If your goal is to build serious muscle and an impressive upper body, you’ll want to start with your chest. A big chest looks great and increases pushing strength, upper body performance, and body posture. Even if you’ve never benched before and are going to a gym for the first time, selecting the right exercises is important if you want real, visible results.
This guide will break down the best mass-building chest workouts for you to gain size and strength quickly. These exercises are effective and have been used by gymnasts and bodybuilders for a long time. While we will still use and write exercises in a manageable format, we will keep the information as simple as possible so everyone can follow along. Prepare to go to failure, burn, and have a more potent chest! Let’s get to it!
The bench press is the ultimate exercise for building chest mass and the undisputed champion. People who are serious about gaining size and strength in their upper body have the bench press in their repertoire. The bench press is a compound exercise that works all of your chest, shoulders, and triceps very effectively.
With that much muscular work being done, the bench press is arguably the most efficient upper-body exercise a lifter can perform. The bench press is one of the few exercises that allows people to push heavy weights, which is crucial for muscle gain.
When performing this movement, just make sure to think about what you are doing. Plant your feet, lower the barbell, and control it while you lower it, and punch the weights back up with purpose.
There are many variations of the bench press that keep the movement interesting and change emphasis on other areas of the pectoral. The flat bench press is great for overall development and growth of the pectoral muscles if you are performing barbell or dumbbell bench presses with heavy weights.
The incline bench press is a great exercise that incorporates a little more of the upper chest as well as shoulders for overall development. If you want to give your pectorals a workout, use dumbbells for bench pressing. When you use dumbbells, you can work your pectorals through a greater range of motion and develop stabilizer muscles as well.
In the end, it does not matter so much which variation of bench press you choose; consistency and progressive overload are what really matter. You will not succeed if you simply go through the motions; lift with intent and push for progress.
Not only is the chest dip a killer exercise to build mass on your lower chest, but they are also one of the most effective chest exercises that is often overlooked. What sets the dip apart from a bench press or a machine is that dips provide a much tougher challenge to your body since you are using your own body weight as resistance.
In terms of elevation and elevation there is no machine that can provide a more significant challenge than dipping. When performed properly, when leaning slightly forward, dips isolate your chest while also activating your triceps and shoulders. Dipping is a very powerful and natural exercise, and if executed with enough volume, can help fill out your chest.
If you are new to dips or struggling with them, do not fret. You can begin using an assisted dip machine or resistance bands to work up to bodyweight dips. As your body grows stronger, you can add weight to the dip, whether it’s the dip belts or pad weights, or using a dumbbell between your legs, weighted dips. Dips also provide incredible shoulder stability and explosiveness in your pushing effort.
Although dips are not flashy, if your goal is size and strength, first, they absolutely need to be part of your chest training program.
Unlike the bench press where it’s about the heavy lifting, chest flyes are about emphasizing the stretch and squeeze. This isolation movement is great for directly working your chest muscles, especially post-compound lifts.
Flyes are fantastic for opening up your chest through a greater range of motion, which will create muscle tension and ultimately, hypertrophy, when you’re isolating. Whether you shrug it off with dumbbells or cables, chest flyes will allow you to reach deeper muscular fibers that pressing movements can sometimes miss.
One of the best aspects of chest flyes is the mind-muscle connection they provoke, you’re focusing on actually contracting your pecs, not just moving weight. Slow and controlled movements are preferred, rather than just moving heavy weights. Light to moderate weight tends to be best, especially if you’re looking for volume/definition.
Chest flyes are versatile too, performed flat, incline or decline, which can help to focus on different areas of your chest. They may not be a primary lift for most, but an important finisher at the end of chest day.
Don’t confuse the simple push-up with an exercise for beginners. It’s one of the most useful and effective chest developers out there. Many people think of a push-up as a basic exercise for beginners, but if you scale and modify them properly, they can give you some serious results, and in my case, especially when used at the end of a chest workout to achieve high-rep burnouts.
When performing high-volume push-ups with short rest periods, you force the chest to work under fatigue, which creates both muscular growth and endurance at the same time.
Another thing I love about the push-up is that you don’t need any equipment to do them and can do them just about anywhere. Not only can the traditional push-up be modified, such as wide-grip, incline, decline, or explosive clap push-ups, but there are countless ways to challenge each muscle.
You can do push-ups for high reps and to failure, slow down the tempo, and even increase weight with a weighted vest as you get stronger, to make them more intense. They are a great way to end your workout, getting a nice chest pump while keeping your chest activated long after leaving the gym. Practice them consistently and notice how your chest responds.
Building a bigger, stronger chest isn’t necessarily complicated; it simply takes the right exercises, consistency, and a little push beyond your comfort zone. By executing well-proven movements (i.e., bench press, dips, flyes, and high-rep push-ups), you are priming your body to grow. Every time you hit the gym is an opportunity to push your limits and bring shape and power to your upper body. Focus and train smart, and make every rep count.
If you are interested in taking your fitness progress to the next level, Ignite Fitness can help! Ignite Fitness’s world-class programs aim to enhance strength, endurance, and mobility, all guided by experts.
Our team can assist you in building mass or overall performance goals, so visit our website today to see how Ignite Fitness can help you achieve your full potential.
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