Best 10 Chest Exercises to Get Ripped for This Summer

Aside from building up biceps and abs, one of the main concerns of men is how to get a bigger chest. Having a well defined chest can give you a more confident posture. Here are some exercises that will help you increase the volume, size and definition of your pecs.

How to Get a Bigger Chest

#1. Barbell Bench Press

 

 This exercise helps to build the maximum power with barbells. Apart from being an easier alternative than pressing heavy dumbbells this exercise allows you to shift more weight. It is absolutely easy to learn exercise if not master it apart from which there are many prom bench press exercises you can follow to add on to your strength. It is recommended that you perform this routine at the start of the chest workout and if you change the width of your grip on the barbell it can help in complete chest development.

#2. Flat Bench Dumbbell Press

 

When you use a dumbbell for your exercise both the sides of your body get a workout as more muscles are brought into use. It is true that dumbbells are difficult to control as compared to barbell but even this is true that dumbbell allow a longer and wider range of motion as compared to barbell. It is recommended to do this exercise again towards the start of your chest exercises for heavy sets in lower rep ranges.

#3. Low-incline Barbell Bench Press

 

 When a barbell bench press is performed at a steep angle the pressure is on the front delts than the chest to move the weight. Instead of that try for a lesser steep incline to put back the pressure on the upper pecs rather than the delts. Usually chest exercises start from flat benches towards the incline. But it is a good habit to ever so often start with an incline first. This can be beneficial to put more stress on the upper pecs and induce more growth.

#4. Machine decline press

 

 While doing a machine decline presses the next time consider sitting side ways on the apparatus and pressing your body each arm at a time. This way it provides a completely diverse feeling unlike when you use the apparatus sitting straight. By sitting sideways on the machine you can increase the effects of the press. You could perform this exercise as the last mutijoint exercise of your routine.

#5. Seated Machine chest press

 

 As compared to free weight pressing moves on the flat bench, machine press has some additional benefits. Firstly it is easier to slow down your repetitions and secondly it is great for doing quick dropsets. If your soul purpose is to gain mass then this exercise is recommended in the last of the routine as machines provide higher chances at mass building with least assistance for the shoulder.

#6. Incline Dumbell Press

 

 Dumbbell presses are a priority in every exercise routine there can be a number of variations with a adjustable instead of a fixed bench. When a muscle is hit from different degrees of incline it helps the building process more thoroughly. This comes usually in the first position in your routine of exercises but can easily be pushed back to the third. Just remember that the later this exercise is done lesser is the weight you can push.

#7. Dips for chest

 

 First of all make sure you are doing the dips right for a chest exercise. The right form is to put your feet back and lean forward as much as possible and flaring your elbows as you dip. It depends on your strength as to when is this exercise performed.

#8. Incline bench cable fly

 

 There are not many single joint exercises on the list but this is an effective exercise for your pecs to segregate them after you finish your multi joint exercises. A continuous tension is maintained with the help of the cables throughout the exercise. This exercise is recommended at the end of the workout with slightly higher reps.

#9. Incline Dumbbell Pullover

 

 As compared to the flat bench pull over’s, these incline bench pull over’s create tension on your chest fibers for a higher range of motion. What you just have to do is settle back against a bench inclined at 45 degrees and just make sure that the dumbbell makes it to the top. Also try to keep this as a single joint movement which means no bending or extending of the elbows.

#10. Pec deck machine

 Chest flyers can prove to be hard for you if you have just started or a trainee. Because the arms are locked in a bent position for the duration of the exercise with dumbbells or cables. But the peck deck exercise proves much simpler because here it needs to be worked on just one pathway at a time. It is recommended to perform this exercise in the last of your routine for sets of 10-12.

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Workouts For Chest –Best 4 Exercises For Building Mass

Building mass is one thing many men can agree on. However, there are certain muscles that most of the attention and are chased after by everyone. One of these such muscles is the chest. Doing workouts for chest, are extremely satisfying as you get a huge pump, getting as solid as a rock, and just feel powerful.

I will go over, the four best workouts for chest below, both for getting bigger, and also for sculpting the muscles. If you do these exercises once or twice every week, you will notice your pecs becoming solid, and muscular.

1. Bench Press

 

If you’re not doing bench presses, you’re not working on your chest. If you can only find enough time to do a single chest exercise, this should be it, since it adds more mass than any other exercise, but it also makes you far stronger.

2. Incline Dumbbell Press

 

If you want your chest to be full through and through, especially at the top, this is the exercise for you. It fills in that area between your pectorals and your shoulder muscles and it’s versatile in regards to equipment as well – you can do it with a barbell or a dumbbell.

3. Dumbbell Flyes

 

This exercise works as a definer – it shapes already engorged muscles, particularly your pecs. It will also give them a bit of wideness and stretches them out after doing the heavier sets. You can do this exercise inclined, declined or lying on a flat bench.

4. Push-up

 

This one will squeeze all the juice out of your chest that you didn’t manage to squeeze with any of the others. Change the positions of your hands for variations – wider for the outer parts of the pecs, closer for your triceps and the inner part, but also incline and decline variations. A lot of pushups means an awesome chest!

