Top 10 Workouts For Chest

Chest muscle happens to be the most muscular group of muscles that define a man’s power and physical prowess. The size of the chest muscles scales one’s strength and power one has. Owing to this obsession for the chest muscle, most of the gymmers go crazy for developing deep, broad chest. As the major chest muscles (specifically the pectoralis major, aka pecs) are so huge, and assist to so many everyday movements, you’ll need more than just a handful of Workouts For Chest to build your upper body from every angle.

In this article, we will be highlighting Top 10 Best Workouts For Chest that you can do.

1. Barbell Bench press

Probably, Barbell Bench Press is one of the the most quintessential Workouts For Chest. If you want to strengthen your upper body muscle or develop a powerful looking pec on your chest, the bench press is the answer. The bench press is such a masculine workout that has also been included as the second discipline in power-lifting.

How to do it:

• Lie on your back on a flat bench press station. You should fix your eyes to the middle of the barbell coming under the barbell rod. Now, grip the barbell slightly wide of your shoulder width.
• Now, pressing your uppers back make an arch moving inside your lower back, lift your chest towards the ceiling, and push your feet firmly into the ground. Squeeze your shoulders down and back.
• Unload the barbell road and hold it over your chest
• Lift a barbell rod and then start lowering it by bending your arms until you touch your centre of chest.
• While doing this, make sure that your forearms remain perpendicular to the floor, if not you need to readjust it again in the next set.
• Push back the barbell again at arms’ length and repeat.
• You need to do 3 sets of 12 reps to get impressive results.

2. Incline Bench Press

By switching to the incline bench press, you can increase upper chest muscles. As per the studies, the best angle of targeting upper pecs is 44 degrees. Usually, you can’t find a bench with precise adjustment in that case you can go around 30-45 degrees. If you increase the angle more than this measure, you will just end up working your deltoids (shoulders) more than your pecs. You can do incline bench presses using a barbell or dumbbell.

How to do it:

• Lie on an Incline bench by setting it around 45-degrees.
• Hold the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip. Lift your chest by pulling your shoulders down and back.
• To make it a safe bench press, plant your feet firmly into the ground and arch your lower back slightly.
• Lift the bar, bend your arms and lower the bar down to your upper chest.
• Press the weight back up and repeat

3. Decline Bench press

Your lower pecs are involved in all chest exercises, however, doing a decline bench press allows you to work on your lower chest muscles. The most exciting thing about decline bench press is that most the people find it relatively easy for their shoulders than flat and incline versions. So, if you are not able to bench press on a flat bench, this exercise is a better alternative. It should be noted, the best exercise for targeting lower pecs is around 15 degrees below parallel ground.

How to do:

• Lie on your decline bench by setting it at 15 degrees to the ground.
• Anchor your leg behind the ped of the bench so that you don’t slide down while doing workout
• Now, grip the bench bar slightly wider than your shoulder-width and lift your chest and subsequently pull down your back and shoulders
• Now, lift the bar by and bending your arms and then lower it to your sternum. Push back the weight again up by stretching your perpendicular to the ground and repeat
• Try to do 3 sets of 12 reps.

4. Push Ups

And the last but not least, Push-ups are the most underestimated chest workout that most of the young gym-goers generally miss doing. Being quite primary, push up is a body-weight workout that anybody can do anywhere anytime as it does not require any kind of fitness equipment.

How to do it:

• To start with kneel down on the floor, placing your hands on the floor slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Rotate your shoulder slightly outward to stabilise your shoulders and maximize your chest activation
• Place your fingers firmly on the ground with fingers pointing forward
• Now, bend your arms and lower your chest up to one inch of the floor
• While doing so, don’t sag your hips
• Now extend your arm again and return to the initial position and repeat • Important thing to note, keep your whole body across the push-ups
• Try to do of 3 sets of 10-12 reps

5. Flat Dumbbell Fly

An isolation exercise, Dumbbell Fly involves a lot of movement concentrating at just one joint. Unlike other compound exercises that involve your triceps, biceps and shoulders, Dumbell Flys are dedicated exercises for the chest muscle. Usually, you can’t lift much weight while doing dumbbell flys, however, minimal weight can also bring remarkable results to your chest. It should be noted, don’t try to lower the weights too low touching the ground as it can cause ‘click’ kind of sound to your shoulders which is bad, trust me.

