Have you ever seen a bodybuilding video of a fitness guru without feeling jealous of his trained chest? Most of the men wish to see their chest like those of training gurus, but, neither they have the resources to join the gym and consume costly supplements nor they have the time to train in the gym. If you are one of those guys that want to have a bigger chest but don't have the time and the resources to join the gym, this article is solely for you guys. You don't have to worry about joining the gym anymore as we are bringing you the best no-equipment chest workout that you can do it at home and even at your workplace. If you can afford the equipment at home or office, we'll also list some of the exercises related to equipment chest workout at home.
Picture 1: Chest muscles are important but hard to train (Picture credit: Unsplash.com)
The Importance of Chest Muscles
Chest muscles are important and stronger muscles in the upper part of your body. They play a crucial role in movements involving pushing or pulling. When you are pushing or opening a door, or swinging a cricket bat or a rocket, your chest muscles are playing a key role in it.
Structure of Chest Muscles
Our chest area consists of two main muscles i.e. the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor. These core muscles are also called pecs. As the name depicts, the pectoralis major is the larger group of muscles among these two, located mainly across the upper chest. The pectoralis minor is the small and triangular-shaped muscles present just below the pectoralis major.
These muscles make up a large portion of the chest wall. Training these muscles consumes a significant amount of energy and improve your metabolism significantly.
Chest Exercises at Home
Without Equipment
The first portion of chest exercises at home includes No-Equipment exercises. We will try to include here the easiest as well as hardest no-equipment exercises, to fully train your chest muscles. These exercises will not only train your chest muscles but also increase their strength. Most of these exercises involve pushups exercises. Let's have a look at some of these exercises.
1- Regular Push-Ups
One of the best chest exercises to start with is regular push-ups, you are already familiar with. This exercise is not only good for the chest but the whole of your upper body. There are two ways to do these push-ups; the wide arm push-ups and narrow-arms push-ups. If your goal is to train your chest muscles, keep the arms grip wider. When you use the narrow arm grip, this will mainly train your arms and not the chest. So keep the arms grip wider.
Picture 2: Regular Push-Ups (Picture credit: Unsplash.com)
2- Incline Push-Ups
The next exercise in our list of best no equipment chest workout exercises is incline push-ups. If you are finding the regular push-ups a little harder, move to incline push-ups. For this chest exercise, all you need is steeper surface support. Steeper the incline, less challenging will be this exercise as you need less bodyweight to workout. This exercise not only trains your pectoralis major, but also the pectoralis minor.
3- Diamond Push-Ups
Taking the regular push-ups and incline push-ups as a piece of cake? Try diamond push-ups. This exercise is for those who want to level up their chest workout. You can perform diamond push-ups by placing your both hands closer until your thumbs and index fingers touch each other creating a diamond-like shape. This exercise changes the involvement of the chest muscles as your inner chest is trained the most in this exercise. This type of push-ups also trains your arms muscles particularly the triceps.
4- Decline Push-Ups
The decline-push-ups is a more challenging way of basic push-ups. This is the opposite of the incline push-ups. In this exercise, your feet are on the higher side while your hands are on the lower side. This can be achieved by placing your legs on the bench, chair, or a box. The difficulty of the exercise increases with an increase in the elevation of your legs. But, this difficulty eventually provides better results as you get better-trained chest muscles.
Picture 3: Decline Push-Ups (Picture credit: Unsplash.com)
5- Time Under Tension Push-Ups
If you are finding an exercise easy, there is a trick to increase its difficulty significantly. Slow down its movement and give focus more on its correct form. This will not only improve the form of exercise but also increases the difficulty of that exercise. To perform time under tension push-ups, lower yourself in a very slow manner, and then push back equally slow. With an increase in the difficulty of the exercise, you'll gain more muscle mass and decrease fat portion in your chest.
6- Push-Up Hold
Want to build up your chest power along with the mental strength? Try the push-up hold exercise. This push-up is held type of exercise to increase your mental and physical strength. All you need to do in this exercise is holding up the push-up position when you are lowered down for as much as you can. As we know, doing push is a harder job for most of us, but this exercise is more challenging than normal push-ups. So hang on tough and believe in yourself that you can do it for a significant time.
An Overview of the Best No Equipment Chest Workout at Home
After learning these six chest workouts without weights exercises, it's time to know how much of these exercises are necessary for a better, bigger chest.