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5 Killer Exercises to Tone Your Lower Pecs - bodybuilding110

If you are working on the aesthetics of your upper body – then ignoring the lower chest workouts in isolation is a big mistake. All your hard work of getting a chiseled upper chest will go to waste.

In this article, we will tell you why it is important to work on your lower chest and what workouts you can do to get the well-rounded lower pecs.

The First Lower Pec Exercise :

 

set 1 : 10 reps
set 2 : 10 reps

set 3 : 10 reps

The Second Lower Pec Exercise :

 set 1 : 10 reps
set 2 : 10 reps

set 3 : 10 reps

The Third Lower Pec Exercise :

set 1 : 10 reps
set 2 : 10 reps

set 3 : 10 reps

The Fourth Lower Pec Exercise :

set 1 : 10 reps
set 2 : 10 reps

set 3 : 10 reps

The Fifth Lower Pec Exercise :

set 1 : 10 reps
set 2 : 10 reps

set 3 : 10 reps

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5 Things To Avoid When You’re Training Chest Muscles

You want a chest that fills out your t-shirt. We get it. Join the club. But when your chest doesn't grow, things can get very frustrating.

You're not alone in this struggle, either. Everyone wants a physique that is athletic, strong and chiseled. In other words, a body that lifts well and looks even better. Unfortunately, achieving ‘that look’ only comes with hard work. There are no shortcuts.

Anyway, the chest – which mainly consists of the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor – is a notoriously difficult muscle to build. But it's not impossible, providing you follow our advice and avoid these silly mistakes.

Check out these five reasons why your chest isn’t troubling your shirt buttons.

Just Bench Pressing

 Another very common mistake which is made on chest day is solely doing pressing movements. This could be a barbell bench press, incline barbell bench press, dumbbell press etc. The point is all of these movements are pretty much identical and aren’t really ‘testing’ or giving your chest a proper all-round workout

Bench press is certainly an excellent exercise and there are many brilliant versions of it; however, they shouldn’t make up the entirety of your chest workout. If you’re lifting purely for strength, e.g. powerlifting, then you’re probably going to just be performing bench press – so it’s okay to not include isolation exercises. However, if you’re looking to build muscle mass then you should look at some other exercises

 For example, by isolating your chest with exercises such as dumbbell flys or cable crossover, then you will be hitting your chest from different angles, activating more muscle fibres and thus allowing yourself to build more muscle.

Neglecting Upper Chest

 In order to build a full, aesthetic chest muscle, you need to work your entire chest. To do this, you need to concentrate on the upper and lower portions of your chest

Simply put, you can put more emphasis on your upper chest by including incline movements into your chest routine. Likewise, to put more emphasis on your lower chest it would be beneficial to perform some decline work.

 It’s important to note that you cannot isolate your upper and lower chest like you can isolate whole muscles. The visible chest muscle is just one muscle, although you can develop different portions of it by doing different exercises.

 Remember, just by including a few incline exercises for a few workouts, it won’t magically give you an amazing upper chest. It’s important to keep at it for a long period of time and keep your body fat relatively low to see the progress you have made.

 Furthermore, if you are performing incline exercises (for example,) and you’re performing them later on in your workout, then you are never going to be able to hit them with as much intensity. Instead, you should switch up your routine by sometimes hitting incline first when you have the most energy. This way you prevent your upper chest lagging behind.

Overusing Machines

This is another common mistake which I see being made on a daily basis. For one reason or another, many lifters seem stuck to the machines in the gym. Don’t get me wrong, they have their uses, but they shouldn’t make up the majority of your workout. In fact, it should be quite the opposite.

I would stick to work with barbells and dumbbells, then implement in a one or two ‘machine’ movements such as a fly or hammer strength press.

 This way you are able to build up more of your stabiliser muscles – which are used when you lift free weights – but not when using a machine. Furthermore, you can hit your chest from different angles with free weights; however, machines are stuck in one arc, and one motion.

 One good use for machines is as a finisher, since you can easily do drop sets, or neurological overload sets, to completely fatigue your chest and totally finish it off. It’s easy to drop the weight and complete another set without faffing around taking weight off, or adding weight onto a bar.

You're Not Resting Enough

Come on guys, you know this, right? You know that your gains are made away from the gym, more often that not, fast asleep with a belly full of protein.

Without adequate R&R, your muscles will never grow. In fact, working out too hard and too often on the same body part could stunt muscle growth and actually break down tissue that you have already worked so hard on to build. #FFS.

We know it can be tempting to rock back up to the gym and hit the barbell the day after a heavy workout, but if you aren’t fully rested and your muscles haven’t totally recovered, you could fall victim to overtraining, which may result in sickness and even injury, delaying your gains even further. God loves a trier. But don't try too hard.

Constantly blitzing yourself in the gym without adequate rest will lead to overtraining and burnout. How to best avoid it? A good rule of thumb to follow: after a hard chest workout, wait at least 48 hours before training the same muscles again. Simple.

