7 Best Chest Exercises
A strong and well-developed chest is not only visually appealing, but it also plays a crucial role in our daily activities and overall upper body strength. Incorporating the right chest exercises into your workout routine can help you achieve that powerful chest you’ve always wanted. Here, we’ll explore the 7 best chest exercises that target and work all areas of your chest muscles.
1. Barbell Bench Press
The barbell bench press is a classic and highly effective compound exercise that targets your entire chest, as well as improving triceps and shoulder strength. To perform this exercise, lie on a flat bench with your feet planted firmly on the ground. Grasp the barbell with a comfortable grip, lower it to your chest, and press it back up until your arms are fully extended.
2. Push-Ups
Push-ups are an excellent bodyweight exercise for targeting the chest muscles. To perform a proper push-up, get into the plank position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Lower your body by bending your elbows until your chest nearly touches the floor, then push back up to the starting position using your chest muscles.
3. Dumbbell Flyes
This isolation exercise targets the inner fibers of the pectoral muscles. Lie on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand and fully extend your arms above you. Keep a slight bend in your elbows and slowly lower the weights out to your sides until you feel a stretch in your chest muscles. Bring the weights back up to the starting position while contracting your chest muscles.
4. Incline Bench Press
The incline bench press targets the upper portion of your chest muscles. Set an adjustable bench
at about 45 degrees incline and sit with feet planted firmly on the ground. Grasp a barbell with a comfortable grip width, lower it to your upper chests, and press it back up until arms are fully extended.
5. Chest Dips
Chest dips are great for targeting the lower chest muscles. To perform chest dips, find a parallel bars dip station and position yourself with hands grasping the bars, arms straight, and feet off the ground. Lower your body by bending your elbows, leaning slightly forward to put more emphasis on the chest muscles, then push back up to the starting position.
6. Cable Crossovers
By using cables for chest exercises, you can maintain continuous tension on the muscles throughout each rep. Position a high cable pulley on each side of a cable crossover machine. Grab each handle with an overhand grip and stand in the middle of the machine with your feet shoulder-width apart. Keeping a slight bend in your elbows, bring your hands towards each other in front of your chest, squeezing your chest muscles at peak contraction.
7. Pec Deck Machine
The pec deck machine isolates the chest muscles for maximum engagement. Sit on the machine with your back flat against the pad and grasp the handles attached to the padded levers. Bring the handles together in front of you until they nearly touch, focusing on contracting your chest muscles during this movement. Slowly return to the starting position while maintaining control.
Incorporate these 7 best chest exercises into your workout routine to effectively target and strengthen all areas of your pectoral muscles for a well-rounded and impressive chest development. Remember to use proper form, warm up before exercising, and progressively increase resistance or weight as you become stronger.