By: Chris Gates

If you want to build a bigger chest, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the best exercises to build your chest so that you can start building muscle and getting stronger today!

We’re going to focus on exercises that are proven to get you the most bang for your buck.

No gimmicks here.

No quick fixes, or “magic” exercises that will “shock the muscle” into growing.

Nope.

These exercises are quite simply the best and most effective when done correctly. And they’re backed by scientific research.

I’ll break down:

• What exercises you should do.
• The sets and reps you should focus on.
• How much weight should you lift.
• Important form and technique pointers for every exercise.
• And mistakes to avoid.

I hope you’re ready. I know I am, and I’m pumped!

So let’s dive in!

The Best Exercises to Build Your Chest: Need-To-Know Info

Before we dive into the best exercises to build your chest, we should first talk about how your chest is put together.

Because the way your muscles are formed, and the way they function, will help you to understand the most optimal way to train.

The pectoralis muscles, more commonly referred to as your “pecs,” connect the middle of your chest with your arms and shoulders. You have a pec on each side, and each pec has two primary regions.

• The upper head, which attaches to your collar bone.
• The lower head, which attaches to the middle of your chest.

To be clear, both heads are part of one muscle. But you can target the upper region or lower region of the pec more directly with different exercises (and we’ll talk about those in a second!).

Your pecs primarily bring your arms over and across your body. So any exercise that works your body in that movement pattern will likely engage the pecs to a high degree.

The Best Exercises to Build Your Chest: How to Build Muscle

Another important aspect of training your chest is actually understanding how muscle is built. I’ve mentioned this a number of times in previous “best exercises” articles, so I’ll be brief here.

1. You need to be training close to failure — within 1-3 reps on each working set is ideal.
2. For your diet, a slight calorie surplus is typically ideal, along with enough protein to match your body composition and goals.
3. Recovery matters as well. Sleeping 7-9 hours a night is critical, as well as planning for rest days, deload weeks, and limiting stress as much as you can.

Consistently doing the best exercises to build your chest is important.

But you need to be doing the right things outside of the gym as well to maximize your progress.

Exercise No. 1: Barbell Bench Press

I can already hear the push back on this one from some people, so let me stop you before you get started…

The bench press is quite simply the best pressing exercise to progressively overload your chest. You should be able to consistently add reps and weight to it over time.

And that means it’s arguably the best chest-building exercise on planet earth.

Progressive overload is incredibly important if you want to maximize your progress and build your chest. The heavier you lift, the more muscle you’ll activate.

Bench pressing provides an unbelievable opportunity to stimulate muscle growth.

Research has found that pec size is tightly associated with one-rep max strength on the bench press. And EMG research shows the bench press is quite good at activating the pecs.

Proper form is key to get the most out of this exercise and build muscle.

Form and Technique:

• Get started by warming up with the bar, and incrementally work your way up to the weight you’ll be lifting in your workout.
• Set up on the bench with a slight arch in your back. Use a grip width that’s comfortable for you, and make sure your feet are in a stable position.
• Unrack the weight, and lower the bar down to your chest under control.
• Touch the bar to your chest (don’t bounce it!), and then press the bar back up as explosively as you can.

Lift in the 4-6 rep range and try to keep things heavy. You should be challenging yourself with this exercise.

More experienced lifters can benefit from doing a heavy top set (~80% or more of your one-rep max), followed by slightly lighter backoff sets.

Exercise No. 2: Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

The incline dumbbell bench press is also one of the best exercises to build your chest, as it provides a bit of variety and will help you target a slightly different region of your chest.

• The bench press activates your entire pec, with a slight emphasis on the lower region.
• Incline pressing also activates your entire pec, but with a slight emphasis on the upper region.

In fact, research has shown that the incline dumbbell bench press is quite possibly the best exercise there is for upper chest growth, so adding it to your routine is a no-brainer.

You will probably need to play around with the height of your incline to see what’s most effective and most comfortable for you.

Most studies have found around a 45-degree angle on the bench is best for activating the upper chest, but as a coach I’ve noticed people can press most comfortable on a slightly lower incline.

Form and Technique:

• Set the incline and get into position on the bench, once again with a slight arch in your back.
• Get your feet and lower body in a stable position.
• Lower the dumbbells down to your upper chest with a slight tuck in your elbows.
• Explode the dumbbells back up to the ceiling.

Exercise No. 3: Cable Chest Fly

This third exercise to build your chest will provide you with the greatest range of motion, and perhaps the best mind-muscle connection.

Cable chest flyes will bring your arm through the entire movement pattern that your pecs are responsible for.

1. Bringing your arms across your body towards the middle of your torso.
2. Flexing your shoulder (if you do the exercise from low-to-high).

This exercise also provides constant tension on the pecs throughout the entirety of each rep, which can be beneficial for muscle growth. I like the cable version better than a dumbbell fly for that reason, as well as it tends to be a bit safer.

And there’s something to be said for “feeling” a muscle working when you’re doing an exercise. It can sometimes be hard to feel your chest squeezing and stretching, but that’s rarely an issue with cable flyes.

As you bring the handles toward the midline of your body, you can typically get a pretty intense contraction on your pecs.

Research has shown that when you feel the muscle working — otherwise known as having a strong mind-muscle connection — you can enhance muscle growth.

Form and Technique:

• Set up your cables at the appropriate height (more on this in a second).
• Use a neutral grip on the handles, and with a slight bend in your elbow bring your hands towards the middle of your chest out in front of your body.
• Squeeze your pecs as hard as you can as you bring your hands together.
• Then resist the cables as you allow your arms to return to the starting position.
• Feel a stretch across your chest before performing another rep.

