7 Must-Do Pec Exercises
Gain chest mass and strength with these evidence-based exercises and workouts. The post Your Next Chest Routine for Mass: 7 Must-Do Pec Exercises appeared first on Legion Athletics.
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Many gymgoers think that the only exercise you need for a massive chest workout is the bench press.
While it’s true that the bench press is one of the very best chest exercises for gaining size and strength, it’s not enough on its own to develop truly impressive pecs.
A true chest routine for mass must include exercises that allow you to train your pecs with heavy weights, through long ranges of motion, and at varying angles. What’s more, these exercises must allow you to lift progressively heavier weights over time, since this is essential for muscle growth.
From my experience training thousands of people, the exercises that work best as the basis of a chest day workout routine are:
- Barbell bench press
- Incline barbell bench press
- Dumbbell bench press
- Incline dumbbell bench press
- Close-grip bench press
- Dip
- High-to-low cable fly
In this article, you’ll learn why these exercises should be the foundation of every good mass-building chest workout program, discover how to perform them correctly, understand how to organize them into an effective chest workout, and more.
- Chest Anatomy
- The 7 Best Chest Exercises for Mass
- What Are the Benefits of Chest Training?
- The Best Chest Workout for Mass
- 3 Tips for the Perfect Chest Workout
Table of Contents
+Chest Anatomy
To understand what makes a good chest exercise and create effective full chest workouts, you must first understand what the chest muscles are and how they function.
The primary chest muscle is the pectoralis major, or “pec major.” Here’s what it looks like:
As you can see, the pectoralis major has two sections or “heads:” the sternocostal head (“mid” and “lower chest”) and clavicular head (“upper chest”). To develop full, proportional pecs, your chest workout routines for mass must include exercises that emphasize both sections.
The other noteworthy part of the pecs is the pectoralis minor. The “pec minor” lies underneath the pectoralis major and pulls the shoulder blade forward and toward the middle of your chest.
The same exercises that train the pec major also involve the pec minor, so it isn’t necessary to include exercises in your chest workout program that specifically target the pec minor (and even if you did, it’d be hard to see whether or not your pec minor was growing).
The 7 Best Chest Exercises for Mass
To build full, proportional mass in your pecs, you have to perform exercises that make it straightforward to progressively overload your chest. In other words, you have to do exercises that allow you to handle heavy weights safely and lift progressively heavier weights over time.
These exercises should also work your pecs through a full range of motion, which studies show is crucial for muscle growth. Additionally, they should target your chest from different angles to ensure balanced development.
The following seven exercises meet all these criteria, and that’s why they’re perfect for a chest workout designed to add size to your upper, mid, and lower pecs.
In this section, you’ll learn how to perform each exercise and how to incorporate them into effective chest workouts for mass, including expert tips and guidance on sets, reps, and rest periods.
1. Barbell Bench Press
Why: The barbell bench press is one of the single best chest exercises for mass because it hits the upper, mid, and lower portions of the chest and allows you to train with heavy weights and progress regularly. That’s why all good chest day workout routines begin with the bench press.
How to:
- Lie on a flat bench and place your feet flat on the floor.
- Pull your shoulder blades together and down, and without lifting your butt or shoulders off the bench, slightly arch your back.
- Grab the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip and unrack the barbell.
- Lower the barbell to your chest, keeping your elbows tucked 6-to-8 inches from your sides.
- Press the bar back to the starting position.
Expert Tip: As you set up for the bench press, imagine screwing your feet into the floor by turning your toes out to the side. This creates tension in your legs, which increases the stability and rigidity of your entire body and ensures you don’t waste energy trying to maintain balance.
Sets, Reps, and Rest : 3 sets of 4-to-6 reps with 2-to-4 min rest
[Read More: How to Increase Your Bench Press: 12 Science-Backed Techniques]
2. Incline Barbell Bench Press
Why: The incline barbell bench press is part of most great chest workouts for mass because nothing trains your “upper chest” more effectively. In other words, it’s the best chest exercise for “filling out” your entire pecs.
How to:
- Lie on a bench angled at 30-to-45 degrees and plant your feet on the floor.
- Pull your shoulder blades together and down, and without lifting your butt or shoulders off the bench, slightly arch your back.
- Grab the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip and unrack the barbell.
- Lower the barbell to your upper chest, keeping your elbows tucked 6-to-8 inches from your sides.
