Try mixing it up by performing these 5 exercises to hit the chest from all different angles.
Once you begin incorporating these movements into your chest workout Opens a New Window. , you’ll be noticing a thicker, fuller, more developed chest in no time flat.
1. Pushups
Well, of course. The pushup is the king of bodyweight exercises with lots to offer to any fitness-oriented person. Besides helping you develop strength in the entire body and improving your core stability, pushups target the chest muscles rather effectively. Increase the challenge with advanced versions of the exercise for maximum chest involvement.
2. Dips
Many fans of this exercise will tell you that dips are the greatest chest exercise there is. And regardless of your personal view on that statement, the fact remains that not a single person who’s strong on dips has average pecs, while plenty of guys with a killer bench press lack great chest development. Dips are great basics that can activate every part of your pecs – when performing them, make sure you’re tilting your body downwards to fully engage the targeted muscles.
3. Landmine press
An unpopular yet highly effective exercise, the landmine press mainly targets the upper portion of the pecs, while improving core stability and strengthening the abs as well. It can be performed unilaterally (one arm at a time) or bilaterally (with both arms) with different results. Add an adequate amount of weight on one end of a standard Olympic barbell, grab it and push upwards.
4. Cable crossover
The cable crossover is an amazing chest exercise because it allows plenty of different positions which target different parts of your pecs from different angles. Setting the pulleys in the highest position will emphasize the lower pecs, the lowest position will focus on the upper pecs, while the middle shoulder-height position works best for hitting the middle pecs. Bring the arms towards each other at the end of each rep for greater activation of the inner portion of the chest.
5. Floor Press
If your bench press has hit a plateau, the floor press is a sure fire way to completely break that barrier down. Simply lie with your back on the floor and get underneath the bar to perform the pressing movement in the same manner as a conventional bench press. The main difference here will be that the repetition ends once the triceps hit the floor. The floor press will aide tremendously in improving the lockout portion of the press if it’s a weak point.