Check out the best exercises for a bigger chest. Perfect if you want to pack on muscle and transform your physique.
Each exercise has been chosen and explained by Gravity Transformation.
Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest
“These 7 awesome exercises will help you get a bigger, stronger, and more muscular chest fast. If you’re wondering how to get solid pecs & how to better target the upper and lower chest this video is for you. By consistently practicing these exercises you’ll develop a better chest size, shape, and definition.”
“As long as your chest is bigger than your gut then you’re still in good shape…obviously I’m joking, but you may have heard that from one of your friends or on a muscle-building forum online.”
“And even though there’s a lot more to being in good shape than just having nice pecs, the chest is one of the most noticeable muscle groups regardless of what you’re wearing. It’s one of the first things that people will subconsciously pay attention to when you walk through the door.”
“If you have a big prominent chest then you’ll give off a vibe, that makes you look stronger, healthier, and more confident. And having strong pecs goes a lot further than just enhancing your appearance.”
Why is A Bigger Chest Helpful?
“All throwing, swinging, and pushing movements are directly dependent on your chest and shoulder strength. So, training your chest will help you be more efficient at many things including simply getting up off the floor, pushing a stalled car, or even playing sports like baseball.
“And to give you the best results, I be going over some common (as well as not so common) chest exercises that you may have never seen before, so you’ll definitely want to stick around for those.”
Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest – Incline Bench Press
“By far the number one exercise for a bigger stronger chest is the bench press. You can perform the bench press on a flat incline or decline surface. But for this demonstration, I want to start with the incline bench press.”
“The incline will focus more on your upper chest. To set this up you’ll want to lay directly under the barbell and grab an overhand grip that’s a few inches wider than shoulder-width. I like to set my hands about thumbs distance from where the gnarling starts.”
Before unracking the bar, you’ll also want to retract your shoulder blades by pulling them back together and you’ll want to arch your back, but you don’t want to arch so much that your hips rise up off the bench as this can lead to a lower back or a neck injury.”
“After getting into position, you’ll want to unrack the bar and hold it directly over your chest, then lower the bar down to your sternum while maintaining about a 45 to 75-degree angle between your elbows and your body.”
“After bringing the barbell down to your chest drive through your legs, and press back up to the starting position. Then repeat for reps. Now a lot of people wonder how low you should go on the bench press, more specifically if you should touch your chest on every rep or if you should stop before the bar touches your chest. And the answer is that it depends.”
“If you have no problems going all the way down to your chest then you can do that, but if you’re one of the many people that feel discomfort in their shoulders when they bench press then you’re much better off stopping about 1 to 3 inches above your chest before returning the bar to the starting position.”
“Also keep in mind that this exercise can be done on a decline and flat angle as well. With the decline you would be aiming to bring the barbell a little lower right under your chest trying to touch your upper abs with the bar, and for the decline you’ll be targeting more of your lower pecs.”
“With flat bench press you would target both the upper and lower chest more evenly. All 3 can be effective depending on what you’re trying to do, and if you want to build a bigger chest upping your weight and lifting heavy on the bench press is a must.
Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest – Landmine Chest Press
“Let’s move on to a not so common chest exercise that primarily targets the upper chest. The landmine chest press. Now this exercise can be amazing, but the way you set it up is what will determine if it is effective or not.”
“Most people will load the barbell up on the ground, and the problem with that is in order to lift the weight off the ground you’ll have to rely mostly on your biceps which will require you to use a much lighter weight than you actually could push with your chest, shoulders, and triceps.”
“So, to avoid this you’ll want to start with the barbell elevated off the ground by propping one end up on top of a platform or a sturdy bench. Then you would kneel down, and grab the bar with your hands clasped around it in a prayer position.
Check out the video for the rest of the training information and the remaining exercises.
Video – Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest
Time Stamps – Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest
1:13 bench press, incline, decline for upper and lower chest. Median for both.
3:12 landmine chest press, prayer position, lean slightly forward, stick chest out, retract shoulder blades, squeezing hands for more gains
3:55 dumbbell fly, flat, incline or decline, retract shoulder blades. While lowering maintain an arc and slight bent in elbows, go maximum even with chest. Can Do on the floor.
5:23 dumbbell press, lie back with shoulder blades retracted, arc back and drive through your legs.
6:39 hex press, bring over chest, touch dumbbells in neutral position, squeeze them tight. Stop just before locking.
