I have always considered myself something of a fitness purist. I try to have as well balanced of a physique and strength as I can. That means I train legs, back, arms, abs, everything; all without neglecting my cardio. But, I also realize that I’m in the minority. Most people that train are looking for form over function. And honestly? That’s okay. It’s 2021, and unless something hits the fan bad, you shouldn’t have to be fit enough to chase down a gazelle. So what does that leave? Aesthetics. Something we’ve pursued for thousands of years. Ancient philosophers spent entire lifetimes musing on the field of aesthetics. And what did they determine? Well, simple. Having a huge muscular chest is awesome. So, let’s get into what that takes and some of the best chest exercises out there.
Best Chest Exercises: Let’s simplify things.
Alright, the word “best” is kind of a loaded word. Especially in the year of our lord 2021 where everybody has an angle. But for this, let’s break it down into simple, easy to digest information. We’ll have two categories, and honestly you should neglect neither of them. If we take a sort of “powerbuilding” approach to this then we realize that not only do we have to do the exercises that give us the most burn, hypertrophy, etc. We also have to simply gain strength, as strength is a measurement of how much force we can exert with our muscles. More muscles? More strength.
So, to make this as simple as possible let’s break these down into two separate categories. Exercises with hypertrophy as focus, and exercises focused on increasing the load on your muscles and make you stronger.
What are the best chest exercises for strength?
Number 1 – The Barbell Flat Bench Press
Alright, worthy of an article by itself we’ll start with the bread and butter chest exercise. That’s right, the one that draws all the eyes in the gym and earns you instant cred if you get up decent numbers. The bench press. For the goals of increased muscle size, strength, and general fitness regarding the upper body, you really can’t outwork the bench. And in recent years it’s earned a sort of off-putting reputation among meathead circles that I frequent. But I’ll go out on a limb here and say that the reputation it has as the “easy” exercise for noobs is unfounded and simple elitism.
It boils down to this, few things are going to tear up your muscles and increase your strength in the upper body like the bench press. And that’s because the bench press can hold more weight for you to move than other exercises. Sure, you could probably somehow load your body up to do 275 plus pound pushups, but that’s impractical and a waste of time compared to the titan among children that is the bench press.
And before you talk about “functional” fitness, know that there’s no real empirical evidence that even hints at the bench reducing your athletic output. Even more explosive movements like the push-press can be compared to the bench in it’s athletic capacity. And, let’s be real, you’re rarely going to need to explode 200 pounds vertically above your head OR horizontally in front of your chest. We’ve all seen that older guy that says he doesn’t bench because it would affect your punching mechanics, and he’s free to feel that way and train how he wants. He’s just objectively wrong.
Number 2 – Push Press
Now, hold off on the pitchforks and torches and hear me out if you didn’t expect to see push-presses on a list of the best chest exercises. There’s a lot of people out there who neglect their shoulders to an extreme extent while pursuing a big bench. And honestly? That’s just not going to work out. Like the deadlift, the push press has been the victim of unfair targeted misinformation, and has been often blamed for ruining shoulders and shortening lifting careers.
But, they were wrong. And we’ve seen a sort of return to form lately, thanks to the surging popularity of fitness content and influencers. The overhead press has slowly made it’s way back into the toolboxes of many lifters.
Though you may still be wondering what exactly that has to do with increasing your bench. Well, worry not my young friends. For the push press has almost a direct 1:1 benefit of increasing your lockout strength on the bench. And that’s due to the extra weight at the very top end of the push. The mechanics of this lift are a little involved, but the initial explosion is to help get that heavy weight that you may not be able to otherwise press up off of your chest.
At the end of the rep, the lockout, that last few inches function very similarly to a barbell board press, allowing you to increase your strength in both the strict overhead and bench presses.
Number 3 – OHP
Redundant? Maybe. This is a very similar exercise to the push press, but that doesn’t disqualify it’s usefulness as an accessory to building up that big bench press and pec strength. This is an exercise that’s a more brutal and grinding version of the one above. With the push press you can’t cheat, like at all. You can’t excessively arch, you can’t bend your knees, and you can’t really explode into the rep. It’s sort of a brutal grinder every step of the way.
I will say that there is a sort of diminishing return effect with my own personal OHP to bench carry over. After a certain point, your shoulder muscles aren’t going to be able to carry your press as hard- so I’d say bringing your one rep max on this exercise up to around 200lbs, or your own bodyweight for 1-5 reps, is a really good launching pad for increasing bench press strength. So once you get there, I’d focus more on maintaining your OHP rather than growing it, since bench strength does take a bit of specificity. But going over the intricacies of programming is something we’ll save for another time.