Form

The dreaded F-word. Form is important when it comes to any exercises or muscles.

Given how popular chest day is, many people forget to leave their ego at the door when they enter the gym and decide to try and lift as much weight as they possibly can.

On bench press for example, you should use a weight that you are comfortable with for your working sets, gradually increasing the weight for progressive overload. If you are only performing half reps or need a spotter to help you with most of them, then you should lighten the weight.

 Read up on how to perform each exercise properly – for example: bench press form – and get someone to critique your form. You will thank yourself for it later.

Jay Cutler once said ‘Work your muscles, not the weight’ This is very true, especially when it comes to training chest.

 You should concentrate on contracting your muscles rather than just moving the weight.
 

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Post Workout nutrition: 4 Tricks to Keep Your Muscles Growing

To build muscle and look leaner, you'll need to choose between two post-workout paths: Follow the masses to a juice shop for a whey protein shake (that will only end up bloating your belly), or strike out on your own with the advice of top trainers to guide you. We think the right answer is obvious.

Luckily, this article will tell you exactly what to do make sure that your muscle growth does not become halted.

Trick #1: Use Water to Save the Day

You have just finished working your heart out and now you have sweated out all of the good nutrients you took in during the course of the day.
You need to consider drinking a glass of water immediately! Your body loses a lot of fluid when you workout intensely.
This is mainly lost through your sweat. Water consumption can help a great deal when recuperating from a hard session.

Trick #2: Carbohydrates Will Set You Straight!

You will also be lacking in energy resources by the time you are done exercising. It is recommended that you consume a carbohydrate at this time.
These help to provide tons of energy to you during this recovery time. A carbohydrate could be as simple as a piece of fruit.
Right after you are done with your routines you can grab an apple or orange to replenish yourself.
This will stop your body from possibly taking nutrients from other areas of your body which can hinder your muscle growth.
Remember these are not your enemies.

Trick #3: Don’t od on The Protein

Protein may be the golden child of the health industry, but that doesn’t mean your body treats it any differently than other nutrients. Just like with slow-digesting carbs and healthy fats, more protein is not always better. In fact, your body can only handle so much at a time: “Your body can only digest about 25-30 grams of protein max at one time. The rest will be wasted,” says Lippitt. Sorry folks, excess calories are excess calories — even if they come from protein. And, unfortunately, your body isn’t the only thing suffering from this common misconception. “Supplements with over 30 grams of protein are wasting your money,” he adds. So don’t be fooled by the sales language. Rely on protein powder that focuses on quality instead of quantity or get your protein naturally.

Trick #4: Massage Yourself

Get your head out of the gutter, folks. “Myofascial release, a type of muscle therapy that targets pain in soft tissue, helps break up the connective tissue to ease muscle soreness and restore range of motion. Try self massaging with a foam roller, lacrosse ball or rolling pin,” suggests Varano. In fact, several studies have linked massage to a wide range of benefits including improving your range of motion, lowering pain levels and even increasing circulation in combination with stretching and exercise regimes. In addition to massage, don’t underestimate the importance of treating your muscles to some TLC during off days. We suggest lengthening yoga routines, Pilates and even simple guided meditation.

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Things To Avoid When You’re Training Chest Muscles ! bodybuilding110

If you train in a big commercial gym, you’ve probably noticed Monday is National Bench Day. Everyone seems to be training their chest. Tuesday is often National Bench Day part 2 with more of the same.

But how do you train your chest efficiently for maximum growth? In this post I’ll explain you which mistakes you must avoid to build a bigger chest.

#1: Just Bench Pressing

Another very common mistake which is made on chest day is solely doing pressing movements. This could be a barbell bench press, incline barbell bench press, dumbbell press etc. The point is all of these movements are pretty much identical and aren’t really ‘testing’ or giving your chest a proper all-round workout.

Bench press is certainly an excellent exercise and there are many brilliant versions of it; however, they shouldn’t make up the entirety of your chest workout. If you’re lifting purely for strength, e.g. powerlifting, then you’re probably going to just be performing bench press – so it’s okay to not include isolation exercises. However, if you’re looking to build muscle mass then you should look at some other exercises.


✓ For example, by isolating your chest with exercises such as dumbbell flys or cable crossover, then you will be hitting your chest from different angles, activating more muscle fibres and thus allowing yourself to build more muscle.

#2: Neglecting Upper Chest

In order to build a full, aesthetic chest muscle, you need to work your entire chest. To do this, you need to concentrate on the upper and lower portions of your chest.

Simply put, you can put more emphasis on your upper chest by including incline movements into your chest routine. Likewise, to put more emphasis on your lower chest it would be beneficial to perform some decline work.

It’s important to note that you cannot isolate your upper and lower chest like you can isolate whole muscles. The visible chest muscle is just one muscle, although you can develop different portions of it by doing different exercises.

✓ Remember, just by including a few incline exercises for a few workouts, it won’t magically give you an amazing upper chest. It’s important to keep at it for a long period of time and keep your body fat relatively low to see the progress you have made.