7:30 cable flyes, lower or upper, take a step forward, slight bend in elbows,
Hug a big tree style, can do on floor with one side at a time, reach more than mid line
8:39 chest dips, lean forward, do not go any lower than elbows
Learn More – Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest
How to Increase Chest Size and Strength
Best Way to Train the Chest for Hypertrophy (Muscle Mass)
3 Hacks for a Bigger Chest
Upper Chest Exercises Ranked (Best to Worst)
9 Best Dumbbell Chest Exercises
Muscles of the Chest and Upper Body
The muscles of the upper body are used to move your arms and shoulders. They can also be used to support the trunk or spine. The upper body contains some of the largest muscles in your body, including those that line your chest, back and arms. These muscles help support or move other parts of the body when they contract.
Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest – Latissimus Dorsi
The latissimus dorsi, or lats for short, is a thick flat muscle that spans from your lower back to the sides of your torso. Its main function is adduction—pulling something toward you—but it also extends (straightens) and laterally rotates (turns) the arm as well. You can feel it bulging out when you do pull-ups or push-ups.
Originating at the lower border of each spinous process on your lumbar vertebrae, it covers all four sides of your body down to just below where your pectorals meet at chest level; its insertion point is in the inferior angle of each scapula (shoulder blade).
Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest – Pectoralis Major
There are two pectoralis major muscles: the sternocostal head and the clavicular head. The sternocostal originates along the upper portion of your ribs, while the clavicular originates along your collarbone and then attaches to your chest bone (sternum). Both parts of this muscle converge as they insert onto your upper arm bone (humerus) near your shoulder joint.
The pectoralis major’s primary action is that it acts to flex or bring up your shoulder joint by pulling down on its insertion point at the humerus. It also helps stabilize and adducts (moves towards midline) during upper body exercises such as bench presses, flyes, pull-ups, dips and push-ups.
It is associated with several other muscles including: serratus anterior (which assists), coracobrachialis (which assists), deltoid (which stabilizes), trapezius muscle group(which stabilizes), biceps brachii(supports elbow flexion) triceps brachii(supports elbow extension).
These muscles work together through different planes of motion in order for you to perform many daily activities. These include lifting objects from low positions overhead or pushing them away from you horizontally.
Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest – Deltoid
The deltoid is a triangular shaped muscle that has its origin at the clavicle and the acromion process of the scapula, while its insertion is on the lateral surface of humerus. It acts as an abductor and flexor of shoulder joint.
The anterior part of deltoid (also called front head) originates from medial surface of clavicle and anterior surface of acromion process. Its action is to abduct shoulder joint when arm is raised up front side or behind you.
Posterior part (rear head) attaches to posterior surface of spine of scapula near base, assist in raising arm behind your back or across your body which involves abduction movement at shoulder joint.
Lateral part has two heads: upper one attached to superior border and lower one attaches itself to inferior border just below the spine. This connects with the posterior head via long tendon. During movement both parts act together as abductors for raising the arms forward or backwards and keeping them parallel with the floor plane respectively.
Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest – Rhomboids
The rhomboids are two muscles that lie at the upper part of your back, in between your shoulder blades. They’re responsible for pulling down your scapulae (shoulder blades) to help you keep them against your rib cage.
The rhomboid major originates from the spinous processes of C7 through T5 and inserts into the upper medial border of scapula.
It is innervated by spinal nerves C4-6. The rhomboid minor has its origins on spinous processes of T1-4, and inserts into the lower medial border of scapula. It is innervated by spinal nerves C5-8.
In addition to contracting, these muscles also stabilize the shoulder blade against other during movements such as flexion or lateral flexions.
Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest – Biceps Brachii
- Location: The biceps brachii is a muscle of the upper arm, located on the front and side of the shoulder.
- Function: When you flex your elbow, it helps to lift your arm and turn it inward. It also supports heavy objects against gravity.
- Origin and insertion: A tendon from each part of the muscle connects them together at their origins near the scapula (shoulder blade). Biceps brachii has two heads—a long head, which starts at the supraglenoid tubercle on top of your scapula; and a short head that starts at lower fibres along your coracoid process (bony ridge above pectoralis major).
The short head continues down as an elastic band that inserts into forearm bones just above where they meet wrist bones in what’s known as radiocarpal joint—the point where radial artery enters wrist area.
This tendon connects to long head via fibrous tissue called intertubercular ligament that runs between each tendon attachment site on humerus (upper arm bone) creating “muscle-tendon unit” structure linking both heads together.
Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest – Triceps Brachii
The triceps brachii is the muscle on the back of your upper arm. It’s a large muscle in your upper arm that extends your elbow joint. The triceps is made up of three heads: long head, lateral head and medial head.
Conclusion – Best Exercises for a Bigger Chest
The upper body is one of the most important parts of your body. It’s where you can display your strength and power, but also show off your personality with tattoos or other decorative touches. So, make sure you take care of those muscles by stretching them out a few times per week and lifting weights regularly!
Add the exercises from this article into your training and maximise your chest growth and muscle gains.
