A strong, powerful and big chest is one thing that we all look for when we start training and for good reason too. The chest is probably up there with everybody’s favorite muscle to train – and who doesn’t want a great pair of pecs to go with their bulging biceps?
If you’re looking to add a bit of meat onto your torso but don’t know where to start, do not worry. We’ve got you covered with the very best chest exercises for building muscle:
Barbell bench press
Our favorite exercise for chest and one that absolutely everybody should incorporate into their training program is the barbell bench press. The super powerful compound movement is ideal for the growth in both muscle and strength of the chest muscles as well as the shoulders and core.
The barbell bench lets you push the most amount of weight of all chest exercises and you don’t need to be a scientist to tell that the more weight you can push, the stronger you’ll become and the bigger you’ll get. The long and short of it is simple – include the barbell bench press if you want to make progress in the chest department.
Dumbbell bench press
Similar to the barbell bench press is the close second of the dumbbell bench press. The idea is the same, grab a weight and press it, but it’s a more difficult position to get into with a pair of dumbbell. The movement does however allow you to get lower meaning that you’ll get more of a stretch on the chest.
We recommend pairing the dumbbell bench press with the barbell bench press for your second exercise on your dedicated chest day. The two movements are perfect together and will allow for maximum exhaustion.
Seated machine chest press
Using the machines to incorporate a pressing movement into your routine is another great way to target the chest. This movement is a great way to incorporate chest exercises if you’re struggling with shoulder pain or have issues with high weights due to the much safer nature of the machines. It also serves as another great way to exhaust the muscle and make maximum progress.
Dips
Believe it or not, the heavily tricep focused exercises of dips is also great when it comes to working the chest. Lean a little further forward than you would for pure tricep isolation and you’ll be feeling a deep burn that you wouldn’t of otherwise expected. Highly recommended for bodyweight lovers.
Cable fly
Our final exercise is the cable fly and allows for a great movement that we can use to maximize the use of cables within the gym. Grabbing and pulling the cables and squeezing the chest is a feeling hard to match with any other exercise and definitely one of our favorites and go-to’s in the gym.
