4 of The Best Moves for Building a Big Chest + Workout
Like any muscle group, building a big full chest requires the pecs to be worked from a variety of angles to get the maximum growth stimulation, and simply selecting the right chest exercises can make a world of difference to the development of your chest. The following combination of exercises works your chest from a variety of angles that tax all pec muscles by allowing to target the upper, middle, lower, inner and outer pecs.
1. Bench press
Why do it:
The bench press is the classic and quintessential chest-building move and the best exercise for developing upper-body power and strength. It adds overall mass to your pecs because it recruits a large number of muscle fibers to perform, which triggers the body’s natural growth hormone response. More growth hormone results in more muscle growth.
How to do it:
Lie on the bench with your feet on the floor directly underneath your knees. Your head, upper back, and glutes should be flat against the bench. Brace your core and maintain a natural arch in your back. Hold the bar with an overhand grip, hands wider than shoulder-width apart. Slowly lower the bar to your chest, bending your elbows out to the sides, until the bar is almost touching the middle of your chest. Pause briefly before driving your feet hard into the floor and pushing the bar back strongly to the start position.
When to use it:
Perform bench early in your workout, as your first or second exercise. Follow this exercise with moves like incline dumbbell or flyes or flat-bench flyes. Complete 3-4 sets in which you reach failure at 6-10 reps.
4. Incline dumbbell press
Why do it:
A lagging upper is the one the problem that many gym goers face, but by simply tilting the bench you can place the focus on the upper part of your chest to stimulate maximum growth. Incline Dumbbell press fills up your upper pec by placing greater emphasis on the top your pecs and the front of your shoulders than the classic bench press. So if your upper chest is lagging or you simply want to fill up your upper chest, focus on incline presses or flyes first in your chest workouts. Set the bench at a 30-degree angle to ensure that the resistance is placed mainly on your upper pecs and use dumbbells to allow for a greater range of motion.
How to do it:
Lie on a bench set at a 30-45˚ angle, holding a dumb-bell in each hand at shoulder-height. Keep your feet flat on the floor and back on the bench. Press the weight directly above your head, but don’t lock out your elbows at the top. Slowly lower the weight back down to your chest, flaring your elbows out to the side.
When to use it:
Do incline dumbbell press as your first or second exercise in your chest workout. Do 3-4 sets in which you reach failure between 8 to 12 reps and follow this exercise with moves like bench press or flat-bench flyes.
2. Dumbbell Flye
Why do it:
This move isolates your chest muscles by taking your triceps out of the equation, placing most of the impact on your chest muscles. Dumbbell flyes are one the best exercises for stressing and building the most difficult to-build areas in your chest, the inner, outer, and lower pecs. A simple rotation of the hands during the execution of this move allows you to target each of these specific areas.
How to do it:
Lie on a flat bench holding a dumbbell in each hand directly above your chest, palms facing each other. Make sure your head and shoulders are supported on the bench and that your feet are flat on the floor. Keeping a slight bend in your elbows, slowly lower the weights out to the side as far as is comfortable. Don’t arch your back. Use your pecs to reverse the movement to raise the weights back to the top.
When to use it:
Perform dumbbell flyes as your third exercise or one your finishing moves. Follow this exercise with moves like cable crossovers. Complete 4 sets 12-15 reps.
3. Cable crossover
Why do it:
It’s hard to truly isolate your powerful chest muscles – the arms and shoulders nearly always get in on the act because of how your upper body muscles move together. But with cables, there is constant tension throughout the movement, which forces your chest to work hard to control the weight. This maximizes muscle pump and hypertrophy. Cable crossovers are also very effective for targeting your inner pecs since you maintain tension on your muscles when your hands touch. To get the most out of this exercise, make sure to squeeze your pecs, whether you cross the handles or not; this helps create that distinct line in the middle of your chest.
How to do it:
Stand in the middle of a cable machine with a split stance holding a D-handle attachment in each hand, with the cable set above shoulder height. Keeping a natural arch in your back, your core braced and your upper body still, bring your hands down in an arc to meet in front of your torso. Pause briefly and squeeze your chest muscles before returning slowly, and under full control of the weight, back to the start.
When to use it:
Do cable crossover as your finishing move. Complete 4-5 sets in which you reach failure at 12-15 reps.
The Workout