✓ Furthermore, if you are performing incline exercises (for example,) and you’re performing them later on in your workout, then you are never going to be able to hit them with as much intensity. Instead, you should switch up your routine by sometimes hitting incline first when you have the most energy. This way you prevent your upper chest lagging behind!

#3: Overusing Machines

This is another common mistake which I see being made on a daily basis. For one reason or another, many lifters seem stuck to the machines in the gym. Don’t get me wrong, they have their uses, but they shouldn’t make up the majority of your workout. In fact, it should be quite the opposite.

I would stick to work with barbells and dumbbells, then implement in a one or two ‘machine’ movements such as a fly or hammer strength press.

✓ This way you are able to build up more of your stabiliser muscles – which are used when you lift free weights – but not when using a machine. Furthermore, you can hit your chest from different angles with free weights; however, machines are stuck in one arc, and one motion.

✓ One good use for machines is as a finisher, since you can easily do drop sets, or neurological overload sets, to completely fatigue your chest and totally finish it off. It’s easy to drop the weight and complete another set without faffing around taking weight off, or adding weight onto a bar.


#4: Form

The dreaded F-word. Form is important when it comes to any exercises or muscles group.

Given how popular chest day is, many people forget to leave their ego at the door when they enter the gym and decide to try and lift as much weight as they possibly can.

On bench press for example, you should use a weight that you are comfortable with for your working sets, gradually increasing the weight for progressive overload. If you are only performing half reps or need a spotter to help you with most of them, then you should lighten the weight.

✓ Read up on how to perform each exercise properly – for example: bench press form – and get someone to critique your form. You will thank yourself for it later.

✓ Jay Cutler once said ‘Work your muscles, not the weight’. This is very true, especially when it comes to training chest. You should concentrate on contracting your muscles rather than just moving the weight.

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Best Chest Pumping Workout

This high-intensity chest workout is loaded with supersets that are designed to help you BUST through plateaus and pack on some extra SIZE! The focus of this workout is high volume, light weight and short rest periods that will totally OBLITERATE your pecs!

The weight may be light but you should expect a MASSIVE pump from the combination of supersets.... and - yep, you guessed it - it will leave your chest sore for DAYS!

If you're brave enough and are looking for a SICK pump, we recommend consuming the one and only MTS SWOLE Stack pre-workout... just be prepared for the skin splitting pumps to come!

Let's DO THIS!

Here is a sample chest workout where this exercise comes into play:

    Bench press;
    Incline bench press;
    Dips;
    Pec deck flyes - 21's

Pec deck 21's are simply a way of splitting up one set into “mini” sets. Simply put, you perform partial reps of 7 at three different areas of the movement with moderate weight.

This exercise, if done properly will give your chest such a pump that it will expand and extra inch or two. As you can see, the full movement is to bring the arm pads together in one full movement. For 21's, you need to break this movement into 3 stages.

If you are familiar with the pec deck movement, a normal repetition is one where you bring your arms all the way to the top portion of the movement. Take a look at the image below.

Starting Position

Ending Position

 

My thanks to: Mega Pro Nutrition for providing this image.

I will perform the first part of the movement by bringing my elbows just shy of the half way point. Remember, I don’t do a full range of motion for the first part of the movement.

I only go about half way and then bring the pads back to the starting position. Once the 7 reps were completed, I will proceed to the second portion of the exercise.

For the second part of the exercise, I'll bring the pads all the way to the top position and than slowly let them down to the half way position. From there I will do 7 partial reps only going half way down. Remember, I don’t go all the way down. I only go to the half way position.

After 7 reps, I will perform the remaining 7 reps in a full movement. That is, I do 7 regular repetitions from the starting position to the ending position.

Believe me, after 4 sets of this movement, my chest would literally burn to the point of extreme pain. After a couple of workouts, my chest started to respond. If you don’t feel any burn, either your form is wrong or your not using enough weight. Try adding a few more pounds to the exercise if your not feeling any burn.

Keep this exercise in your routine for at least 8 weeks and I’m positive you’ll see an improvement in your chest.
 

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Best Chest Exercises for Every Part of Your Chest

Is your chest lagging in a certain area? Here’s a list of exercises to help fill in that area of your chest…

Incline Bench or Dumbbell Press: (Upper Pectorals) Bench press at an angle of 30-45 degrees above the horizontal plain. Grip should be slightly wider than that of a regular bench press. Bar or dumbbells should touch the top of the chest before going back up.

Decline Bench or Dumbbell Press: (Lower Pectorals) Bench press at an angle of 30-45 degrees below the horizontal plain. Bar or dumbbell should touch right below the chest.

Dips: (Lower Pectorals) Parallel dip bars should be grasped firmly with palms facing down. Push body up until arms are straight next to the body. Dips can be done hanging or by machine depending on desired difficulty. Machines are used for assisted dips to help those who are not able to dip-press their own wait.

Flat-bench Dumbbell Flies: (Outer Pectorals) Holding a dumbbell in each hand vertically, there should be a slight bend at the elbows. Each dumbbell should be lowered with a slight bend in the elbow. Dumbbells should not reach behind the axis of the shoulders. Weight should be lifted back to the start position in a smooth manner.