In terms of cable positioning, you have a few options:

1. You can set the cables up at shoulder height to target the entire chest equally.
2. Set the cables up below your waist, and swoop your arms up and in to target more of the upper chest.
3. Place the cables above your shoulders and perform the fly from high to low to target more of the lower pec region.

You’ll need to use light weight with this exercise, so focus on progressively adding more sets and reps over time. Lift in the 12-20 rep range.

Bonus Exercise: Push Ups

Don’t underestimate the potential benefits of doing push ups.

No, you won’t be able to load up 100, 200, or 300 pounds on this exercise.

But you CAN get in a ton of quality work from anywhere, at any time, with no equipment required. That makes this one of the best exercises in the world to build your chest.

Properly timed push ups can make a big difference. Tacking them on to the end of your workout, and doing as many reps as possible for a couple of sets, is a really nice way to finish training your chest.

And you can do it safely. You can go to failure without having to worry about a ton of weight crashing back down on your body.

Virtually all other chest exercises are extremely dangerous if taken to failure (you’re in an incredibly vulnerable position when pressing weight on a bench).

And push ups are perfect for you, regardless of your experience level.

• If you can’t do a standard, traditional push up, you can do one from your knees, or leaning into a wall.
• If a standard push up is too easy for you, you can elevate your feet, or add weight plates to your back.

Don’t sleep on push ups.

The Best Exercises to Build Your Chest: Avoid Common Mistakes

Mistake No. 1: Ego Lifting

If you’ve read other articles in my “Best Exercises” series, then this will look familiar. Ego lifting is one of the most common mistakes, for virtually every single muscle group.

You want to lift heavy, and oftentimes that desire to lift heavy leads you down the path of terrible form and technique.

For any chest exercise you do, you should press the weight all the way up or out, so that your arms fully extend. And then allow the weight to come all the way back to the starting position, so that you can feel a stretch on your pecs.

If you’re not doing that, then you’re not doing what’s best to build your chest. You will actually leave gains on the table because of your ego.

And that’s stupid.

Mistake No. 2: Limited Range of Motion

Ego lifting often leads to a limited range of motion. Since you’re lifting so damn heavy — too heavy — you’re afraid to let the weight come down too low, or extend the weight up too high.

So you do quarter reps and miss out on a ton of potential development for your chest.

Lighten the weight, and train your pecs through a full range of motion. That’s how to build your chest most effectively.

Mistake No. 3: Ignoring Your Lower Body

On any chest exercise, your lower body is going to be involved. And as weird as this may sound, a strong lower body is going to help you build a bigger chest.

You need to have your feet and legs firmly planted into the floor. This provides a stable base so that you can press the weight with power and efficiency.

Most people don’t do this. Take a look next time you’re in the gym.

People move their feet move all over the place while pressing, and it limits how much weight they can use, and how much they’re able to build their chests.

The Best Exercises to Build Your Chest: How Often Should You Train?

Now that you know pretty much everything you could ever want, or need, to know about training your chest…

How much should you actually do these exercises?

I’m going to map out a sample workout for you in a second, but there are some general principles that are important for us to cover first.

Most people can see a maximum amount of progress from doing somewhere between 10-20 hard sets per muscle group, each week.

To build your chest, that means doing 10-20 sets that work your pecs.

“Hard sets” means that you’re legitimately pushing yourself and lifting at a high intensity. Muscle is built when you’re pushing each set close to failure and truly forcing your body to grow.

Since 10-20 sets is a pretty wide range, here are a few recommendations on where to start if you’re unsure of how much work to do in the gym:

1. If you’re a beginner, start near the lower end of that range (~10 sets).
2. If you are an intermediate, start in the middle of that range (~15 sets).
3. If you’re experienced, you can push things close to the top end of that range (~20 sets).

You can split up those sets however you’d like across the week. Let’s dive into one possible way right now!

Example Workout Plan to Build Your Chest

Alrighty, now that we’ve covered EVERYTHING, we can dive into an example workout plan to build your chest.

And I’ll stress that this is just an example. It’s really difficult to create a template that works for everyone.

In fact, it’s not just difficult.

It’s impossible.

But since most of my clients strength train four days a week, here’s an example 4-day workout plan with an emphasis on building the chest.

Sample Workout Plan
Day 1: Upper Body, Chest Focus. This day will be full of upper body exercises, but we’re prioritizing your chest since it’s the first workout of the week and you’ve got tons of energy! • Barbell Bench Press: 1 heavy set of 4-6, followed by 2 additional sets of 4-6 at 10% lighter weight. • Incline dumbbell bench press: 3 sets of 8-12. • Pick an exercise for the shoulders, back, and biceps and insert all three here. • End the workout with 2 sets of cable flyes, 12-20 reps per set.
Day 2: Lower Body Day. No chest training on this day. We’ll train lower body and allow your upper body to recover.
Day 3: Upper Body. This upper body day will be more evenly applied to all of the upper body muscle groups. • Start the workout with incline dumbbell bench press. Lift as heavy as you can in the 8-12 rep range for each set. • Add in at least one exercise for the shoulders, back, biceps, and triceps. • Once again, finish the workout with 2 sets of cable flyes, 12-20 reps per set.
Day 4: Lower Body Day. We’re hitting lower body again, so there won’t be any chest training on this day. Let your upper body recover.

I Hope This Helped!

Thanks for stopping by and reading this article! I had a blast researching it and putting it together, and I hope it helped you get a better idea of how to maximize your training to build a bigger chest.

If you’re interested in 1-on-1 fitness and nutrition coaching to build muscle, burn fat, and maximize your progress in the gym, check out my coaching page and fill out an application! I’d love to help you in your lifting journey.

Thanks for reading!

~ Chris