- Do 10-15 regular push-ups- take 1-minute rest in between two exercises
- Do 10-15 incline push-ups- take 1-minute rest in between two exercises
- Do 10 Diamond push-ups- take 1-minute rest in between two exercises
- Do 10-15 Decline push-ups- take 1-minute rest in between two exercises
- Do 10 time under tension push-ups take 1-minute rest in between two exercises
- Do push-up hold for 3 times
Chest Exercises at Home with Equipment
So far, we have listed the exercises that need the only bodyweight, but this part covers chest exercises with weight using basic equipment. These are chest exercises with dumbbell only. We recommend doing chest workout with weights after you have acclimatized the chest exercise with no equipment or weights for continuous growth. Let’s have a look at some of the best chest exercises for men and women with dumbbells only.
1- Regular Chest Press
Performing this exercise is straight forward; lie on a flat surface e.g. a bench while holding the dumbbells in your hands. Extend your arms over the shoulder while keeping arms at shoulder-width apart. Now, this is your starting position, inhale, bring your arms down slowly until elbows become parallel to the floor making a 90-degree angle. Now, push the dumbbells back towards the upside while exhaling to move towards the starting position.
Picture: Regular chest press (Picture credit: 8fit.com)
2- Chest Fly
This exercise is also easy to learn. Lie on a flat surface while holding dumbbells in both hands and palms facing are each other. Stretch your arms above the chest while keeping the shoulder distance between them. Remember to keep your elbows very flexible. After this, bring down your arms in a very wide arc until there is a clear stretch in your chest and move the dumbbells back up. For better results perform the movement to the extent of the shoulder joint and not at elbows or arms.
3- Incline Chest Press
This exercise is very similar to regular chest press with the only difference being the inclined surface where you will perform this exercise. Lie on the inclined surface holding the dumbbell in each hand. Extend your arms over the shoulder while keeping arms at shoulder-width apart and move your wrists in such a way that the palms are facing each other. Maintain good control over the dumbbells and lower them at a slow pace while inhaling. Push dumbbells upward using your chest muscles while exhaling.
4- Decline Chest Press
The next dumbbell exercise on our list is a decline chest press. This exercise is pretty much opposite to the incline chest press. Station your legs at the end of the declined bench and then lie down securing a dumbbell in each of your hands. After lying down, pull the dumbbells above the shoulders keeping shoulders width apart and palms are facing each other. Now bring down the weights slowly until your elbows become parallel with the floor. In the last move, bring the dumbbells back up and contract your chest while exhaling.
An Overview of the Best Dumbbells Chest Workout at Home
After learning these four chest workouts with weights exercises, it's time to know how much of these exercises are necessary for a better, bigger chest.
- 10-15 chest press
- 10-15 incline chest press
- 10-15 decline chest press
- 10-15 chest fly
Conclusion
Exercise plays an important part in keeping you healthy and active. Every part and muscle of your body needs due attention including the chest. Our chest consists of two muscle groups e.g. the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor. Training all these muscle groups to need a healthy workout. Most people join the gym for this purpose, but, some don't have enough time and resources to join the gym. Therefore, doing exercises at home is the best alternative for them. One can opt for either no equipment exercises or with equipment exercises. You can check both types of exercises as described in the article to make your chest muscles strong and well trained.
Best No Equipment Chest Workout
Have you ever seen a bodybuilding video of a fitness guru without feeling jealous of his trained chest? Most of the men wish to see their chest like those of training gurus, but, neither they have the resources to join the gym and consume costly supplements nor they have the time to train in the gym. If you are one of those guys that want to have a bigger chest but don't have the time and the resources to join the gym, this article is solely for you guys. You don't have to worry about joining the gym anymore as we are bringing you the best no-equipment chest workout that you can do it at home and even at your workplace. If you can afford the equipment at home or office, we'll also list some of the exercises related to equipment chest workout at home.
Picture 1: Chest muscles are important but hard to train (Picture credit: Unsplash.com)
The Importance of Chest Muscles
Chest muscles are important and stronger muscles in the upper part of your body. They play a crucial role in movements involving pushing or pulling. When you are pushing or opening a door, or swinging a cricket bat or a rocket, your chest muscles are playing a key role in it.
Structure of Chest Muscles
Our chest area consists of two main muscles i.e. the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor. These core muscles are also called pecs. As the name depicts, the pectoralis major is the larger group of muscles among these two, located mainly across the upper chest. The pectoralis minor is the small and triangular-shaped muscles present just below the pectoralis major.
These muscles make up a large portion of the chest wall. Training these muscles consumes a significant amount of energy and improve your metabolism significantly.
