The Best Chest Exercises:
How to Build a Powerful Chest

Chest exercises are essential if you want a god-like upper body. Here, you'll learn how to do the right exercises & find the best chest workout for you.

The importance of a well developed chest can't be overstated. After all, your chest (Pectoralis Major and Pectoralis Minor) is used constantly in daily life routines, and supports the optimum function of a number of other muscles.

As such, chest work is an undeniably important part of any effective weight lifting program. And let's be frank, almost everyone wants a muscular chest.

By selecting the correct chest exercises and implementing the best chest training regimen, you'll achieve improved posture, a balanced musculature, and you'll no-doubt sport an overall stronger and more appealing muscular physique.

So if you're ready to discover all you need to know about the best chest exercises, the best chest training method for you, the anatomy of the pec muscles as well as chest training tips and techniques...

...Then read on!

You'll find no-BS answers with all the resources and details you need to kick-start progress.

Use the table of contents (TOC) located on the right side of the page for seamless navigation through this page. (Or you can scroll down the page for an intense index finger workout!)

The Importance of Training with Chest Exercises

Benefits of Chest Exercises. While it shouldn't take much convincing, I've listed a few of the very best reasons to incorporate effective chest exercises in your weight lifting program:

• Improve Overall Strength. Your chest plays a critical role in nearly all upper body work. A strong chest also enables you to perform exercises that challenge smaller muscles - resulting in an improvement to your overall strength and appearance.
• Burn Calories. When a large muscle like the chest is worked to its potential, a number of calories are smoked. So if one of your goals is to shed a few pounds, a chest workout surely can't hurt.
• Improved Posture. Walk with your chest sticking out - literally. Your chest (and your back) plays an important role in keeping your upper body stable. A developed chest that is in balance with the back encourages good posture. However, let me stress again the importance of strong back muscles, too. In short, you'll hunch less and stand tall by having strong back and chest and back muscles.
• Gain Muscle Mass. You'll accentuate your newfound posture by adding chest mass so that your chest is the first part of you to enter a new room when walking through a doorway. Intense chest training with the right exercises is the only way to get the coveted thick, square chest muscles that are a staple entity for beach season.

^ up to TOC

Chest Anatomy 101

At the most fundamental level, the chest muscles are upper body "pushing" muscles. That is, with the help of the triceps and shoulders, they allow you to exert force forward. You stimulate the chest any time you do any pushing motion with your arms: From the doing the bench press to cranking out push ups to pushing a vending machine after it steals your money... Your chest muscles are what makes such movements possible.

In order to truly understand why some chest exercises are better than others, it's important to know how the chest is most effectively utilized certain movements and exercises. So in the spirit of learning, I suggest that you skim through the following links to gain a better understanding of the functional anatomy of the chest muscles. The information you learn can improve your depth of knowledge about chest training, and by extension, it will accelerate your results.

Chest Anatomy

• Pectoralis Major
• Pectoralis Minor
• Serratus Anterior

^ up to TOC

The Best Chest Exercises

Top 5 Chest Exercises. Here's my top 5 pick for the most effective chest exercises:

1. Barbell Bench Press
2. Dips
3. Incline Dumbbell Press
4. Push Ups
5. Dumbbell Pullovers

1. Barbell Bench Press

How to Do the Barbell Bench Press. Lie on a flat bench, feet flat on the floor, and eyes positioned directly under the bar. Grasp the bar slightly wider than shoulder width (use the markings on the bar as a guide.) Un-rack the bar, and position it directly above your upper chest. Lower the bar it until it barely touches your nipples, then push the bar back up to the start position. For more tips, see bench press tips and more tips on how to bench press.

Benefits of the Bench Press Exercise. I consider the barbell bench press to be the best chest exercise. It is a fundamental weight lifting exercise that should be at the core of every weight lifter's chest workout. Whether you're looking for mass and bulk or strength and sculpting, the barbell bench press is key to a results oriented routine. And, while the flat bench press clearly benefits your chest, it also tests your shoulders and triceps, making it a powerful upper body exercise.

2. Dips

How to Do Parallel Bar Dips. To perform bar dips, you'll need two parallel bars, about shoulder width apart (nearly any gym will have what you need.) Grasp the bars and lift yourself to a position so that your arms are fully extended, supporting all of your body weight. Your legs will hang freely. Slowly lower your body until your shoulders are just a bit lower than your elbows (a great time to ask a spotter to check your form.) Then push yourself back up to the start position. To most effectively target your chest, lean your body forward slightly as you perform the dip. For more tips, see tips on how to do dips.

Benefits of Bar Dips. Many new trainees think the dip is a relatively effortless weight lifting exercise... until they try it! Dips force you to lift and balance all of your body weight. The dip is prized by serious weight lifters because of its multi-muscle enhancing qualities. Sure, it hits your chest hard, but it also targets shoulders and triceps. Dips are also a great way to hit your pectoralis minor. The movement required by dips also transfers to the bench press, offering you gains in your lock-out strength.

3. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

How to Perform the Incline Dumbbell Press. You'll need an incline bench (adjustable or fixed), and dumbbells to perform the incline dumbbell press. Start in a seated position with the dumbbells resting on your knees. "Kick" them up by lifting your knees as you recline into the backrest. Now you are flat on your back, with feet planted on the ground. The dumbbells will be near your shoulders; press upward to fully extend your arms above you. Position dumbbells directly over your chest, so that they are perpendicular to your body. Lower the dumbbells in a slow controlled movement until the dumbbells are about even with your chest, then push dumbbells back to the start position. Note that the dumbbells should just barely touch eachother at the top of the movement.

