5 of the best chest exercises

You likely focus on your arms and legs during exercise, but did you know that working on your chest muscles is equally important? Focusing on your chest when you exercise helps to sculpt the muscles and add definition.

The best chest exercises can make you stronger and leaner, especially when combined with a high-protein diet. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s discover some of the best chest workouts that you can do at home or in the gym.

Skip to: What are chest muscles? | Why should you exercise your chest? | Bodyweight chest exercises | Chest workouts with dumbells | Recovering after a chest workout | The bottom line

Before you start training your chest muscles, it’s important to know what the muscles in the chest area are and where they are. There are five different chest muscles, which are:^1,2

Exercising your chest is not just about looking good. As it turns out, there are several reasons why exercising your chest is a good idea, from keeping your muscles healthy to improving your flexibility. These include:

You do not always need heavy weights and tonnes of equipment to get a good workout.

Bodyweight exercises (using the weight of your own body in strength training) can be just as effective as weight training when done correctly, and you can easily do these exercises at home.⁸

Try out some of these upper chest workouts that you can do from the comfort of your home.

Modification: If pushups feel too difficult, try starting with your knees on the floor. This helps to spread your body weight out more and take less pressure off your arms and shoulders.¹⁰

Modification: If you feel any strain or discomfort when completing a tricep dip, try bending your knees into a tabletop position instead to take some of the pressure off your arms. You can lower yourself down less as well.¹²

Modification: If you find the star position too difficult, try a regular plank instead, as this will still work your chest muscles too. If you’re a complete beginner, try leaving your knees on the floor, as this will help support you.

The gym is one of the best places to get an effective chest workout using weights and machines. But did you know you can get also get a great chest workout at home with dumbbells?

Check out these effective dumbbell chest exercises:

Exercise may be an essential part of keeping your whole body healthy and in shape. However, it’s possible to overdo it.

If you’ve noticed the following things after you work out, you may want to tone down your repetitions, increase your warm-up and stretching times, or even have a break for a couple of days.¹⁷

1. Severe muscle aches after your workout
2. Feeling intensely tired after you exercise
3. Having to take longer rest breaks between moves
4. Taking much longer to fall asleep at night
5. Getting frequent minor injuries

Before beginning any form of exercise routine, make sure it’s suitable for your needs, fitness level and age. If in doubt, consult a professional or your GP for advice on which upper body exercises are suitable for you.

After any workout, you want to make sure you take the proper steps to recover. This is so important to stop your muscles from feeling achy and sore the next day.

Here are 4 things to do after your workout:

• Stretch – make sure you do a proper cool down with some stretches once you finish your workout.¹⁸
• Drink lots of water – hydrating after a workout is important, too, as it helps your muscles get more oxygen and helps to regulate your body temperature.¹⁹
• Get some sleep – getting some rest after a workout helps your body to repair your muscle tissue and reduce the risk of injury.²⁰
• Up your protein – eating protein, or drinking a protein shake, after a workout helps your body repair any damage to your muscles.²¹