Chest is considered as one of the main muscle groups when it comes to build a muscular physique. After biceps, chest is the most popular ones among the gym-goers because just like arms, chest is another muscle group that can be visible on the garments like T-shirts, vest, shirts etc. And moreover, it makes a person attractive to their opposite sex. So, it is no secret why novice gym-goers focus more on biceps and chest than other muscles. Anyway, chest is made up of pectoral muscles which are divided into 2 parts; Pectoral Major & Pectoral Minor. More than 80% of muscles is the major while minor is just a string of muscles attached to it. So, if you really want to focus on your pec muscles to make them stronger, bigger, defined and muscular then here are the best exercises for chest that you shouldn’t miss.
Barbell Bench Press
When it comes to build a pair of big and muscular chest then there is no exercise better than Barbell Bench Press. Many professional bodybuilder and coaches consider this as the best exercise for chest. And the reason is very prominent. You can lift heavy weight in Bench Press which leads to greater resistance on your pectoral muscles and ultimately that greater tension on your muscles will lead to better growth of muscle and strength. Moreover, as it is a compound resistance exercise, your shoulders and forearms will also get stronger.
Form and stability are very important in this exercise. Lifting the barbell in an unstable way in Bench Press may lead to injuries on shoulders and chest. That’s why, if you are a beginner, I strongly suggest you to use the smith machine to perform Flat Bench Press until you become capable of performing standard Flat Bench Press with proper form, stability and balance. After becoming habituated with the exercise, you can also perform incline and decline Barbell Bench Press for upper and lower chest muscles respectively.
Machine Chest Press
Machine Chest Press has become very popular in the recent years among the fitness freaks. It is not only one of the best exercises for chest for your pectoral muscles but also a safer exercise compared to other chest exercises. Most importantly, it is very beginner-friendly exercise because all you have to do is to sit and push the weight without any fear of unnecessary injuries. So for beginners who want to start their chest exercises safely with light weight, Machine Chest Press is perfect for that.
Furthermore, you might be wrong if you think it is not as good for advanced athletes. Because Machine Chest Press is a outstanding isolation chest exercise for targeting specifically the chest muscles without unnecessary tension on other muscles so it is still very effective for advanced and elite athletes as well as bodybuilders. However, if you are already habituated with heavy weight Barbell Bench Press then you might not need to add this exercise in your routine because it works more or less same as Bench Press and Bench Press is better at making your muscles stronger as well as muscular. Moreover, you need more other type of chest exercises in your routine which works differently than just pushing the weight.
Machine Chest Fly
Machine Chest Fly aka Pec Deck is another excellent exercise and personally, it’s my favourite one after the traditional Barbell Bench Press. I strongly think that Pec Deck is a great isolation movement for your chest muscles that target specifically your chest perfectly and help to make the muscles grow. You have to seat upright and perform this exercise slowly. Furthermore, when you move the handles to your chest to squeeze it, just squeeze and hold for a couple of seconds to put the maximum tension on your pec muscles.
This is how you get the most out of this amazing chest exercise. Another thing to keep in mind that mind-muscle connection works great with this exercise. So, focusing on how your chest muscles are squeezed during the exercise might provide you better results. Thus, there is no hesitation why Machine Chest Fly or Pec Deck aka Butterfly is one of the best exercises for chest. If you are a beginner, it is also very much effective for you because just like Machine Chest Press, you can start with very light weight from a safer position.
Cable Crossover
If you want to focus more on squeezing the chest muscles and want to take it to the next level then you should start Cable Crossovers. It’s sort of the evolved version of Machine Chest Fly. Why is it evolved? Because this advanced exercise for chest helps you to squeeze more on the chest and it leads to put more tension on the pec muscles so obviously the muscle growth would be better with this exercise. The freedom of movement with Cable Crossover is the biggest advantage over Machine Chest Fly and that freedom of movement provides you longer range of motion and more control on you so that you can choose which portion of the chest you want to focus.
If you are at intermediate level and already are habituated with Machine Chest Fly then you should start performing Cable Crossover. As a starter, first get used to with the simple and easiest one which is for targeting the middle portion of the chest. Just attach the handle in more or less the middle position of the machine which usually should be your shoulder height and start performing the exercise. After a couple of weeks, when you are finally habituated with the exercise and the form, you can go for the higher and lower cable crossovers for lower and upper pecs respectively. So, there is no doubt why Cable Crossover is one of the best exercises for chest to make them defined and muscular.
Dumbbell Bench Press
We have already discussed about Barbell Bench Press which is indeed the king of chest exercises but what makes Dumbbell Bench Press different than the traditional one? Well, some argue that Dumbbell Bench Press is better because it provides you more freedom of movement and more control than the former. With a pair of dumbbells, you can perform bench press with a longer range of motion and moreover, you can push the dumbbells as high as possible and furthermore, you can squeeze your chest while pushing the dumbbells high and close to each other.
This makes dumbbell bench press one of the best exercises for chest because not only you can push a lot of weight with a longer range of motion and with more freedom in your hands but also you can squeeze your chest muscles while doing it which is an extra bonus. Thus, it is surely a pretty effective exercise with the benefit of both Bench Press and Chest Fly (some sort of) that forces your pec muscles to grow big and muscular really fast. Just like Barbell Bench Press, you need to master the form and stability first so that you can avoid any injuries and get the results as soon as possible. After getting habituated with standard Dumbbell Bench Press, you can go for Incline and Decline Dumbbell Bench Press too for specifically targeting your upper and lower chest respectively.
Conclusion
Therefore, these are the 5 best exercises for chest which you can do to grow the pectoral muscles of your chest to make your chest more defined, muscular and bigger. There are tons of chest exercises available in the fitness world but the 5 we discussed are the best among them from my own experience and studies. So, if you want to focus on your chest then these 5 exercises are more than enough. Keep in mind, high protein diet and avoiding junk high fat & carb foods are the 2 most necessary thing to build muscles so along with the workout, you need to keep these things in check otherwise only exercises won’t provide you good enough results. Anyway, hope you guys have found this article about best exercises for chest helpful enough. If it really so then don’t hesitate to express your valuable thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks for visiting and appreciating our work.