Chest exercises
Your chest (pectorals) pushes your arms forward and across your body. It drives every press and push-up.
By equipment:Dumbbells (3)Flat bench (3)
Compound lifts
Several muscles at once. Do these first, while you're fresh.
- Barbell bench pressBarbell, Flat bench and Squat rackGrip just outside shoulder width
- Incline barbell pressBarbell, Adjustable bench and Squat rackTouch just below the collarbone
- Dumbbell bench pressDumbbells and Flat benchPalms forward or slightly turned in
- Incline dumbbell pressDumbbells and Adjustable benchKeep shoulder blades pinned
- Machine chest pressChest press machineBack flat on the pad
- Push-upNo equipmentBrace your abs and glutes
- Incline push-upPlyo box or stepLower the chest to the edge
- Feet-up push-upPlyo box or stepKeep hips level
- Wall push-upNo equipmentBody in one straight line
- Lean-forward push-upNo equipmentKeep the lean the whole time
- Slow dip loweringDip barsLower as slowly as you can, about 5 seconds
- DipDip barsLean slightly forward
- Ring push-upGymnastic ringsKeep the rings close to the body
Isolation exercises
One muscle, one joint. Good for adding sets without much extra fatigue.
How much to train your chest
About 8 to 12 hard sets a week to start, up to 12 to 20 as you get more experienced, split over two or more sessions, each set ending 1 to 3 reps short of failure. More in how many sets per week and reps in reserve.
A chest plan that adapts to you
Liftsmith picks chest exercises your gym can do, sets the weight for every set, and only trains them again once they've recovered.
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