- Press the bar back to the starting position.
Expert Tip: Think about snapping the barbell in half with your hands. The goal here is to maintain upper body rigidity, which helps you lift heavier weights safely.
Sets, Reps, and Rest : 3 sets of 4-to-6 reps with 2-to-4 min rest
[Read More: Should You Incline Bench Press to Grow Your Upper Chest?]
3. Dumbbell Bench Press
Why: Most good chest workout routines for mass include the dumbbell bench press because it trains the upper, mid, and lower portions of the pecs and each side of your body independently. This makes it ideal for developing balanced, symmetrical size. It also trains your pecs through a slightly longer range of motion that barbell presses, which further benefits mass gain.
How to:
- While sitting on a flat bench, hold a dumbbell in each hand and rest them on your thighs.
- Lie back and bring the dumbbells up so you’re holding them on either side of your chest by giving them a nudge with your thighs.
- Press the dumbbells over your chest until your arms are straight and your elbows are locked.
- Lower the dumbbells to the starting position.
Expert Tip: Exercises that train each side of your body independently—”unilateral exercises”—are typically better for boosting athletic performance than bilateral exercises (exercises that train both sides simultaneously). Therefore, if you’re looking for an effective chest exercise for athletes, the dumbbell bench press is a sensible choice.
Sets, Reps, and Rest : 3 sets of 4-to-6 reps with 2-to-4 min rest
4. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Why: The incline dumbbell bench press is one of the best chest exercises for building your upper pecs and creating a fuller, more balanced chest
How to:
- While lying on a bench angled at 30-to-45 degrees, hold a dumbbell in each hand and rest them on your thighs.
- Lie back, hoisting the dumbbells up so you’re holding them on either side of your chest by giving them a nudge with your thighs.
- Press the dumbbells over your upper chest until your arms are straight and your elbows are locked.
- Lower the dumbbells to the starting position.
Expert Tip: Set the bench to a 45-degree angle or lower to ensure your pecs do the majority of the work, not your shoulders.
Sets, Reps, and Rest : 3 sets of 4-to-6 reps with 2-to-4 min rest
5. Close-Grip Bench Press
Why: While many think of the close-grip bench press as a triceps exercise, it’s also highly effective for training your pecs (and your upper pecs in particular). Taking a narrow grip and tucking your elbows tends to be gentler on your shoulders, too, which most people welcome after several heavy sets of pressing.
How to:
- Lie on a flat bench and place your feet flat on the floor.
- Pull your shoulder blades together and down, and without lifting your butt or shoulders off the bench, slightly arch your back.
- Grip the barbell with a shoulder-width grip or slightly narrower and unrack the barbell.
- Lower the barbell to your lower chest, keeping your elbows tucked 2-to-4 inches from your sides.
- Press the bar back to the starting position.
Expert Tip: The close-grip bench press is a great addition to a chest routine for strength because it strengthens your triceps—the muscles that often limit how much you can bench. By building stronger triceps, you can lift more weight on the regular bench press, which allows for greater progressive overload on your pecs and leads to more chest growth.
Sets, Reps, and Rest : 3 sets of 4-to-6 reps with 2-to-4 min rest
6. Dip
Why: The dip trains your pecs through a full range of motion and while deeply stretched, which benefits growth. It also likely trains the lower pecs slightly better than other chest exercises, so it’s useful for rounding out pec development.
How to:
- If you’re using a dip belt, wrap the chain around your waist, add the desired amount of weight to the chain, and fasten the carabiner.
- Grab both handles of a dip station, then press yourself up by straightening your arms and gently jumping off the ground so your arms are straight and supporting your entire body weight.
- Slightly bend your knees to keep your feet from touching the ground, then lower your body by bending your elbows until your upper arms are roughly parallel to the floor.
- Reverse the movement and return to the starting position.
Expert Tip: To emphasize the pecs, lean slightly forward while performing the dip.
Sets, Reps, and Rest : 3 sets of 6-to-8 reps with 2-to-3 min rest
[Read More: The Ultimate Guide to Chest Dips for Building Your Chest]
7. High-to-Low Cable Fly
Why: The high-to-low cable fly is a useful exercise for finishing a chest program for mass because it allows you to train the pecs with the volume (sets) they need to grow without other muscle groups becoming the limiting factor. Like the dip, it also may emphasize the lower pecs, which is important for balanced growth.
