Key Takeaways: Chest Workouts
Chest workouts build strength and size by training your pecs through presses, flys, and other movements.
The best chest workouts combine heavy compound presses with isolation work. This can help support better chest activation and muscle balance.
Training all muscles of the chest matters. Upper, middle, and lower chest workouts each emphasize different angles.
You can get effective chest workouts at home using push-up variations, dumbbells, and smart exercise selection.
Progress comes from consistency, good form, and gradually increasing volume over time.
If you’re looking to build some muscle in your chest, you’ve come to the right place. Chest day has always been my favorite day in the gym.
There are many reasons someone like yourself may want to build up or strengthen their chest. For one, there are a few areas of the body that can shape how others see you, and your chest is one of them.
I was once a skinny kid with insecurities about how little muscle I had. My chest muscles in particular felt like they were nonexistent, and I worked hard to correct that.
Since I started working out, I’ve added roughly 70 pounds of muscle. So, let's just say I've learned a thing or two about how to build a bigger chest. After all, I did get my degree in exercise science.
In this article, I’m going to share some of my favorite chest exercises. I’ll also throw together some killer chest workouts you can try today!
First, let’s talk a little more about which muscles we’ll be working in these chest workouts.
What are the Chest Muscles?
The chest muscles include the pectoralis major and minor, which drive pressing and hugging motions and stabilize the shoulder. These are the muscles that you would know as your “pecs”.
The pec major is the largest muscle of your chest wall. It’s the main one you think about when wanting to build muscle in your chest. Its main job is to lift your upper arm in front of you and overhead. This movement is called shoulder flexion.
Your pecs are also important for a movement called transverse adduction. It’s basically the motion we all do when we go for a big bear hug. Your arms start out to your sides, and you pull them in toward your midline horizontally.
The pec minor is a triangular-shaped muscle located under the pectoralis major. Its main functions have to do with stabilizing and moving your shoulder blades.
In these chest workouts, you'll also be working your anterior deltoid and triceps quite a bit. For that reason, I wanted to bring these muscles up.
Your deltoids are the muscles that lie directly over your shoulders. The anterior portion is the front part, right next to your pecs. They also help you lift things out in front of you and overhead.
Your triceps are a muscle group I’m sure you’ve heard of. These are the 3 headed muscles on the back of your upper arms. They help you extend your elbows in every pressing movement.
These muscles work together to stabilize your shoulders and perform all these chest exercises I’m about to cover.
Now that we got the anatomy out of the way, let’s get into the chest exercises. After that, I’ll throw them together into some awesome chest workouts!
Top 12 Best Chest Exercises
Chest exercises include compound presses and isolation movements that train the pecs through multiple angles and ranges of motion.
Chest day workouts can be pretty fun when you have the right exercises. At least, if you like working out as much as I do, and see great results doing it!
Some of these exercises require equipment that you can find at a gym, but some of them you can do at home.
So, whatever types of chest exercises you’re looking for, these 12 have you covered!
1) Weighted/Banded Push-ups
The traditional push-up is a powerful exercise that can work your chest muscles, not just your arm muscles. Adding weights or bands can make them more difficult.
More difficult is good if you’re trying to get strong and build muscle, though!
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. For banded push-ups, you’ll need a large looped resistance band. Hold it out with both hands and twist one side of it 180 degrees so the band forms a figure 8, or infinity symbol. Put one arm in each loop behind you to wear it like a backpack.
2. With each hand, grab the resistance band like you’re grabbing your backpack straps.
3. From there, drop to the floor and get into a high plank/push-up position with your hips in line with your shoulders and feet. Part of the resistance band should be beneath each hand. This is the starting position
4. To begin, allow your elbows to bend as you lower your chest toward the floor. Keep going until your chest barely touches the floor.
5. Keep your core engaged as you use your chest and triceps to push yourself back up to the starting position. As you push up, the resistance band will stretch and add more resistance.
6. Squeeze your chest at the top for a second, then repeat for reps.
2) Wide Grip Bench Press
This is a great addition to any chest workout. The goal of using a wide grip is to emphasize your pecs even more, and your triceps a little less.
You will need some equipment to perform this exercise: a bench, a barbell, and weights.
You can always swap the barbell for two dumbbells. You just need to make sure you choose weights that you can control! For the sake of simplicity, I will explain the exercise as if you'll be using a barbell.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Lie with your back flat on the weight bench. Pull your feet back below your hips while still remaining on the ground.
