Are you looking to switch up your workouts? Or maybe you just want to find ways to make your workouts more time-efficient.
Either way, there are many ways to do that.
One popular way is to pair opposing muscle groups together in a workout. This is different from a lot of mainstream workout programs.
Most people pair synergistic muscles together. An example is working your chest and triceps together. Working your back and biceps together is another good example.
But, when it comes to opposing muscle workouts, chest and back is a popular one. Your chest takes over in pushing exercises, and your back does with pulling exercises.
Targeting these opposing muscle groups in a single workout can help you make the most of your time.
If you’ve never worked your chest and back together, you’re in for the greatest pump of your life. Trust me!
This approach is about more than just saving time, though. It’s about maximizing every rep and every set with supersets.
If you aren’t familiar with supersets, don’t worry. I wasn’t either at first, but I’ll tell you this … They’re great!
Supersets are when you work opposing muscle groups back to back without rest. So think of it like doing the bench press back to back with pull-ups.
Your chest gets rest while doing pull-ups, and your back rests while you bench press. This way, you’re really taking advantage of your time.
You also get some cardio out of it because you’re not actually resting much, so your heart keeps working. It’s essentially a way to boost your workout intensity and enhance your stamina.
Not only that, but you also can get a full workout done in a shorter period of time. Anyone with a busy schedule knows how important it is to optimize every minute of your workouts.
You may have kids or a very demanding job. Whatever the reason is, you need to get a lot done with little time.
If you're looking for some exercises, and a good chest and back workout to get started, you came to the right place. We'll talk through the benefits of training chest and back together, great exercises for these workouts, and some full workouts you can try today!
Let's get after it!
Can You Train Your Chest and Back Together? Are There Benefits?
So, can you train your chest and back together? Absolutely! Although, you may have already guessed that.
Now, not only can you train them together, but it can also be beneficial. By balancing pushing exercises with pulling exercises, you can maintain muscular symmetry.
This symmetry is not just about how you look. It’s also about preventing muscle imbalances that can lead to injuries over time.
For instance, if you work your chest more than your back, your shoulders can round forward over time. This is because your chest pulls on the front side of your shoulders. Strong back muscles oppose that tension and help keep your shoulders in a neutral position.
If you overwork one side of your upper body more than the other, your shoulder posture won't be optimal. Working both sides evenly is ideal for keeping your shoulders in a healthy position at rest.
You can also get pretty darn strong this way too!
Not to mention, this method can help increase how many calories you burn. Working bigger muscle groups burns more calories. Plus, you'll be hitting two major muscle groups in the same workout with chest and back workouts.
So, pairing your chest and back together can give you some awesome benefits!
It's a simple and effective way to promote even muscle development on both sides of the body. Don't forget that it can save you some time as well.
Now, let's take a look at the muscles that you'll be working in a chest and back workout.
Chest and Back Muscles
It’s important to know which muscles you’re targeting in a chest and back workout. Once you better understand the anatomy, you can go into your workout with more intention.
Here’s a breakdown of the main muscles you’ll engage:
Pectoralis Major
This is the largest muscle of the chest. While this isn’t the only muscle in the chest, it’s the one you think of when you hear the word.
This muscle is crucial for exercises that involve pushing weight away from the body. It also helps to bring your arms together towards the midline of your body.
Exercises like the bench press and pec fly can help strengthen this muscle.
Pectoralis Minor
This is the other muscle of the chest. Located beneath the pectoralis major, this smaller muscle helps your shoulders move downward and forward.
Latissimus Dorsi
Often referred to as the “lats,” this broad muscle spans the lower and middle sections of the back. It is crucial for any pulling movements. It can also be a great muscle to help fill out your shirts and give your waist a thinner appearance.
Rhomboids
These muscles sit between your shoulder blades. They are crucial for retracting the shoulder blades, which you need for any pulling exercise.
Trapezius
This trapezoid-shaped muscle extends from your upper back to your mid back. It is involved in shrugging your shoulders, the movement of your shoulder blades, and more.
Teres Major
Located near the outer edges of the upper back, this muscle works with the lats to assist in rotating and pulling your arms.
Each exercise you perform should focus on one of these muscles. Plus, understanding what your chest and back muscles do can be crucial.
When you understand their function, you can better choose exercises that target them specifically. With that being said, when should you throw a chest and back workout into your routine?
When to Include Chest and Back Workouts in Your Routine
Adding a chest and back workout into your training routine can go a long way. It can help support your upper body strength and muscle development.
It’s also a way to give your body something different to respond to. Not to mention, a new way to increase the speed and intensity of your workout.
But how often should you tackle these sessions to get the most benefits without overdoing it? Coming from someone who’s had plenty of injuries, you definitely want to take recovery time into the equation.