Machine Chest Press: This exercise works your overall chest like a Barbell Bench Press. But the cool thing about this exercise is that it’s super easy to do drop sets on.

You can start with a heavy weight on the machine. Do as many reps as you can. Then keep moving the pin down to the next lower weight. Keep doing this until you’ve gone through the whole stack (or until you’re able to knock out 30 reps without stopping).

If you want all of these exercises put into a workout plan, I’ve whipped up a chest workout for you using the exercises mentioned above.

You won’t need to change up your entire routine. Just add this workout in once a week where you can fit it in. Shouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes to complete.

It will help you make faster gains on every part of your chest.

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Best Arnold Chest Tips?

Stretching the tape at an incredible 58″, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s chest had it all: size, shape, balance and definition. When he hit a side chest pose, his pecs arched so high that a glass of water could rest atop them.

The chest is made up of the pectoral muscles.

The pectoral muscles are shaped like a fan and spread out to cover the rib cage like the plates of an armor.

The pectorals are made up of the:
    Clavicular, i.e. the upper portion
    Sternal, i.e. the lower portion

The basic function of the pectorals involves pulling the arm and shoulder across the front of the body.

The factors that contribute to the appearance of a fully developed chest are:

• An expansive rib cage
• Thick pectoral development
• Development of inside, outside, upper, and lower areas
• Prominent striations when flexing
• A clear separation between lower and upper portions
• A square look which is achieved by proper upper pectoral development. Lack of upper pec development leads to an appearance in which the chest seems to be hanging down
• Development to the point where the pecs don’t disappear when you lift your arms over your head

Consider these world-class bodybuilders who had varying genetic gifts in terms of chest development.

• Sergio Oliva is noted for only doing one exercise for the chest: bench press. Oliva had a chest that would rise out like a loaf of bread.
• Reg Park had a naturally expansive rib cage which added to the impressive appearance of his pectorals.
• John Grimek also had a rib cage that amplified his pectoral appearance.
• Franco Columbu was noted for having insane separation between his lower and upper pecs.

When Arnold has won his 4th Mr. Olympia in 1973, he realized that his lower chest got too big and it’s out of proportion with the upper chest. This was the routine that he used from 1968 to 1973.

He decided to make changes in his workout and prioritize upper pectoral training. He removed weighted dips, because his lower pecs were already huge and they still had enough work from flat bench presses. And he started his workouts with incline benches, to improve his upper pecs. Plus he added cable cross-overs for additional striations and detail for his pectorals. This is the routine he came up with.

So the first routine could be used by everyone who needs more overall mass and thickness. It’s very easy to test if you have enough mass – just lift your arms and do a double biceps pose in front of the mirror. If your chest “disappears” (which is very common), better stick with the first routine until you will see significant improvements. If your chest still looks good in that pose, start using second routine. Oh, and please, keep the set number much lower! 3-4 sets per exercise, or else you are going to over-train and stall.

Of course you can add some variety to the routine by using Smith-machine bench presses and dumbbell bench presses. And sometimes do pullovers with a EZ-barbell. That will keep you motivated.

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Best 5 Bodyweight Exercises to Build a Ripped Chest

If you’re looking to make your pecs pop, you probably think you need a barbell or, at least, some heavy dumbbells. But that’s just not the case. There are plenty of great moves you can do without any equipment at all—and some that can be done using your own bodyweight and a TRX or band. While these exercises are great for attacking your chest—the pectorals major and minor—they’ll also help get your deltoids, triceps, abs, and more muscles in on the action.

In other words, the following moves will help you get that chest you’ll want to show off on the beach this summer—and carve the rest of your body. Combine them for the ultimate chest day bodyweight workout. Or, sprinkle a few in to your total-body routine.

#1 Parallel Bar Dips

Parallel bar dips are a bad-ass exercise and will fill up your pecs with blood and lactic acid. We prefer the parallel bar dips over the bench dips as your lower body weight adds resistance in the bar dips whereas the bench dips take it off.

While performing the parallel bar dips make sure you bend forward a little as it will put more tension on your pectoral muscles and will eliminate the recruitment of the triceps. Maintaining a full range of motion in the bodyweight exercises is critical for the development of the muscles.

#2 Barbell Rollout Flyes

Barbell rollout flyes aren’t for the faint-hearted. The rollout flyes are for the advanced lifters and include the use of a couple of barbells and weight plates. Don’t worry, you won’t have to lift any of it.

Get into the push-up position and place a barbell at each side, so one end of the barbells are next to your feet and the other is next to your shoulders. Grab the barbells at the start of the grip area and push them apart so your chest is almost touching the floor. Pull the barbells to the starting position where they should be under your shoulders and squeeze your pecs.

#3 Push-Ups (Different Variations)

There are enough pushup variations that you can try a new one in every workout for months. Pushups are one of the basic functional exercises and are one of the first exercises people learn to perform.

You can perform the incline pushups if you want to train your upper pecs, decline pushups for the lower chest, normal pushups for the middle and overall chest mass. Advance forms include superman pushups, clap pushups, one-hand pushups etc.


