The 10 Best Chest Exercises for Big Pecs and a Strong Bench Press

A big chest can be appreciated and noticed year-round — under a tank top or a parka, it shows. And the chances are good that if you’ve spent years building up your pectorals to Terry Crews‘ level, then you probably also have the pressing strength to match. Not there yet? That’s cool. 

We’ve compiled a list of the 10 best chest exercises (which, yes, are still useful if you’re already jacked) and a few sections on how to train your chest. Heed our advice and then heave some weights.

Best Chest Exercises

Barbell Flat Bench Press

The bench press is a classic exercise. Powerlifters do it to see who has the most pressing strength, gym rats use it to build up their pecs, and athletes utilize the bench for explosive pushing power. The bench press should be a staple in your routine for more chest size and strength.

Benefits of the Barbell Flat Bench Press

  • It has direct carryover to powerlifters since it’s one of the three lifts judged in a competition.
  • The bench press recruits muscles in the chest, triceps, and shoulders — so you’ll build a muscular torso.
  • Compared to other chest exercises, you can load the bench press up with a relatively heavy amount of weight. 

How to Do the Barbell Flat Bench Press

Lay back down on a bench, arch your lower back slightly, and plant your feet on the floor. Pull your shoulder blades together to enhance stability and upper back strength. Grab the bar (varying grips) and squeeze the hand hard to flex the arm and grip muscles maximally. With the load unracked, think about pulling the barbell to the body to touch the sternum/base of the chest. Press the weight upwards, making sure to keep your back tight, and shoulder blades pulled together.

Incline Bench Press

The incline press is somewhat of a hybrid of an overhead press and flat bench press, and so pressing a barbell (or a pair of kettlebells or dumbbells) from an incline recruits more of the muscle fibers in the upper chest and taxes the shoulders a bit more. For that reason, strongmen like to use this pressing variation since it has more carryover to log presses and axle bar clean and presses.

Benefits of the Barbell Incline Bench Press

  • More shoulder and upper chest activation compared to flat press variations.
  • The incline bench press will have carryover to overhead pressing variations, as it strengthens the deltoids, too.

How to Do the Barbell Incline Bench Press

Adjust a workout bench so it is at 45 degrees and set up similar to that of the flat bench press. Unrack the loaded barbell and begin to pull the load downwards to line with the upper chest (a few inches below the clavicle). With the shoulder blades pulled together and elbows angled at about 45 degrees. Push the barbell upward.

Decline Bench Press

The third major barbell bench press variation focuses on the lower pectoral fibers. This pressing variation is typically less strenuous on the lifter’s shoulders than the standard bench press because of the shifted shoulder angle. 

Benefits of the Barbell Decline Bench Press

  • The decreased strain on the shoulder joint, due to the angle of the bench you’re lifting on.
  • A greater emphasis on the lower pectoral fibers. 

How to Do the Barbell Decline Bench Press

Start by securing your feet into a decline bench set up and secure the upper back and hips to the bench (similar to the flat bench press). Unrack the weight and pull the load downwards toward the sternum while keeping the shoulder blades pulled together. Press through the barbell to lock out the elbows. Be sure not to allow the elbows to flare excessively out in the movement.

Chest Flye

The chest flye — which can be done with dumbbells or on a cable machine — is a popular bodybuilding exercise to stretch the muscle fibers and pump up the muscle. That pump will help to drive nutrient-rich blood to the target area to help speed up recovery. Using dumbbells will also help improve your body’s ability to coordinate as you’re forced to stabilize each weight independently. 

Benefits of the Chest Flye

  • More muscular coordination as the lifter is forced to stabilize and lift two separate dumbbells.
  • The chest flye stretch, which is achieved by extending the arms with light weight, will really tax the chest’s muscle fibers and pump the area with nutrient-rich blood. 
  • It’s a versatile movement that can be performed with dumbbells on a cable machine and kettlebells. 

How to Do the Chest Flye

Lay back on a bench (either flat, decline, or incline — it doesn’t matter), with a dumbbell in each hand. With a slight bend in your elbows, lower your arms out to your sides slowly and with control. Now, reverse the motion to engage the chest. You should look like you’re hugging a tree. 