How to:
- Adjust both pulleys on a dual cable machine to shoulder height and attach the single-handle attachments.
- Grab a handle in each hand and stand centrally between the pulleys so that the cables pull your arms out to your sides.
- Maintaining a slight bend in your elbows, take 1-to-2 steps forward so your arms are a little behind your torso with your palms facing forward.
- Keeping your elbows slightly bent, bring your hands toward each other in an arc.
- Reverse the movement and return to the starting position.
Expert Tip: Increase the range of motion by allowing your hands to cross over each other in front of your chest. If necessary, turn your wrists so your palms face down as your hands cross to prevent the handles from hitting each other.
Sets, Reps, and Rest : 3 sets of 10-to-15 reps with 2-to-3 min rest
What Are the Benefits of Chest Training?
Better Aesthetics
The pecs are one of the largest muscle groups in the upper body, so they have a significant impact on how your torso looks. Well-developed pecs create a balanced, proportional look to your upper body by tying together your shoulders, arms, and abs.
Increased Upper Body Strength
Having strong pecs greatly improves your performance on all pressing exercises, especially the flat and incline bench press.
Enhanced Athletic Performance
A strong chest contributes to better performance in sports that involve pushing, throwing, or striking, such as football, basketball, and martial arts.
Improved Posture
Tight pec muscles can cause your shoulders to round and your upper back to hunch. Doing chest exercises that train your pecs through a full range of motion and while deeply stretched helps loosen these muscles, which can reduce tightness and help you maintain a more upright, confident posture.
The Best Chest Workout for Mass
We’ve covered the best chest exercises for mass; now, let’s organize these exercises into an effective chest workout program.
The following program combines all the best chest exercises with the perfect amount of volume and intensity to build massive pecs without wearing you to a frazzle.
Unlike most chest workouts programs you find online, this one also trains your pecs from different angles to ensure you stimulate your upper, mid, and lower chest and gain proportional mass and strength.
For best results, do the workout once weekly in place of your regular chest or push workout.
You could do this routine every chest day workout for the rest of your training career and see fantastic results.
However, sticking with the same exercises for too long can increase your risk of repetitive strain injuries and make your workouts feel stale, which can sap your motivation.
That’s why I recommend taking a deload after 8-to-10 weeks of training, and then swapping some of the exercises in the above chest day workout for some of the alternatives we discussed earlier. For instance:
- Replace the barbell bench press with the dumbbell bench press
- Switch the incline dumbbell bench press for the incline barbell bench press
- Swap the dip for the close-grip bench press
With these changes, you have a highly effective full chest workout that feels fresh. And after another 8-to-10 weeks of training you can either go back to the original chest workout program, or rejig the exercises above to create another new routine.
3 Tips for the Perfect Chest Workout
1. End every set 1-to-3 reps shy of muscle failure.
As I explain in my fitness books for men and women, to maximize your results, you must take most of the sets in your chest workout program to within a rep or two of failure.
Ask yourself at the end of each set, “If I had to, how many more reps could I have gotten with good form?” If the answer is more than two, increase the weight or reps to make your next set more challenging.
2. Once you hit the top of your rep range for a set, move up in weight.
If your chest day workout calls for 4-to-6 reps of the bench press and you get 6 reps for a set, add 10 pounds to your next set.
If you manage 3 or fewer reps with the new weight, reduce the weight by 5 pounds to ensure you stay in the 4-to-6 rep range.
Follow this pattern of trying to add reps or weight to every exercise in every workout.
3. Take the right supplements.
These supplements will help you optimize your performance and gains while following our chest program for mass:
- Protein powder: Protein powder, such as whey or casein, provides your body with the nutrients needed to build muscle tissue and recover from workouts.
- Creatine: Creatine boosts muscle and strength gain, improves anaerobic endurance, and reduces muscle damage and soreness from your workouts.
- Pre-workout: A high-quality pre-workout enhances energy, mood, and focus, increases strength and endurance, and reduces fatigue.
(If you’d like even more specific advice about which supplements you should take to reach your health and fitness goals, take the Legion Supplement Finder Quiz, and in less than a minute, you’ll know exactly what supplements are right for you.)
The post Your Next Chest Routine for Mass: 7 Must-Do Pec Exercises appeared first on Legion Athletics.