2. Grab the barbell slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. However wide your hands are when your elbows are bent at 90 degrees is about how wide they should be. Pull your shoulders back, and puff your chest out slightly.
3. Have a spotter help you lift the bar off the rack and hold it over your chest (especially if you're new to chest workouts). This is the starting position.
4. Inhale as you lower the bar toward your lower chest. Your elbows should bend at a slight angle away from your body.
5. When the bar touches your chest, exhale as you squeeze your pecs and press the weight back to the starting position.
6. Squeeze your chest for a second at the top and repeat for reps.
3) Close-Grip DB Incline Chest Press
Another chest press? Yep! Except this time we’re doing them with dumbbells, and closing the grip width.
Doing the narrow and wide grip chest presses will push your muscles differently. It’s good to do a mixture of wide and close grip.
That way, you’re training your pecs in different ways. This can help you with better overall muscle development!
This exercise requires equipment: a weight bench and a pair of dumbbells.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Set up a bench at a 45-degree angle. Sit on the bench with a dumbbell in each hand, resting them on your knees.
2. Lie back on the bench while simultaneously using your knees to push the dumbbells up on top of your chest. The dumbbells should be parallel to each other with both ends of each touching the other.
3. Pull your shoulders back and puff your chest out slightly. This is the starting position.
4. Exhale as you press the dumbbells straight up over your chest. The dumbbells should remain in contact with each other throughout the entire movement.
5. Squeeze your pecs at the top for a second, then slowly lower back to the starting position.
6. Repeat this for reps.
4) Chest Dips
Chest dips are a great exercise to target your chest with nothing but your body weight! It also works your triceps a good amount, too.
You do need a set of parallel or angled bars to hold yourself up on, but otherwise, it’s all body weight. A captain’s chair dip stand will also work.
It does put your shoulders in a tight spot at the end of your range of motion, so you don’t want to use momentum here. Be smart, and be careful.
Only add weight with a weight belt or vest once you’ve built up enough strength that your body weight feels easy.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Grip a pair of stable parallel bars with one hand on each bar. Your hands should be around shoulder-width apart or slightly wider.
2. Lift yourself up so that your feet are off the ground, and your hands are the only thing supporting you. Bend your knees so there is no chance of your feet touching the ground during the exercise. This is the starting position.
3. Allow your elbows to bend while leaning forward slightly to drop your chest between your hands. Keep lowering your chest until you’ve reached a comfortable end range of motion. Your upper arms will be about parallel with the floor at this point.
4. Engage your chest and triceps to press yourself back up until your elbows are locked out back at the starting position.
5. Repeat this for reps.
5) Arnold Press
This is an awesome exercise to build up your chest, shoulders, and triceps!
It was made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger during his prime years in bodybuilding, where it often featured as part of his legendary Arnold split ... a training routine that emphasizes hitting each muscle group with maximum intensity. I mean, if he did them, they have to be pretty good, right?!
Your hands will rotate one way on the way up, and the other on the way down. They’re pretty fun, too.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Set up a bench to a 90-degree upright position. Sit holding some dumbbells and resting them on your knees.
2. Use your knees to kick the dumbbells up next to your shoulders. Hold them with your palms facing behind you. This is the starting position.
3. Start pressing the weight up. As you do, allow your elbows to flare out to your sides, and simultaneously turn your palms away from you. It should be one fluid motion happening at the same time as the weights move up.
4. Pause for a second at the top, and squeeze your shoulder and tricep muscles.
5. Bring the dumbbells back down to return to the starting position. As the weight comes down, pull your elbows in front of you and turn your palms to face behind you. Again, this should all be one fluid motion as you bring the dumbbells back to your shoulders.
6. Squeeze your chest for a second, then repeat for reps.
7. Make sure that you choose dumbbell weights that will push you but won’t make you break form. Proper form is always important for your safety!
6) Standing Cross-Body Front-Raise
A lot of people think front raises mainly target the anterior deltoid. While it does target this muscle, the prime mover is your pec.
Especially once you add in the slight lateral movement across your body, your chest really takes over. Make sure you don’t bounce with the weight. Instead, choose a weight you can control with good form.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and hold them at your sides with your palms facing in front of you.