It’s good to plan out what days you’ll train each muscle group. That way you can make sure your chest and back muscles recover before training them again.
Studies show that after a tough workout, we need roughly 24-72 hours of recovery before training the same muscle groups again (1).
I personally recommend no less than 48 hours, and more ideally 72 hours between training the same muscles. I have my reasons, and let me explain them.
The studies done weren’t doing full-on workouts targeting only specific muscles.
They did bench press, squat, and jumps. So only one major exercise per muscle group, or 2 for your legs if you group the jumps with squats. If they did a full chest workout after the bench press there would be more chest muscle damage to recover from.
More muscle damage would theoretically require more time to recover and rebuild. So here’s my official recommendation.
If you’re going to work out daily with no more than 1 rest day per week, give 72 hours. If you take 2-3 rest days per week, you can get away with 48 hours between workouts.
For example, let’s say you train your chest and back on Mondays. I would wait until at least Thursday to repeat these exercises. That’s if you take the weekend off because those 2 extra rest days will help you recover before training again next week.
If you plan on working out on weekends too, I recommend waiting until Friday to hit chest and back again. That way you know you’re going to fully recover before training those muscles again.
Rest days are crucial for muscle recovery and growth as it helps you avoid injuries and fatigue. Remember, you don’t build muscle in the gym ... You build it when you recover!
Planning out your rest days between training the same muscles can do wonders for your recovery. Fully recovered muscles can help you perform better, so keep that in mind.
What should you do in those days between workouts though?
Well, you can throw a leg workout in there training your quads, hamstrings, and glutes together. You can also throw in a shoulder, calves, and abs workout too.
You could also throw in cardio for a day or 2. You could even have a full-on rest day in the middle.
I’m just spitballing. There are so many ways you can do this. Just plan your workout routine around what works best for you and your goals.
Now, let’s get to the exercises themselves! Here are my top 14 chest and back exercises to include in your training routine.
Best Chest and Back Exercises
The most effective workouts include a variety of targeted exercises. Here’s a look at some of the best back and chest exercises you can add to your routine.
Each exercise is in here for a purpose, and they target every muscle I laid out earlier. You’ll get a great workout with these exercises if you do them right!
Dumbbell Incline Bench Press
This is a variation of the classic bench press. It allows for a greater range of motion than the barbell version and targets your upper chest muscles.
It also engages stabilizing muscles in the shoulders and back due to having separate weights in each hand.
How to perform a dumbbell incline bench press:
1. Lie back on a bench set at a 30 to 45-degree angle. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with the weights resting on your thighs.
2. Use your thighs to help push the dumbbells up, as you position them outside of your chest on both sides.
3. Keep your shoulders pulled down and back with your chest puffed out. This is the starting position.
4. Use your chest and tricep muscles to press the weights straight above your chest.
5. Squeeze your chest for a second at the top. Then, lower the dumbbells back to the starting position next to your chest.
6. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Push-Ups
A fundamental body-weight exercise is the push-up. It targets your chest and triceps just like a bench press.
To make these more difficult, you can always add weight to your back. You can also wrap resistance bands around your back for an added challenge.
How to perform push-ups:
1. Start on your hands and feet in a high plank position. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
2. Lower your body by bending your elbows until your chest nearly touches the floor.
3. Push through your hands to extend your arms and return to the starting position.
4. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Pull-Ups
One of the most challenging yet rewarding upper body exercises is the pull-up. Pull-ups primarily target the lats.
However, they also work the biceps, rhomboids, and lower traps.
How to perform pull-ups:
1. Hang from a pull-up bar with your hands placed wider than shoulder-width apart. Your hands should be facing away from you.
2. Pull your shoulders back, and focus on pulling your elbows behind you. This will help you engage the right muscles to pull yourself up.
3. When your chin gets over the bar, squeeze your lats for a second at the top. Then lower yourself back down to the starting position.
4. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Chin-Ups
Similar to pull-ups, chin-ups use a supinated grip where your palms are facing you.
This places more emphasis on the biceps while still heavily engaging the lats.
How to perform chin-ups:
1. Hang from a bar with your palms facing you.
2. Pull your shoulders back, and focus on pulling your elbows down to your sides, and your shoulders up to your hands.
3. When your chin gets over the bar, squeeze your lats and biceps for a second at the top. Then lower yourself back down to the starting position.
4. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Dumbbell Chest Flys
This exercise is perfect for targeting your chest in isolation. Surprisingly though, it targets your biceps as a stabilizing muscle too.
Dumbbell chest flys give your chest muscles a full stretch at the bottom, and full contraction at the top. So make sure you go through a full range of motion but don’t go too heavy.
Use weights you can handle because the stretch is no joke.
How to perform dumbbell chest flys:
1. Lie with your back on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand extended above your chest. Your palms should be facing each other.
2. With a slight bend in your elbows, slowly lower the dumbbells in an arc motion out to your sides. Stop when you feel a stretch in your chest.
3. Squeeze your chest to reverse the motion and bring the dumbbells back together to the starting position.
4. Squeeze your chest again for a second at the top.
5. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
High-to-Low Cable Chest Fly
This is a variation of the dumbbell chest fly. You can also do this low-to-high, and it will completely change the area of your chest it works.
The high-to-low cable chest fly targets the outer portion of your chest. It still works the rest of your chest, but that’s where the emphasis is.
How to perform the high-to-low cable chest fly:
1. Stand between two adjacent cables set at the highest height. Attach a handle to both sides.
2. Grab each handle and take a small step forward to lift the weights off the stack. Your arms should be out to your sides as if making a capital “T” with your body.
3. Engage your chest muscles to pull the handles down and in toward the midline of your body.
4. When your hands are in front of your lower abdomen, squeeze your chest for a second. Then slowly return back to the starting position.
5. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Face Pulls
Face pulls are excellent for the rear deltoids and the upper traps.
This exercise helps counteract the forward hunch and rounding of the shoulders that so many people experience.
How to perform face pulls:
1. Attach a rope to a high pulley and grasp it with both hands.
2. Pull the rope towards your face, while moving your hands apart. Your hands should be outside both ears.
3. Squeeze your traps for a second, then slowly return to the starting position.
4. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Dips
Focusing on the lower chest and triceps, dips are a great exercise to add to your chest and back workouts.
Performing them on parallel bars with a slight forward lean provides greater engagement for the chest muscles too.
How to perform dips:
1. Grip the parallel bars and lift your body so that your arms are straight and outside both hips. Your feet should not be touching the ground.
2. Lower your body by bending your elbows while leaning slightly forward. You may feel a stretch in your chest at the bottom of the movement.
3. Engage your chest and triceps to push yourself up back to the starting position.
4. Squeeze your chest for a second, and repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Lat Pulldowns
These mimic the pull-up motion and are great for targeting your lats.
This is especially useful if you need to build up more strength for full pull-ups. Personally, I do these after I can’t do any more pull-ups.
It allows you to keep training those muscles with less than your body weight when you need to. It’s also just a great exercise for building up your back in general.
How to perform lat pulldowns:
1. Sit at a lat pulldown station and grab the bar with an overhand grip.
2. Pull your shoulders back, and pull the bar down towards your chest. Just like with pull-ups, focus on pulling your elbows down.
3. Squeeze your lats for a second at the bottom, and slowly let the bar rise back to the starting position.
4. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Barbell Row
The barbell row engages your upper back, lats, and rear shoulders by pulling a barbell towards your body from a bent-over stance.
How to perform barbell rows:
1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a barbell with an overhand grip.
2. Bend your knees slightly and bend down as far as you can while keeping your back straight.
3. Engage your lats to pull your elbows back and the bar towards your lower ribs
4. Squeeze your lats for a second at the top, then slowly lower the bar back to the starting position.
5. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Straight-Arm Pulldown
This is a cable exercise that helps isolate the lats. It works quite well but requires a bit of control.
I say that because if you go too heavy, it’s easy to cheat the reps. So use weights you can control with good form.
Keep in mind, the name might say straight arm, but your elbows will be slightly bent.
How to perform a straight-arm pulldown:
1. Put a bar attachment on a high cable pulley, and grab it with an overhand grip.
2. Step back to lift the weight off the stack, and bend your knees and hips slightly. This is the starting position.
3. With a slight bend in your elbows, use your lats to pull the bar down to your hips.
4. Squeeze your lats for a second at the bottom, then slowly return to the starting position.
5. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Seated Cable Rows
A seated cable row is a controlled rowing movement that targets the middle back.
It can help improve your back thickness, and who doesn’t want that?!
How to perform seated cable rows:
1. Sit at a rowing station with your feet on the platform and knees slightly bent.
2. Grab the handles and lean back while pulling the cable toward your abdomen. Your body should be upright or slightly leaned back when you finish pulling.
3. Squeeze your lats for a second, then slowly return back to the starting position.
4. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Barbell Shrugs
Focused on the upper traps, these are very helpful in making you look more muscular. Shrugs can really bring your whole physique together, so don’t skip them!
How to perform barbell shrugs:
1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a barbell in front of you.
2. Pull your shoulders back and up towards your ears as high as possible.
3. Squeeze your traps for a second at the top, then lower your shoulders back down to the starting position.
4. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
Svend Press
This is an exercise that doesn’t require too much weight to be effective. It also doesn’t look like it would do much, but trust me, you’ll feel the burn!
