Building a big & powerful chest can be a challenge if you are focusing on the wrong exercises and reps.
In this article, we are going to cover the best chest exercises that will help you build a thick, strong set of pecs while also increasing your strength & power.
The Big Problems With Your Current Chest Workout
The main problem with almost every chest training routine is that it only focuses on the middle portion of the chest with basic exercises like the barbell bench press and dumb bell fly. If you want to have an incredible chest then you need to develop every section of your chest – most importantly your upper chest.
Developing a chiseled upper chest will set you apart with your physique and will give people the illusion that your chest is bigger than it really is. It will make you look awesome in V-neck’s, and also put your bench press numbers through the roof – a double win!
Another problem is that some people are under the impression that big chests are built with pec flys, machines, and high reps: not the case. In this article we will discuss what actually works.
Developing The Upper Chest for Maximum Aesthetics & Strength
Having a really well developed chest starts with your mindset to training. Most lifters simply think that they want a “big chest”, but to get a full chest you have to develop each section of your pectorals. This is the difference between having an aesthetic physique and not.
If your lower chest is too big and you have a very undeveloped upper chest, it may give off the illusion that you have “man boobs” instead of chiseled pectoral muscles. This image illustrates the different areas of the chest that must be developed to achieve a full look:
There is a common misconception that the upper pec (Clavicular section) is the Pectoralis Major and the lower pec (Sternal section) is the Pectoralis Minor. This is not the case.
The Pectoralis Minor is a smaller triangular shaped muscle actually situated underneath the Pectoralis Major and is not generally visible. However this muscle is trained in conjunction with the Pectoralis Major and when it grows it can help to push the Pectoralis Major out to give the appearance of a bigger chest.
The Serratus Anterior (Small muscles covering the side of the chest wall and around the ribs), Intercostals (Smaller muscles positioned between the ribs) and the Front Deltoids (Shoulder muscles) are all muscles that whilst not part of the chest itself, each perform a stabilising function during chest exercises and when developed properly help give definition to the chest.
By hitting the muscles from different angles using different exercises you will achieve maximum growth of all muscle fibres in the shortest time possible.
The best chest exercises to increase bulk, strength and mass are Compound exercises. Those used primarily for shaping and toning are Isolation exercises.
Compound exercises involve the use of more than one muscle group through different joints in order to perform the exercise movement. Isolation exercises effectively isolate the working muscle and only involve movement though one joint.
Compound chest exercises to increase bulk include the bench press (and variations of), pushups, and dips. While Isolation exercises include flyes, pec dec, cable crossover and dumbbell pullover.
There are other exercises out there but these are just some of the most common.
Here is one of my original chest building routines designed to attack the Pec muscle from 3 different angles. It also provides toning and effectively works the other supporting muscles mentioned above. All exercises should be performed using medium-heavy weights and the target number of reps for each set are listed.
The best chest workouts will grow the upper and lower sections equally.
Chest Perfection Workout Routine
Barbell Bench Press
Sets: 4
Reps: 5
Rest Time: 90-180 Seconds
Dumbbell Incline Press
Sets: 4
Reps: 8-12
Rest Time: 90 Seconds
Barbell Incline Bench Press
Sets: 4
Reps: 6-8
Rest Time: 90 Seconds
Weighted Dips (Chest Version)
Sets: 4
Reps: 8
Rest Time: 2 Minutes
Flat Dumbbell Press
Sets: 4
Reps: 10
Rest Time: 1 Minute
That’s it! No drop-sets, super-sets, tri-sets, pre-exhaustion sets, or anything like that. Just proven exercises that actually build muscle. Don’t go to failure every set, leave 2-3 reps in the tank, save your max effort set for the last set of each exercise. So for example if you can bench press 225 for 5 reps, do 205-210 for 4 sets of 5, then 225 for your last set of 5.