Number 4 – Flat Dumbbell Bench
Now, at this point in the article you can probably tell that I really favor barbell movements for building strength. The fact is, you simply can’t easily get the weight you need on dumbbells like you can on barbells. As someone that owns a home gym, I can tell you that dumbbell cost and variety is probably the biggest thing I’m hurting for. However, that doesn’t mean you should discount dumbbells as tools for strength building.
In my opinion, the major benefit that this pressing type has is it’s ability to show your weaknesses and imbalances. There’s a slightly longer range of motion, and one arm certainly can’t compensate for another when you’re holding two separate weights. I use this as a finisher in most of my pressing workouts, just to get that deep burn and try to keep my presses balanced and even.
The best part about the exercises above? Grab a bench, some dumbbells, an Olympic bar and some plates: Viola! You now have your very own garage gym!
What are the best chest exercises for definition and mass?
Alright, now let’s take a sideways step here. The exercises I listed above I chose mostly for direct bench press carry over. I’m a huge believer in strength carrying over almost 1:1 for size when it comes to the natural lifter in the gym. But, that doesn’t mean we should discount hypertrophy “pump chasing” entirely at all. Many of the exercises I’ll list here are parts of my own exercise regimen, either as finishers, accessories, or just some fun pump chasing like I mentioned above.
Number 1 – Machine Press
Alright, when it comes to the best chest exercises, this really is one of my favorites. Specifically, the seated chest press. And I’m not going to go into the specifics of incline vs straight ahead vs decline here. Basically, this is one of my go-to’s for a lighter chest day. If I’m doing heavy bench on Tuesday, then on Thursday I’ll get some light bench sets out of the way and then look to get some machine work in, and this is generally my first choice.
The main reason I like the seated press machines comes down to isolation. In fact, the ability to isolate and shorten or lengthen the range of motion of the workouts in this section are going to massively effect how effective they are or aren’t. Seated pressing machines are a blessing in that they can take almost all of the stress off of your shoulders through this motion. Use this one frequently, and if you have impinged shoulders, load this bad boy up and get your heavy sets in right here. This movement is very adaptable, safe, and great for filling your pecs up with blood and getting those micro-tears in the muscle for growth.
Number 2 – Cable Chest flies
I used to do dumbbell flies all the time! Turns out, that wasn’t honestly the best variant of this exercise. Chest flies are good, but with dumbbells you’re only getting contraction on the muscle in the bottom few inches of the motion. That’s why we’re going to be highlighting cable flies here instead.
With standing cable flies especially, you’re going to have tension throughout the entire movement- from the fully extended position behind you, to the fully contracted motion in front of you, and even through the negative rep. And I’ve found that a slight downward turn of your palms towards the end of the rep gets greater contraction and a better pump, so try it next time you’re using this machine.
Number 3 – Incline Pressing
The only reason it took me this long to mention incline pressing is my love-hate relationship with it. I have a small tear in my rotator cuff from my wrestling days back in high school. But, this is objectively one of the best exercises for building up your upper chest.
You’ll find lifters from almost any variation, be it bodybuilding or powerlifting or strongman, who throw in some sort of incline chest movements. We’re not going to go into technique in this article, but make sure you have yours down pat for this exercise- even with dumbbells it puts your shoulder in a pretty precarious position. But if you want a thick, meaty upper chest that looks good in a v-neck, make sure you’re getting this lift in. I prefer the dumbbell variation, but plenty of people swear by the barbell as well for the incline press.
Number 4 – Smith Machine Press
Now, this next one may make certain people mad. Free-weight benching allows you to use more weight, true. Free-weight benching is easily superior in the realm of powerlifting, true. But, we’re in the realm of bodybuilding down here, and discounting the smith machine for contraction, forcing out more reps, and going to failure would be foolish. When it comes to the best chest exercises, you just have to put the potential elitism and judgement of others out of your mind.
The thing about the smith machine is that it’s on a track and uses cables to stay on a straight path. This removes your stabilizing muscles from the lift almost entirely, putting all the pressure on your chest with a small amount of shoulder recruitment. So don’t let the judgmental gaze of the three hundred pound powerlifter in a hoodie on the other side of the gym dissuade you. Use the free-weight presses to go heavy and build up your strength. And then, include smith machines as either an accessory or a finisher to stimulate more growth and reach complete failure.
Conclusion
Honestly, there is some truth to the sentiment that people are really built differently. But when it comes to which are the best chest exercises, it’s pretty minor. Focus on bringing up your strength, and gains will come. And when your strength gains stall, re-evaluate! There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and tuning in things like your diet and what you do outside of the gym can have just as much of an impact on your body composition as the weights you lift (or don’t). Be bold, take side-steps, rest weeks, deload weeks, and listen closely to your body – experimentation is the key, and don’t forget that this pursuit is a marathon, not a sprint.
