectoralis major muscles, which consist of two muscle heads -- one coming off the clavicle and one coming off the sternum. Hit the one coming from the clavicle with decline pushups. A decline pushup is just like a normal pushup, except with your feet elevated. Kneel on the ground with your hands on the floor. Put your feet up on the bench or elevated surface behind you and straighten your body. Perform pushups in this position by lowering your body to the floor and pushing it back up until it is parallel to the floor. Do a total of 10 pushups and rest. Repeat this process twice. The elevation of the surface on which you place your feet alters the difficulty level, with higher elevations being more difficult.

Chest Dips

The chest dips is the all-around, muscle-building exercise for the clavicle. This exercise hits all of the previously mentioned muscle groups without specifically focusing on one of them. Perform a chest dip at the dip bars. Mount the dip bar with your hands so that your feet are off the ground. Bend your knees and tilt your upper body forward to a slight degree. Let your elbows bend to lower your body. When you feel a stretch in your chest area, push down on the dip bars so that your body returns to its original position. This completes a single dip. Perform 10 dips, rest for two minutes and do two more sets. Rest between sets.

Starting Weight

To reduce the risk of injury, do not simply estimate a starting weight for these exercises. Begin with a weight that is lower than what you believe you need. Perform the exercise for a total of 13 reps with this weight. If you performed the 13 reps with proper form, add 10 pounds of weight and repeat. Repeat the process until either your form starts to falter or you cannot complete a full 13 reps. This is your starting weight.