2. Stand tall with your feet at hip width, and be sure your knees and hips are slightly bent. This is the starting position.
3. With one arm at a time, raise the dumbbell up and across your body until the dumbbell is in front of the opposite shoulder.
4. Squeeze that pec for a second, then slowly return to the starting position.
5. Repeat on the other side and keep alternating for the same number of reps on both sides until your set is finished.
7) DB Pullover
If you have your dumbbells handy, this is another great chest workout! It also targets some muscles on your back, but your chest plays a big role in this one.
You only need two pieces of equipment to perform this exercise: one dumbbell and a bench.
This exercise is a little more complicated to explain, so pay close attention.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Walk up to the side of a bench so that it runs from your left to right rather than straight forward.
2. Sit on the ground with your upper back against the bench. Next, bridge your hips up by squeezing your glutes and keeping your core engaged.
3. You should scoot back a little on the bench so that your head is off the bench, but your shoulders and upper back are both touching the bench. Your feet should be below your knees.
4. Grab a single dumbbell and place it on your chest. The dumbbell should be vertical so that it is standing up with one end up in the air.
5. Make a platform with your hands on the underside of the top end. Nothing but the bar should be between your left and right hands.
6. Press the weight up directly over your chest. This is the starting position.
7. From here, keep your arms mostly straight as you allow your arms to draw back behind your head until you reach a comfortable end range of motion.
8. At this point, you may feel a stretch in your chest and back, but be sure your abdominals stay engaged. You don’t want to overarch your back here.
9. When you reach your end range of motion, pull your arms and the weight back to the starting position.
10. Squeeze your chest for a second, then repeat for reps.
8) Single-Arm Medicine Ball Push-Up
This is not the most well-known exercise, but you’d be surprised how effective it can be! It’s not as difficult as it sounds, and over time, these will help you do real single-arm push-ups.
This does require a little equipment, but nothing you don’t already have. You could use a medicine ball, a chair, or even a stack of books 1 foot off the ground.
This is just for your opposite hand to balance on.
For the sake of this explanation, we’ll use a medicine ball.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Start in a pushup position with both arms extended.
2. Rest your right hand on the medicine ball while keeping your left hand on the floor. Your right arm should be straight and out to the side as far as you can get it. This is the starting position.
3. Bend your left elbow as you lower your body down until your chest is just above the floor.
4. Press the ground away to raise yourself back up to the starting position.
5. Squeeze your left pec for a second at the top, and repeat for reps. Make sure to do an equal number of reps on both sides.
9) Svend Press
This is an exercise that truly doesn’t look like it would do much, but you’ll feel the burn. Trust me!
All you need for this one is 2 small weight plates of maybe 5-10 pounds. There’s no reason to bring your ego into this one, making you go heavy.
10-pound plates are plenty. This exercise isn’t about how heavy you can go, but about how hard you’re squeezing your chest.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Grab one weight plate in each hand and sandwich them together at your chest while keeping your hands and fingers flat. Your elbows will flare out to your sides as you press the plates together. This is the starting position.
2. Squeeze the plates together as you slowly extend your arms out in front of your chest as far as you can.
3. When your arms are fully extended, squeeze your chest muscles for a second before slowly returning to the starting position.
4. Repeat this for reps.
10) Skull Crushers
Skull crushers are a great exercise for your triceps! Triceps? Aren’t these supposed to be for “chest workouts”, not arms?
Well, your triceps are involved in most of these exercises. It makes sense you should want to strengthen them as well.
The stronger your triceps are, the more weight you can potentially lift in some of these pressing exercises. The more weight you can lift in them, the more potential you have for muscle growth in your chest!
For this exercise, you’ll need an incline bench and an EZ curl bar.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Set a bench to a 45-degree incline. Grab an EZ curl bar and hold it at your chest using the narrow angled grips.
2. Press the bar over your chest, and pull your shoulders back. This is the starting position.
3. Keep your elbows stationary as you bend them, allowing the bar to lower toward your forehead. Make sure your elbows continue facing forward and don’t flare out.
4. Before it actually touches your head, use your triceps to extend your elbows back to the starting position.
5. Squeeze your triceps for a second at the top, then repeat for reps.
11) Hip Bridge Floor Press
This is similar to a decline bench press, but you'll be on the ground instead of on a bench. It works your lower chest the most, as well as your triceps.
It will give your glutes a little bit of a workout, too!