Chest Exercises at Home
Without Equipment
The first portion of chest exercises at home includes No-Equipment exercises. We will try to include here the easiest as well as hardest no-equipment exercises, to fully train your chest muscles. These exercises will not only train your chest muscles but also increase their strength. Most of these exercises involve pushups exercises. Let's have a look at some of these exercises.
1- Regular Push-Ups
One of the best chest exercises to start with is regular push-ups, you are already familiar with. This exercise is not only good for the chest but the whole of your upper body. There are two ways to do these push-ups; the wide arm push-ups and narrow-arms push-ups. If your goal is to train your chest muscles, keep the arms grip wider. When you use the narrow arm grip, this will mainly train your arms and not the chest. So keep the arms grip wider.
Picture 2: Regular Push-Ups (Picture credit: Unsplash.com)
2- Incline Push-Ups
The next exercise in our list of best no equipment chest workout exercises is incline push-ups. If you are finding the regular push-ups a little harder, move to incline push-ups. For this chest exercise, all you need is steeper surface support. Steeper the incline, less challenging will be this exercise as you need less bodyweight to workout. This exercise not only trains your pectoralis major, but also the pectoralis minor.
3- Diamond Push-Ups
Taking the regular push-ups and incline push-ups as a piece of cake? Try diamond push-ups. This exercise is for those who want to level up their chest workout. You can perform diamond push-ups by placing your both hands closer until your thumbs and index fingers touch each other creating a diamond-like shape. This exercise changes the involvement of the chest muscles as your inner chest is trained the most in this exercise. This type of push-ups also trains your arms muscles particularly the triceps.
4- Decline Push-Ups
The decline-push-ups is a more challenging way of basic push-ups. This is the opposite of the incline push-ups. In this exercise, your feet are on the higher side while your hands are on the lower side. This can be achieved by placing your legs on the bench, chair, or a box. The difficulty of the exercise increases with an increase in the elevation of your legs. But, this difficulty eventually provides better results as you get better-trained chest muscles.
Picture 3: Decline Push-Ups (Picture credit: Unsplash.com)
5- Time Under Tension Push-Ups
If you are finding an exercise easy, there is a trick to increase its difficulty significantly. Slow down its movement and give focus more on its correct form. This will not only improve the form of exercise but also increases the difficulty of that exercise. To perform time under tension push-ups, lower yourself in a very slow manner, and then push back equally slow. With an increase in the difficulty of the exercise, you'll gain more muscle mass and decrease fat portion in your chest.
6- Push-Up Hold
Want to build up your chest power along with the mental strength? Try the push-up hold exercise. This push-up is held type of exercise to increase your mental and physical strength. All you need to do in this exercise is holding up the push-up position when you are lowered down for as much as you can. As we know, doing push is a harder job for most of us, but this exercise is more challenging than normal push-ups. So hang on tough and believe in yourself that you can do it for a significant time.
An Overview of the Best No Equipment Chest Workout at Home
After learning these six chest workouts without weights exercises, it's time to know how much of these exercises are necessary for a better, bigger chest.
Chest Exercises at Home with Equipment
So far, we have listed the exercises that need the only bodyweight, but this part covers chest exercises with weight using basic equipment. These are chest exercises with dumbbell only. We recommend doing chest workout with weights after you have acclimatized the chest exercise with no equipment or weights for continuous growth. Let’s have a look at some of the best chest exercises for men and women with dumbbells only.
1- Regular Chest Press
Performing this exercise is straight forward; lie on a flat surface e.g. a bench while holding the dumbbells in your hands. Extend your arms over the shoulder while keeping arms at shoulder-width apart. Now, this is your starting position, inhale, bring your arms down slowly until elbows become parallel to the floor making a 90-degree angle. Now, push the dumbbells back towards the upside while exhaling to move towards the starting position.
Picture: Regular chest press (Picture credit: 8fit.com)
2- Chest Fly
This exercise is also easy to learn. Lie on a flat surface while holding dumbbells in both hands and palms facing are each other. Stretch your arms above the chest while keeping the shoulder distance between them. Remember to keep your elbows very flexible. After this, bring down your arms in a very wide arc until there is a clear stretch in your chest and move the dumbbells back up. For better results perform the movement to the extent of the shoulder joint and not at elbows or arms.
3- Incline Chest Press
This exercise is very similar to regular chest press with the only difference being the inclined surface where you will perform this exercise. Lie on the inclined surface holding the dumbbell in each hand. Extend your arms over the shoulder while keeping arms at shoulder-width apart and move your wrists in such a way that the palms are facing each other. Maintain good control over the dumbbells and lower them at a slow pace while inhaling. Push dumbbells upward using your chest muscles while exhaling.
4- