Best Chest Exercises

To Help you Master the Best Chest Exercises Here is a Crash Course of Basic Anatomy of the Chest

The Chest is Part of your Upper Body's Pushing Muscle Group

A muscle group is different muscles which work together to perform an action.  The anterior deltoids (front of shoulder), triceps (back of arms) as well as the chest work as a group to push.  An easy example would be a push-up.  The chest is the pectoralis major, which is sometimes referred to as the pecs.

The Chest (Pectoralis Major) is Composed of 2 Portions

The upper chest makes up about 1/5 of the whole chest mass.  The upper chest originates from the clavicle (collar bone) and inserts onto the humerus (upper arm bone).

The lower chest is much larger than the upper chest.  The lower chest originates along the sternum and inserts onto the humerous.

This does not mean certain chest exercises completely target one or the other.  Exercises for upper chest will always somewhat involve your lower chest and vice versa. 

Your best chest exercise program should include exercises which target the upper and lower chest.  This is the case for men and women and all exercise goals.

Women usually steer clear from many of the best chest exercises because of the unwarranted fear that they will reduce their breast size.  Chest exercises work pectoralis muscles which are under the breast tissue.  If anything the best chest exercises would cause muscle hypertrophy under the breasts which would make them bigger.

The Best Chest Exercises can be Divided into 3 Categories

Exercises for those who want a bigger chest, exercises for those who need to have a stronger chest and the rest.  This is not to say that each group can't use the others' to achieve their goals. 

How your chest exercise program effects you has a lot to do with your sets and reps and nutrition as well.  Your nutrition and exercise parameters must also be specific to your goals.

Your muscle balance and how you train the rest of your body is also important.  You may have posture problems due to muscle imbalances which will prevent you from achieving optimum results.  You should take steps to correct your muscle imbalances before you can expect to get optimal results from the best chest exercises.

It is Crucially Important that You be Able to Stabilize your Shoulders

If you cannot hold your shoulders in retraction, you will not be able to get the most out of the best chest exercises.  Retraction is when you squeeze your shoulders blades back together.

When you keep the shoulder blade retracted, your body will be in proper biomechanical position to perform the best chest exercises properly. 

This will allow you to reduce the chance of injury, lift more weight, and work a high percentage of the chest muscle fibers.

This is partially because the pectoralis major will be doing most of the work while the muscles that assist in the motion (synergists) will not do the majority of the work.

If you want a bigger and more impressive chest, join the club.  This is probably the most common goal for men.  A good strategy to build a bigger chest is to use a combination of exercises which stress the most muscle mass. 

This means different angles, and different type of exercises.  The number of sets and reps is not as important as you may think.  The best exercises which are best to build the chest may surprise some of you.

Dumbbell Chest Flies

No, this does NOT mean you should abandon the beloved bench press.  The fact is this, chest flies are isolation exercise for the pecs.  If you perform chest fly correctly, your pecs will be doing almost all of the work. 

During the bench press your anterior deltoids and triceps do a fair share of the work.  Even though you can use more weight during the bench press, dumbbell flies are the best chest exercise for building the chest.  Dumbbell flies should be performed along with multiple angles of the bench press for optimal results.

Start:  Lay on a bench or assume the stability ball bridge position with a pair of dumbbells.  Push the weights up straight up.  Retract your shoulders (stick your chest out, squeeze shoulder blades together).  Your palms can be either facing away from you or together.

Begin the motion:  Bend your arms slightly.  Make sure to maintain this arm angle for the entire range of motion.  Take as deep a breath as you can, which will expand your chest, and lower the weights.  Lower the weights until you feel a slight stretch in the chest.

Modifications:  A different angle changes the target muscle fibers.  You can change the angle by using an incline, decline, or adjustable bench.  You can change the angle workout to workout or you can use multiple angles during the same workout.  You can use a stability ball to create different angles as well.

Keep the same angle, raise the weights back up to the original position.  Be 100% sure you squeeze your chest at the top and repeat.  As with most isolation exercises, if you do not "feel" your pecs doing the work, you did not use the correct form, or you have a posture problem which prevents you from isolating the chest.

Barbell Bench Press

The bench press one of the best chest exercises which should be used for all fitness goals.  This is because it works a major muscle group and can use a significant amount of resistance.

Start:  Lay on a bench.  Position yourself so your eyes are looking up straight up at the bar.  Measure your hand distance on the bar by using the stripes.  Your hands should generally be the same distance apart as when you do push-ups.  More specifically your hands should be at a distance to when you lower the bar to your chest, your arms are in a 90 degree angle.  Retract your shoulders

Begin the motion:  Un-rack the bar and hold it above your upper chest.  Take a deep breath as you lower the weight under control.  When the bar either touches your chest, at around the nipples or reaches your lowest comfortable point, pause for a split second.  Push the bar upwards, do not exhale until you know the bar is going to make it all the way back up.  As you are pushing the bar upwards it should travel up towards your head slightly.

Modifications:  You can perform bench press from different angles.  The higher the angle, the less weight you will be able to use because your pecs will be less involved.  You can also use the stability ball supine bridge position as a flat bench.  Make sure the ball is inflated properly and is stiff.  The versatility of the bench press makes it one of the best chest exercises.  For more information about the bench press visit the bench press secrets page.

Cable Chest Flies

Cable chest flies may be even more effective than dumbbell flies.  Cables offer constant resistance throughout the entire range of motion.  This allows the chest muscle fibers to perform more work with cables than dumbbells. 

Start:  Set each side of the free motion or cable crossover machine on the same level.  Grab the handles and pull them down in front of you.  Put one foot forward, and bend your torso slightly forward.  Your arms should be in a slightly bent position.  They will remain in this angle for the duration of the movement.

Begin the motion:  Take a deep breath and slowly raise your arms out to the side in a reverse arc motion. Your elbows should always be in line with where ever the cable is coming from.  When you feel a stretch in your chest, return to the position in which you began.  The motion is like you are hugging around a tree.

Modifications:  Cable chest flies are another one of the very versatile best chest exercises.  You can perform them from every angle which the cable machine allows.  As long as your elbows always track back towards the origin of the cable you should be good.

If you are gym going guy you will eventually be faced with the inevitable question, "How much can you bench?"  Being able to bench press heavy weights is not just for bragging rights. 

Different positions in sports require explosive power and strength in the pushing movement.  This is why the best chest exercises to gain strength and power are functional exercises. 

Functional exercises are compound, multi-joint movements which mimic real world activities.  Real world activities involve stabilization in multiple planes of motion.  This holds true for all activities in which you need to push anything with your hands.

Bench Press

The bench press is also a powerlifting competition lift.  The word powerlifting is misleading because powerlifters do not really lift for power.  They are bench press for maximal force.  This means maximal weight.  There is page dedicated for those who want to know how to bench press more.

Plyometric (Explosive) Push-ups

Power takes into account speed and could simply be referred to as speed strength.  This is more important than force in certain sports therefore for certain sports the bench press may not be the best chest exercise.  This is not to say you should abandon the bench press. 

Explosive clapping push-ups are a form of plyometrics.  Plyometrics use strength along with the elastic properties of muscle for explosive exercises.  Most of the exercises involve hopping, jumping and throwing resistance.  The resistance, as with clapping push-ups is your own body weight.  You have to be able to project your own body weight quickly in most sports.

Start:  Assume the push-up position with your hands wide enough that when you lower yourself, your arms form a 90 degree angle.

Begin the motion:  Lower yourself to the bottom of the push up position with your core draw in.  Make sure to keep your hips, head and toes in a straight line.  Explosively push yourself up as high as you can and clap.  Land softly in the same position and repeat.

Modifications:  There are many different types of plyometric exercises.  Depth push-ups are another common version.  Depth push-ups is when you explosively push up from from the floor to a raised surface with each hand.  Then you drop down to a depth and push yourself back up to the top.