Dumbbell Bench Press

The dumbbell bench press doesn’t allow you to go as heavy as its barbell counterpart, but there’s a lot to like about this move. For one, you’re controlling two dumbbells, which works your chest (and the smaller stabilizer muscles around your shoulder joint) differently than the bench press. If you have a weaker side, then this movement’s unilateral nature allows one side to catch up to the other. If you’re a person who suffers from shoulder or elbow pain, using dumbbells lets, you manipulate the grip and arm angle to find a pressing position that’s more comfortable for you. 

Benefits of the Dumbbell Bench Press

  • It’s easier to find a pressing position that’s more comfortable for someone who may have shoulder or elbow aches. 
  • You’ll acquire more joint and muscle stability from lifting two separate dumbbells. 
  • Since each side has to work to lift the dumbbells, you’ll allower a weaker side of your body to catch up.

How to Do the Dumbbell Bench Press

Sit up on a flat bench and then hinge forward to pick up each dumbbell. Place each weight on a knee and get set. Lean back and then drive the dumbbells back towards you (carefully) with your knees, simultaneously pressing the weights over your chest. Lower the weights, keeping your elbows tucked in at 45 degrees until your elbows break 90 degrees. Then, drive the dumbbells back up. You can also turn your palms, so they’re facing each other and press from this neutral position. 

Push-Up

Do we need to sell you on the push-up? Probably not, but what kind of training resource would we be if we didn’t tell you that the push-up is easier on your joints since you’re not loading them with weight. And would be worth our salt if we didn’t mention that because they’re relatively safe, you can pump out a bunch of push-ups for more volume (and therefore muscle growth)? No, it wouldn’t be cool if we left those details out. 

Benefits of the Push-Up

How to Do the Push-Up

Get into a plank position, with your hands underneath your shoulders, back flat, and feet together. Screw your palms into the ground. You should feel your chest tighten. Hold this position, and then slowly lower yourself until your chest is about an inch from the floor. Now, drive back up through the palms of your hands. 

Dip

The dip is another bodyweight gem. Compared to the push-up, which has you on all fours, you’re suspended for the dip, and so your complete bodyweight is in play. You’ll also seriously recruit your triceps, which are essentially involved in all pressing movements, so working them in tandem with the chest will help strengthen the synergistic muscles in unison. 

Benefits of the Dip

  • You’ll strengthen the triceps and pecs — two key pressing muscles — together. 
  • You’ll utilize 100 percent of your body weight, which is far more than what you lift during a push-up.

How to Do the Dip

Grab the dip bar firmly and get yourself in the top of the dip position, with the upper back tight and shoulder blades squeezed together. Angle your torso slightly forward and allow the elbows to bend as they slightly tuck inwards towards the sides of the torso. Lower yourself down until your elbows bend at about 90 degrees. When ready, press through the handles and bring your body upright into the top of the dip position.

Svend Press

Ironically, the wimpiest looking move on our best chest exercise list will probably burn the worst (we mean best). To avoid dropping two plates on your toes, you need to squeeze the weights together continuously. That alone will get those pecs activated. Then, you’ll extend your arms to squeeze the chest together even more. The Svend press (or plate pinch) is low-impact and so safer compared to heavy pressing. It also requires little equipment (so you won’t need to wait for a bench to open up on International chest day.)

Benefits of the Svend Press

  • Finally, a pressing movement that won’t require you to have to wait for everyone else to finish their bench press sets. 
  • The squeeze and press combination will create a lot of time under tension for a serious pump and muscular hypertrophy. 

How to Do the Svend Press

Start by taking two smaller weight plates (five or 10-pound plates) and pressing them together between your hands. Your arms should be extended outwards in front of you.

While actively pinching the plate together and not letting them slip apart (constant tension), pull the plates towards your sternum as you keep the chest up and shoulder blades pulled together. Once you bring the plates to the sternum area, flex the chest and press the weights back outwards, making sure to keep the plates pressed together and the inner chest muscles engaged.

Cable Iron Cross

The iron cross is a gymnastics classic, but when performed in a cable tree can be great for physique development too. This exercise stretches the chest muscles from the start and takes you through a large range of motion for better chest building potential. Plus, due to the constant tension of the cable machine, your muscles are under tension longer for improved hypertrophy.