How to do it:

• Lie on a bench with a lightweight dumbbell to start with, if you are a beginner 2.5 kg or 5 kg will do here
• Now, press the weighted dumbbell up to arm’s length
• Proceed with rotating your wrists so they can face inward
• Bend your elbows slightly keeping everything rigid and firm
• Open your arms and take down your dumbbells down and out to your sides
• Make sure to keep your arms perpendicular to your body
• Bring a good stretch, but don’t extend your arms too much as again it can dislocate your shoulders which is really not good
• Now, while going up, squeeze the weights using your pecs and repeat
• So, these are the top 5 best chest workouts that you don’t wanna miss if you are looking to develop Greek God-like pec.

6. Dumbbell Close Grip Press

This exercise is one of the modifications of the dumbbell bench press that can be done by you to improve the strength of your chest. It is a highly effective exercise for those individuals who are already into the bodybuilding sport and it actually sets in motion your chest muscles, especially since you would be squeezing those pectoral muscles as you continue to keep both the dumbbells jointly pressed.

How to do

• First, you can start with this exercise by lying on your back and on a flat bench.
• You can now hold on to a pair of dumbbells in both your hands high-up over your chest.
• Subsequently, you have to start lowering these dumbbells down on to your chest. Keep both the dumbbells in close proximity to each other by not allowing them to touch each other.
• Continue to hold on to the dumbbells in the same position for a defined number of seconds.
• Now, you can get back on to your starting position.
• You have completed one rep.
• You must try to do at least 3 sets comprising of 10 reps each per set.

7. Incline Dumbbell Fly

This is one of the strength exercises that are performed in isolation and they specifically target the chest muscles, particularly the top of your pecs. Additionally, it can also be one of your ultimate finishing moves that you can do to keep the focus towards your chest. This exercise also focuses on many other muscles of yours such as your shoulder and arms that help to maintain a proper balance for your body as you perform this exercise regularly. Finally, you would be able to work both your pecs pretty well too with this exercise.

How to do

• Get started by setting up a bench at an inclined position. Preferably, try and set the bench at an angle of around 45-degrees.
• Get yourself seated on a bench while keeping your feet flat on to the ground.
• As you start pushing a dumbbell to the top of your chest, you must keep your core tight and breathe out, as you lie on your back on the bench. As you keep the dumbbells raised above your chest, try and keep your elbows bent a little, while your palms are kept facing each other.
• You can now begin to breathe in, while you start lowering the weights in such a position that can help you to sense a light stretch that would happen on your chest.
• You can once again start bringing the dumbbells back on to the starting position as you breathe out.
• You have completed one rep.
• You can try and do about 2 sets comprising of 10 reps each per set.

8. Cable Crossover

In this chest workout you will need a cable crossover machine. The cable Crossover targets your sternal heads of pectoralis muscles.

How to do:

• Go to a double facing cable station that you usually can spot in the middle of your gym

• Attach a D-handle to each pulley of the adjacent station and hold one in each hand

• Keeping your elbows slightly bent step forward to bring tension in the cable

• Flex your pecs as you stretch your hands together in front of your chest.
• Try to alternate the stretching after each set

9. Dip

Dip is a holistic workout which targets your chest, arms and back. Once you advances to other chest workouts, you can raise your power by doing this mighty workout that requires a strong grip and solid core strength.

How to do

• Go to a dip machine or a parallel bar
• Put one hand on each bar and lift your body off the ground
• Lean forward until your chest makes a slight tilted angle to the ground.
• Now bend your arms and lower your body, maintain the same tilted angle of though chest before lifting to the starting position.
• In this way you complete one set of this amazing body weight exercise

10. Seated Pec Deck Machine

And the last, Seated Pec Deck workout is yet another ubiquitous chest workout that can make your chest muscles for couple of days. The Seated Pec Deck chest workout targets your pectoralis major, pectoralis minor, serratus anterior.

How to do:

• Sit at the pec deck machine keeping your elbows at 90 degrees and your forearms on the vertical pads,
• Grip the handle of the deck machine
• Maintaining the 90-degree angle of your elbows, pull the handles of the machine backward until you feel the stretch in your chest.
• Return to the starting position and repeat.
• Don’t rely on momentum from your hands when performing this exercise, as the energy should be coming from your chest and forearms.

Disclaimer:

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a health advice. We would ask you to consult a qualified professional or medical expert to gain additional knowledge before you choose to consume any product or perform any exercise.