Plyometric push-ups are the best chest exercises to focus on if you seek increased explosive power.  You should not perform plyometric exercises more than 2 times per week.  You should not perform plyometric exercises unless you are at an advanced stage of exercise.

Iso-Lateral Dumbbell Bench Press

Iso-lateral simply means one side at a time.  There are many reasons to perform iso-lateral chest exercises. 

First and foremost if you perform iso-lateral dumbbell bench presses with each arm, it is easy to see if both your arms are equal in strength.

Another good reason why iso-lateral dumbbell bench press is one the best chest exercises is it also strengthens your core and shoulder stabilization.

Start:  Lay on a bench with a single dumbbell at your chest with your palms facing your feet.  Hold the bench next to your head with the opposite arm.  Retract your shoulder blades and make sure both shoulder blades remain in contact with the bench for the duration of the movement.

Begin the motion:  Push the dumbbell up from your chest up above you to the middle of your chest.  Make sure both shoulders are flat on the bench.  Slowly lower the dumbbell back to the original position and repeat.

Modifications:  You can perform iso-lateral dumbbell bench presses on a bench of any angle.  To increase the core utilization you can perform the position from a stability ball supine bridge position.

Weight loss, which is really fat loss, which means tone your body is the most common goal of all.  If you look to tone up, lose 5, 10, 50 or 500 pounds the best chest exercises are the same.

In order to tone up, burn fat and lose weight you must exercise your large muscle groups.  This will ensure you get the greatest metabolic effects from your weight training.  The muscle group with the chest is one of the 3 large muscle groups in your body.

Stability Ball Bench Press

Stability ball bench press is exactly the same as the bench press, except you are in the stability ball supine bridge position.  For safety and functionality, it is important you use a high quality stability ball which is inflated properly (stiff).

You can also position yourself on the stability ball so you can perform the equivalent of the incline bench press.  To do this, simply drop your hips until your hamstrings are comfortably resting on your calves.  Position yourself forward enough to where your upper shoulders and head can be relaxed on the top of the ball.

For weight loss goals, the stability ball bench press is one of the best chest exercises because you exercise not only your chest muscle group, but your core, and legs as well.  This will increase calorie burning in the long run more than standard bench press.

Stability Ball Dumbbell Chest Press

Some believe that the stability ball dumbbell chest press is the best chest exercise.  This is because you have a lot of stabilization involved.  If you have a strong core, and muscle balance, you can use about the same weights you use for bench exercises.  The following can be applied to any angle bench press or stability ball chest press.

Start:  Seated on a stability ball with the dumbbells resting on your thighs.  Keep your elbows in towards your sides and walk forward to form the supine bridge position.  Keep your elbows in and push up the weights until they are in the rack position.  The rack is when the dumbbells are touching with your palms facing away from you.

Begin the motion:  Slowly lower the dumbbells.  As you lower the dumbbells you can internally rotate your hands slightly, this allows for more range of motion.  As soon as you reach a comfortable position, or the dumbbells approach your lower chest, push them upwards.  At the same time the weights travel upwards, move them together slowly.  Stop when the weights are in same position as when you began.

Modifications:  Dumbbell chest presses are one of the best chest exercises because of their versatility.  You can limit the range of motion many ways to target certain parts of the chest.  You can also change the rotation of your wrists to maximize stabilization training.

There was a lot of information about the best chest exercises but if you are more advanced and would like very specific training methods, tips, tweaks, and strategies to improve your bench press and build your chest please visit...

Bench Press Secrets

You know the best chest exercises already, but are there really secrets to the bench press?

How to Bench Press More

You may not care about which chest exercises are the best, but you really want to increase your bench press.  If you are an athlete, powerlifter, or you just want to be able to answer your friends' inevitable question, "How much do you bench?"

Best Chest Exercises on the BOSU

You can also use the BOSU for some of the best chest exercises.  You do not need any equipment besides the BOSU balance trainer for chest exercises.