It only requires 2 weight plates of maybe 5-10 pounds. You can go up to 25 pounds, but that would be a lot harder than you think.
You don’t need to go super heavy here. Focus on the contraction in your chest and proper form.
How to perform the Svend press:
1. Grab one weight plate in each hand, and sandwich them together at your chest. Keep your hands and fingers straight. 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, then slowly return to the starting position.
4. Repeat for as many reps and sets as you desire.
By adding a mix of these movements to your workout regimen, you can ensure a balanced development of your upper body. They will make for one heck of a chest and back workout too, that's for sure!
Remember, consistency and proper form are key to preventing injury and earning great results. With that in mind, I prepared two full chest and back workouts for you to try.
Full Chest and Back Workouts
So, here are two awesome chest and back workouts. I also made sure to include some supersets to help make them intense and time-efficient! Give them a go and I know you won't be disappointed.
Chest and Back Workout #1
| Exercise | Reps | Sets |
| Dumbbell Incline Bench Press | 8-12 | 3 |
| Barbell Row | 8-12 | 3 |
| Superset #1: Cable Chest Fly | 8-12 | 3 |
| Superset #1: Pull-Ups | 6-10 | 3 |
| Superset #2: Dips | 8-12 | 3 |
| Superset #2: Face Pulls | 12-15 | 3 |
| Superset #3: Svend Press | 8-12 | 3 |
| Superset #3: Barbell Shrug | 8-12 | 3 |
Chest and Back Workout #2
| Exercise | Reps | Sets |
| Dumbbell Incline Bench Press | 8-12 | 3 |
| Chin-Ups | 8-12 | 3 |
| Superset #1: Dumbbell Chest Fly | 12-15 | 3 |
| Superset #1: Cable Row | 8-12 | 3 |
| Superset #2: Push-Ups | 12-15 | 3 |
| Superset #2: Lat Pulldowns | 8-12 | 3 |
| Superset #3: Dips | 6-12 | 3 |
| Superset #3: Straight Arm Pulldown | 12-15 | 3 |
Increase Your Chest and Back Gains with 1st Phorm
Training your chest and back in one workout is a great way to switch things up, and maximize your time in the gym. With supersets too, you’ve got a shorter and more intense workout!
Training chest and back together can give you a lot of benefits, but it isn’t the only way you can switch up your workouts. There are tons of other training styles you can implement too.
Now, when it comes to earning the best results, just know that workouts are only part of that equation. Your nutrition is key too.
This is where things can get complicated for most people. For a long time, it's something I struggled with for sure. Really until I started learning about it in college, I was lost.
Believe it or not, it's a lot more simple than you may think. The simplicity only comes through a certain level of understanding though. Don't worry - That's one of the areas we can help!
In fact, we made the ultimate all-in-one tool for your health and fitness goals called the 1st Phorm App! Think of it as your entire game plan for workouts, nutrition, recovery, and more.
Inside the 1st Phorm App, you'll get access to:
• A certified personal trainer and nutrition coach (sometimes a dietitian) to coach you every day in the app
• A custom nutrition plan and an easy way to log your food to stay on track
• 5x per week live streams about nutrition, training, and supplementation
• A full library of workout programs catered to your goals
• Activity and step-counting software
• Progress tracking and body metrics to make sure you get the results you're after
We’re not just blowing smoke. We genuinely want to help, and if you take the first step we’ll meet you halfway!
Download the 1st Phorm App today, and I promise it’ll be worth it! Check out the results for yourself if you don’t believe me here. Just scroll down and look at the before and after pictures.
We're here to help real people earn real and long-term results. So if there's anything we can ever help with, don't hesitate to reach out!
We have a full team of NASM Certified Personal Trainers and Nutrition Coaches right here in St. Louis, Missouri. Just give us a call at 1-800-409-9732 or send us an email at CustomerService@1stPhorm.com any day from 6 AM to 10 PM Central.
References:
(1) Yang Y, Bay PB, Wang YR, Huang J, Teo HWJ, Goh J. Effects of Consecutive Versus Non-consecutive Days of Resistance Training on Strength, Body Composition, and Red Blood Cells. Front Physiol. 2018 Jun 18;9:725. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.00725. PMID: 29967584; PMCID: PMC6015912.
(2) García-Orea GP, Rodríguez-Rosell D, Ballester-Sánchez Á, Da Silva-Grigoletto ME, Belando-Pedreño N. Upper-lower body super-sets vs. traditional sets for inducing chronic athletic performance improvements. PeerJ. 2023 Feb 21;11:e14636. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14636. PMID: 36846453; PMCID: PMC9951798.
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