Benefits of the Cable Iron Cross

  • Keeps tension on the working muscles for better muscle-building potential. 
  • Isolates and takes the lower chest muscles through a larger range of motion compared to the dumbbell variation.
  • Trains the hard-to-reach lower chest area for better definition.

How to Do the Cable Iron Cross

Set the handles at both ends of the cable machine at the highest level. Stand in the center with a staggered stance and take hold of both handles. Lean your torso forward keeping your spine in neutral and bend your elbows slightly too. Keeping your core tight pull both handles down and across your body and squeeze the chest muscles at the end of the movement. 

Chaos Push-Up

Resistance bands are a great tool to build the chest too. By looping a heavy band around a squat rack, you can perform a variety of exercises — including the chaos push-up. The unstable resistance band fires up all your stabilizing muscles while performing a push-up. 

If you’ve got anything less than perfect form, the band will give you instant feedback. Plus, the increased time under tension does wonders for building your chest.

 Benefits of the Chaos Push-Up

  • The instability of the Chaos Push-Up is great for additional rotator cuff recruitment.
  • Adds more core stability and control to your push-ups which leads to increased time under tension.
  • Band training activates the smaller stabilizers (shoulder, core and hips) while improving proprioception.

How to Do the Chaos Push-Up

Loop a heavy-duty band around the squat rack. The higher up the band, the easier the exercise and lower the band. makes it harder. Place your hands on the band in a shoulder width grip and grip tight. Bring your legs behind you, engage your glutes and core, and slowly lower yourself down into a push-up. Press up against the band.

How Often Should You Train Your Chest?

Beginners (a year or less of training) should aim for 12 weekly sets, a novice trainee (2-4 year) can up the volume to 14 to 16 sets per week, and a veteran gym-goer (four or more years) may be able to do 16 to 20 weekly sets. Because the chest is one of the larger muscles in the upper body, you can train it more often than your shoulders or arms

incline dumbbell bench press
Credit: Jasminko Ibrakovic / Shutterstock

That said, your chest training frequency also depends on your workout split. If you’re a bodybuilder who trains only their chest once per week, then 20 sets may be too much for a single session. However, if you follow a full-body split, six sets per session three times per week will yield 18 total sets but with less fatigue per workout. Powerlifters, who need to focus on chest strength, may have one low-rep, strength-focused session and then one higher rep, hypertrophy-focused workout. In that case, 20 sets wouldn’t be too difficult to accumulate. 

Typically, your muscles need a minimum of 48 hours and up to 72 hours to recover. If general health and aesthetics are your goals, then you can easily train your chest twice per week. It’s common to pair your chest with your triceps — since the muscles work together in many lifts — or to train your entire upper body and then your lower body in separate sessions. As important, if not more, how often you train your chest is how you progress your chest training.

How to Progress Your Chest Training

To get stronger and bigger, you need to add more weight or more reps to each of your chest sessions. This is not hard in theory. It’s a straightforward philosophy. Of course, if you’ve been working out for even just a year, you know that this is easier said than done. 

Even if you add just a pound to your bench press each workout, you’ll eventually stall out before the year is up. One of the best methods of progression is one that combines both reps and sets. For example, let’s say you bench press 225 pounds for one rep. (If you don’t know your true one-rep max, you can use our calculator to find out.)

Take 80% of that, and lift it for five sets of five reps. Add one rep each week until you’re doing five sets of eight reps. Then, increase the weight by two-and-half to five pounds and start the progression over at five sets of five reps. 

Start with heavier sets of chest work first and then follow that up with lighter weight for more volume. Otherwise, you’ll pre-fatigue your muscles too much and be too weak to lift weights heavy enough to build strength.

How to Warm Up Your Chest

A good warmup can make an average workout exceptional. To get the most out of your chest day, you need to prime the pecs for contraction and ensure your shoulders, wrists, and elbows are all ready to handle heavy weights.

After a few minutes of light cardio, perform any upper-back movement that you find comfortable and effective for engaging your scapula — think face pulls, rear delt flyes, or band pull-aparts. After that, a few light sets of your first exercise, focusing hard on the contraction and engagement of the pecs, should have you ready to go. 

More Chest Training Tips

With this list of best chest exercises now in your training toolbox, read up on some other chest training-related pieces. 

Featured image: Jasminko Ibrakovic / Shutterstock

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