Benefits of the Incline Dumbbell Press. The incline dumbbell bench press is a great chest exercise, but it also hits the anterior deltoids (front shoulders) hard because of your body angle. So it will definitely work your upper body pushing muscles to the fullest. On the other side of the coin, though, this means you might want to skip it if you're already doing heavy shoulder exercises such as the overhead press. And finally, incline dumbbell presses are so effective because they train your arm, shoulder and chest stabilizer muscles because you're forced to balance and move the dumbbells together.

4. Push Up

How to Perform Push Ups. Although there are many push up variations, I'll focus on the standard version of the push up -- Assume the correct push up start position: Hands positioned on the floor a little more than width apart and turned out slightly. Elbows nearly locked, and feet a comfortable distance apart. Your body should form a straight line from head to toe (eyes looking at floor, chin tucked.) Lower your body as one unit until your chest is slightly lower than your shoulders- then push yourself back to the start position. For more tips, see tips on how to do push ups.

Benefits of the Push Up Exercise. Check the scene at any weight training facility and you'll see people doing push-ups, but how often do you catch someone properly performing a push-up? A properly performed push up is an effective way to train your pecs, but no doubt you'll see gains in core strength, triceps, and shoulders too. Push ups are super versatile -- Just vary your hand or foot position (try close grip push ups or incline push ups) and keep the challenge fresh! The push up serves best as a fantastic end-of-workout burn out exercise that requires nearly every muscle come out and play.

5. Dumbbell Pullovers

How to Perform the Dumbbell Pullover. You'll need a flat bench, and a dumbbell. Position yourself so that your body is perpendicular to the bench. Rest your upper back, shoulders and neck on the bench. Your lower back and torso should be roughly parallel to the floor, and your knees bent at a 90 degree angle. Feet firmly planted on floor. Grasp the dumbbell with both hands, and hold it directly over, and perpendicular to your chest. This is the start position. Slowly lower the dumbbell over and behind your head until your arms are approximately parallel to the floor. Return weight to the start position above your chest. For more tips, see pullover exercise.

Benefits of the Dumbbell Pullover. The dumbbell pullover works your pectoralis major, but expect your back to benefit too. Best yet, the dumbbell pullover offers a great stretch and requires that a number of small stabilizer muscles pull their weight. And almost anyone that's done a dumbbell pullover will agree that this exercise simply feels good.

^ up to TOC

The Best Chest Workout Approach for You

If you want to achieve serious results, you should select a training program that's geared toward your experience level. Beginners often want to skip the basics and go for advanced exercises... Intermediate and advanced weight lifters often find themselves in a routine rut, frustrated that their progress has hit a plateau. Neither group will meet their goals.

So be honest about your experience, train at the appropriate level, and bask in the results! Below, I've outlined exercise choices for different levels of experience to help get you started.

Beginners

Beginner Chest Exercises. As a beginner, your goal of all goals should be perfecting technique. Developing good weight lifting techniques and applying them to a few carefully selected exercises will develop muscle memory and overall strength. Think of it as laying the foundation for the results you desire. It's a clear case of quality over quantity...

...Here are my recommendations for the best chest exercises to include for beginning trainees:

• Barbell Bench Press
• Dips or Push Ups

Beginner Chest Workout Approach. The best way to do an effective beginner chest workout is by exercising you chest within a full body workout routine. Developing spot-on weight lifting exercise technique will enable you to fully benefit from the weight lifting routine you choose now. More importantly, it will maximize your long-term strength and size results as well as your ability to avoid nasty shoulder (or other) injuries.

Intermediate and Advanced Lifters

Intermediate and Advanced Chest Exercises. As an intermediate or advanced lifter, you've presumably mastered technique for at least the major chest exercises, as well as a variety of other basic weight lifting exercises - And if not, then I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're still a beginner!...

...Otherwise you can feel free to do any of the previously outlined exercises; although, depending on your routine (i.e. unless you're doing an advanced split), it's probably counterproductive to perform all of them. Just make sure you're doing at least one "heavy" compounds to act as a foundation - Bench press and dips are my staple chest exercise choices.

Intermediate and Advanced Chest Workout Approach. If you are an intermediate to advanced trainees, below is a list of three basic workout templates that provide different structures for working your chest muscles. All have the potential to yield great results, but much depends on your specific goals, needs, abilities and schedule:

• Full Body Workout Routine
• Push/Pull/Legs Routines
• Split Routines (not recommended unless you're actually advanced)

More Chest Building Advice... What if you're happy with your current workout structure, but you're still looking for ways to further enhance your pectorals? The key to kicking your chest workout to the next level is using creativity to overcome "adaptation," which is the essential meaning behind the progressive overload principle. Simply put: Change your routine in one or more ways to continually challenge your muscles:

• Perform more total sets...
  • ...by keeping the same exercises and simply adding more sets. Or...
  • ...by adding another chest exercise to increase the number of sets.
• Increase the weight...
  • ...and perform fewer reps. Or...
  • ...do the same number (or more) of reps by going closer to, or reaching failure.
• Increase the number of reps...
  • ...and decrease the weight. Or...
  • ...increase the weight by going closer to, or reaching failure.
• Keep everything the same, except...
  • ...go to failure on the final set(s) of an exercise.

^ up to TOC

Share |

^Top of Page