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and lie back on the floor with your knees bent. You should feel like you’re in a sit-up position, but holding dumbbells.
2. Drive through your heels and squeeze your glutes to do a hip bridge. Be sure to keep your core engaged, and try not to arch your back. Your shoulders, hips, and knees should all be in line together.
3. Keep your elbows on the floor and angled 45 degrees away from your body. This is the starting position.
4. To begin, engage your chest and triceps to press the dumbbells vertically above your chest. You should feel it in your lower pecs.
5. Squeeze your chest for a second at the top, then slowly return to the starting position.
6. Repeat this for reps.
12) Machine Pec Fly
Who doesn’t love chest machine workouts?!
This is a great one that isolates your pecs really well. It’s one of the few chest exercises that doesn’t target your triceps.
Unless you have this machine at home, you’ll need a gym for this exercise.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Sit down at the chest fly machine, and set the handles wide enough to give your pecs a slight stretch.
2. Grip the handles with both hands and pull your shoulders back and down. This is the starting position.
3. Use your pecs to pull the handles in toward your midline. The handles should meet in front of your chest.
4. Squeeze your chest hard for a second, then slowly return to the starting position.
5. Repeat this for reps.
Cable Chest Fly
This is very similar to the machine pec fly, but with a twist.
It has plenty of advantages of being on a cable machine. Cable machines provide constant tension no matter the angle.
While free weights only give resistance vertically (working against gravity), cables are different. Whether you pull the cable up, down, or at an angle, it provides the same tension.
Step-By-Step Directions:
1. Set 2 adjacent cable pulleys to their highest setting with handles attached.
2. Grab a handle with each hand while centered and facing away from the cables. Take a step forward with 1 foot to lift the weights off the stack slightly, and maintain a split stance. Your arms should be open wide.
3. Lean forward to a comfortable angle of 45 degrees or less until you feel a good stretch in your chest. This is the starting position.
4. Engage your pecs to pull your hands together in front of your chest. Think about pulling your elbows together to engage your chest properly. Make sure you maintain a slight bend in your elbows during the entire movement.
5. Squeeze your chest for a second at the bottom, then slowly return to the starting position.
6. Repeat this for reps while switching which foot is forward midway through your set.
Chest Workouts
Chest workouts combine exercises into structured routines that build strength, muscle, and definition based on training level and goals.
There are different styles of training out there, and everyone has different preferences. Not everyone has the same level of experience, either.
I included 3 different chest workouts together based on experience level.
Beginner Chest Workout
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Hip Bridge Floor Press | 3 | 10 |
| Machine Pec Fly | 3 | 10-12 |
| Skull Crushers | 3 | 10 |
| Standing Cross-Body Front-Raise | 3 | 10 Each Arm |
| Push-Ups | 3 | To Failure |
| Svend Press | 3 | 10 |
Intermediate Chest Workout
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Wide Grip Bench Press | 4 | 8-12 |
| Close-Grip Dumbbell Incline Chest Press | 4 | 8-12 |
| Cable Chest Fly | 3 | 8-12 |
| Dumbbell Pullover | 3 | 8-12 |
| Skull Crushers | 3 | 10 |
| Chest Dips | 3 | To Failure |
Advanced Chest Workout
For these exercises, you’ll be going heavier on the lower rep sets. Choose a weight that you can do that many reps with, but you should have no more than 1 rep left in the tank.
On the high rep sets, make sure you take each rep slow on the way down to feel the burn. This will help immensely with stimulating muscle growth!
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Wide Grip Bench Press | 4 | 6-8 |
| Close-Grip Dumbbell Incline Chest Press | 4 | 6-8 |
| Arnold Press | 3 | 10-12 |
| Single-Arm Medicine Ball Push-Up | 3 | 15-20 Each Arm |
| Skull Crushers | 3 | 10-12 |
| Chest Dips (Weighted if Necessary) | 3 | 15-20 |
| Cable Chest Fly | 3 | 15-20 |
Start Earning Results With Your Chest Workouts
So, there you have it: 12 awesome exercises for some killer chest workouts!
Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced lifter, you can get a lot out of these. I’ve personally done these chest workouts, and I always feel great afterward.
Just understand that if your goal is to build muscle in your chest, the workout isn't even half the battle. That goes for your results as a whole, too. Exercise is just a piece of the puzzle.
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