#4 Resistance Bands or TRX Flyes/Presses

TRX and resistance band flyes and presses are isolation exercises which can target the pecs from specific angles. Resistance bands are incredibly portable and can be taken along in a backpack or a suitcase while you’re traveling.

You can decrease the resistance on the bands by holding them close to the bottom or add resistance by grabbing the bands farther away from the ends. Tie the bands to a straight pole or hang them from a bar near the ceiling if you don’t have an access to a gym.

#5 Medicine ball pushup

Place a medicine ball on the floor and get into pushup position, gripping the ball with hands and fingers pointing down. Lower your chest to the ball and push up. Rest 45 seconds after each set. Starting with your left arm, maintain the plank position as you touch your left arm to your right knee.

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Push Up Workout | 7 Push-Up Exercise Variations For Chest Growth

It’s hard not to think of push-ups when we think of training with your own body weight. And for good reason. The push-up is one of the most effective bodyweight exercises. It not only works your chest, but also your triceps and your deltoids. Plus, it strengthens your entire core. And to a certain extent, it even works your glutes, quads and small stabilizing muscles in your upper back.

Exercise #1: Regular Push Ups


We all know what these are! You should perform regular push ups as a warm up to the full workout. Begin by getting into a prone position, with your arms planted on the floor shoulder width apart. Slowly lower yourself towards to ground, pause, and push back up.

Since these will be mainly a warm up exercise, you should keep the reps high, though try not to tire out your chest immediately.

Recommended reps: 12-20 reps for 3-4 sets

Exercise #2: Wide Grip Push Ups


Similar to regular push ups, but you will be placing your hands wider apart than shoulder width. Doing so eliminates a lot of your tricep and shoulder involvement from the exercise, focussing more on working your chest.

Tip: If you find these are too easy and really want to give yourself a challenge, you can try crucifix push ups. Here you place your arms about as wide as they will go, with a slight bend to allow the pushing movement. They will take practice to perform and are very difficult to do, so don’t give up if you struggle at first!

Recommended reps: 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets

Exercise #3: Clapping Push Ups

These will really work your explosive strength and muscle endurance. You begin with the same starting position as a regular push up, and the same initial movement. When you start to push up, you should do so explosively, such that your torso lifts up more than normal. In doing so, you should quickly clap your hands together underneath your chest and then replace them back down in the regular position, continuing the movement and repeating.

Try to keep the movement controlled when you are performing clapping push ups; it can be very easy to let your form slide.

Recommended reps: 8-12 for 3-4 sets

Exercise #4: Narrow Grip Push Ups


Again, these are very similar to regular push ups. However, this time you will place your hands closer together, just a few inches apart. In doing so you are putting more emphasis on your triceps. Remember, try to keep your elbows at your sides as you perform these, and refrain from letting them flare out in order to prevent injury.

Tip: If you want to make this exercise one bit tougher, then you can perform diamond push ups. Get into a push up position, but place your hands together, with your thumbs and index fingers touching to form a diamond/triangle shape. Perform these slowly and try not to flare out your elbows too much.

Recommended reps: 8-12 for 3-4 sets

Exercise #5: Incline Push Ups


These are similar to decline push ups, however here you will use an elevated platform to place your hands on when performing the push up movement.

Doing so will place a slight emphasis on your lower chest this time, adding to the overall chest workout.

Recommended reps: 12-20 for 3-4 sets

Exercise #6: Decline Push Ups

For these, you will need a step, box or other elevated platform. To begin, get into a regular push up position, but place your feet on the elevated platform. Slowly lower yourself to the floor, push up and repeat.

These will place a slight emphasis on your upper chest, allowing you to get a full all around chest workout.

Recommended reps: 12-20 for 3-4 sets

Finisher


To finish off this workout, you should add in one finisher exercise. A good way to do this is to choose from one of the 6 which you have already completed, preferably the one you struggled the most on.

Here, you should perform the exercise for as many reps as you possibly can, then rest for 30 seconds and do so again, for as many reps as you can. You should aim to complete 3-4 reps of the exercise.

An alternative option is to complete one set of each exercise for as many reps as possible with a 30 second rest in between.
 
Exercise #7: Stagger Plyo Push-up

Switch the position of your hands after every push-up. If this movement is too explosive or challenging for you. Simply switch your hands without the “jump” until you’re able to work your way up. 

Recommended reps: 12-20 for 3-4 sets

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Best Chest Workout: Follow The 9 Chest Exercises

So you religiously go to the gym every Monday to train chest, right? You hit the flat bench, hit the pec deck, and smash a few sets out on the cable cross machine.

So why isn't your chest growing?

While progressively overloading with weight or reps, chest growth could be slow due to genetics, poor quality contractions, or you simply aren't doing enough. Below are 9 different chest exercise variations you should try if you want to build a shredded chest.

Before we get started, a question. High volume or high intensity?

In the case of building your chest, you cannot choose one or the other. Including both high-volume and high-intensity training into your chest workout will elicit a growth and testosterone response.

9 Best Chest Exercises

#1 - Weighted Chest Dips

When done properly, weighted chest dips really puts some great tension on the pecs and they also develop huge arms at the same time.

Can't do weighted dips?

Find a hammer strength machine or an assisted dip machine and work your way heavier. The goal is to maintain proper form, increase intensity.

#2 -  Barbell Bench Press (Flat and Incline)

Barbell bench allows you to lift the heavyweights. It can be learned easily and accordingly, you can introduce variations in it to challenge your body. For doing an incline barbell bench press, benches are fixed at steep angles. You can also do low incline bench press by adjusting the angle. Start with a flat bench press moving onto inclines.

#3 -  Dumbbell Bench Press (Flat and Incline)

It helps greatly in developing the chest, biceps, and triceps. You should try to maintain the proper posture. It is great for building mass. You only need to ensure that the muscles are getting stretched properly.

#4 -  Low-Incline Barbell Bench Press

It is the best chest workout which targets the upper body and its muscles. Low Incline Bench Press helps in targeting the upper portion of the chest. It also safer and more joint friendly. To do this exercise, you need to lie down on an incline bench. Grab a barbell and hold it above your chest. Move your arms upwards and then again get into initial position. Do the number of repetitions required.

#5 -  Seated Machine Chest Press

Seated machine chest press is basically for beginners who want to increase strength and focus on strength. You must set up the machine correctly. Since the machines vary greatly you must get the help of an instructor. Sit on the seat and select an appropriate weight. Take hold of the handle and release the pedal taking the weight with your arm. Inhale and press forward while exhaling.

#6 -  Incline Dumbbell Press

You can do this exercise by using several angles on the bench. To do this exercise, grab the dumbbells and sit down on the bench. The palm of your hand will be facing each other. Using your thigh lift the dumbbell and hold them at shoulder width. Rotate your wrist and then lift your hand up with the help of your chest. Lock your arm and hold for a second and then lower the weight. Repeat the movement up to the repetitions that you have to do.

#7 -  Incline Bench Cable Fly

They are a great finishing move to wind up all the exercises that you have been doing. They hit the upper chest at the proper angle. To do the exercise, wheel a bench in between the cable stand and perform them at a lying position. A Proper movement will benefit you in building up your chest.

#8 -  Kettlebell Fly

The kettlebell is an efficient equipment and can be used in several ways for gaining strength. It is usually done by dumbbells but doing it with kettlebells will prove to be more beneficial. It works on your abs, triceps, and shoulders. Here is how you should do the kettlebell fly.

#9 -  Weighted Push-Up

Certain weight, when added to the body while doing pushups, is bound to make your muscles put in more effort. The more effort they put in, the more worked up they get which makes them grow. You must start in a normal push up position and add resistance by wearing a weighted jacket or adding a weighted bag on your back. Continue repetition as you would do a normal pushup.

Points To Remember before doing best chest workout:

• A chest is divided into three parts – upper, middle and lower portion.
• Different variations of bench press will help in the growth of upper chest.
• Middle chest grows from exercises done on the flat bench.
• Decline bench press stimulates the growth of lower chest.
• Go for heavyweights to build a strong core.
• Do the exercises in the proper form.
• Take short rest in between.
• Eat right to grow right.
• Do not go for high reps.

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Chest Workout | 6 Exercises To Build The Upper Chest

Training your chest shouldn't be a futile exercise of boring monotony.

If you're boring and don't want to experience truly massive gains, feel free to rep through endless standard bench press sets until your back fuses with the bench. You might get better at that one exercise — but you're spurning all of the potential benefits that other moves could offer.

For the rest of us, there's an entire treasure trove full of workout moves to be uncovered to blast the chest that can sculpt your pecs and push your upper body training days to the next level.

Here are 6 of the best chest exercises to do just that.

Warming up

The ideal goal is to build a bigger chest, but picking up a pair of weights without preparing your muscles for a vigorous Chest workout just won’t deliver the results you’re imagining will instantly happen.

Try a short warm-up routine:

– 1 x wide-grip flat push-ups

– 1 x  neutral grip push ups

– (If possible) 1 x decline push ups to hit your chest from all angles:

Beginners AND Pro gym-goers:

Consuming pre-workout 30 minutes before starting your training session will give you a boost of energy to focus on exceeding your potential down to every last rep.

#1 Incline Cable Fly

 

This is one of the most suitable exercises for isolating the upper chest muscles. Performing this exercise with cables instead of Dumbbells allows for constant tension to be placed directly onto the Upper Chest fibres.

This constant tension cannot be achieved with Dumbbells due to the motion curve not considering gravity.

I recommend this exercise after you have performed heavy Barbell or Dumbbell Bench Press, as it is less fatiguing on the Central Nervous System.

Training Tips:

✓ Position bench at around 45 degrees.

✓ Lower cables in an “arc” motion, ensure to feel the chest stretch.

✓ Vary the position of the bench to hit different angles of the upper chest.

✓ Hold and contract the chest muscles when hands are together.

#2  Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

 

In my opinion, the best compound exercise for adding mass to the Upper Chest is the Incline Dumbbell Bench Press.

incline dumbbell bench press

Including a slight pause at the bottom of the movement allows for the most recruitment of the Upper Chest muscle fibres. You will have to use a lighter weight in order to get the benefits of the pause, but the muscle contraction is much greater.

I recommend performing this exercise during a workout with a lot of volume, and low-moderate weight, in order to get the most out of the exercise.

Training Tips:

✓ Palms to face each other, arms positioned shoulder width – wrists rotated to face ceiling (see image.)

✓ Exhale whilst pushing dumbbells upwards – keep control at all times.

✓ Take your time lowering weights.

✓ Vary bench angles to hit different angles of the chest.

#3 Flat Dumbbell Bench Press

Instructions

1.    Sit down on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand and place them on your knees. Your feet should be on the floor and knees slightly bent.

2.    Lean back slowly and raise the weights up to your shoulders and then at arm length straight up. The dumbbells should face forward slightly turned inward at about a 35 degree angle. Exhale as you push them away.

3.    Lower the dumbbells slowly so they go to your outer chest armpit area. Bend your elbows below the level of your chest placing the dumbbells level with your chest and shoulders.

4.    Push the weights up and lock your arms straight overhead. Then repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Important Tips

1.    Make sure your butt, upper back, and hips are pressed hard into the bench.

2.   Keep in mind that these are presses and not flyes.

#4 Incline Barbell Bench Press

 

The Incline Barbell Bench Press is also a great, compound mass builder for the Upper Chest. An advantage that the Barbell Press has over the Dumbbell Press is the weight increments. Barbells allow for smaller increments to be added, thus making progress more linear – i.e. it is more realistic to be able to increase the weight of a Barbell by 1.25kg per side that it is to increase Dumbbell weight by 2.5kg each.

Whilst the Barbell allows for only a fixed range of motion, and less humerus adduction, including a pause at the bottom will again allow for more muscle fibre recruitment of the Upper Chest fibres.

I recommend performing this exercise during a workout with a lot of volume, and low-moderate weight, in order to get the most out of the exercise.


Training Tips:

✓ Bench to be around 30 degrees – hands positioned slider wider than shoulder-width.

✓ Position bar straight in front of you, locking arms to secure starting position.

✓ The bar should be lowered slowly until it has reached upper chest – and pause.

✓ Power the bar up using your chest muscles – lock arms and squeeze, getting the contraction.


#5 Incline Push Up 

 
Instructions

1. Get yourself in the standard pushup position with hands on a raised surface slightly wider than shoulder width. Elbows should be locked out.

2. Keeping the torso straight, lower your chest to the raised surface. Pause and push back to the starting position. Repeat for the desired amount of repetitions.

Important Tips

1. Do not flare out your elbows.

2. Ensure that your core is tight and back straight during the movements. 


#6 Incline Hammer Strength Machine

Incline Hammer Strength Machine allows for complete contraction of the Upper Chest. Due to the machine being designed to only target the Upper Chest, this makes it a great exercise. It can also be useful to people with injuries, particularly in the shoulder, if they cannot perform the Incline Dumbbell or Barbell Bench Press pain-free.

The Incline Hammer Strength Machine also allows for less opportunity of form breakdown. If you are simply going to fail a repetition, you can lower the machine back down, without any chance of injuring yourself.

Again, I recommend performing this exercise as an accessory for the Barbell or Dumbbell Bench Press.

Training Tips:

✓ Ensure to adjust the seat height to ensure the bar levels with your chest.

✓ Dig shoulder blades into the seat and ‘push out’ chest muscles.

✓ Exhale whilst pushing the bar forward, holding the contraction when stopped.

✓ Slowly return to starting position.

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chest workout Routine For Mass - Exercise in 1 a Week

For many gym-goers, chest training starts and ends with the bench press. Or, if they’re not big on barbells, press-ups. Now those are both fantastic exercises, but for a truly pecs-tacular chest you need to extend your exercise repertoire. The good news is that below you’ll find a training plan containing a variety of chest exercises that will hit your muscles from different angles. Follow it to the letter and you’ll be the proud owner of a bigger, stronger chest in no time.

So lets have a look at the chest workouts routine below:

Chest Workout Routine

To build your inner chest there are a couple exercises you can do, first chest exercise is the peck deck, every gym has one, this is a machine that you sit up right on, and pull the handles in front at 90 degrees.

The next exercise is the flys, you can do this on a flat bench or an incline, it's basically the same as the peck deck but you are laying down.

Upper Chest is a best done with an incline bench, with either a barbell, or dumbbells. This chest exercise is performed by pushing the weight straight up and coming back down right at your shoulders.

The Lower chest is done the opposite of the upper chest, to build your lower chest is using a decline bench, again either a barbell or dumbbells will work here. Most people don't do this exercise at all, or just have no clue there is a way to build your lower chest.

The last thing I want to mention is the flat bench, in which you see everyone doing, this is an excellent workout, but it doesn't focus on the different parts of your chest. This exercise is best done at the end of your workout, or as a cool down.

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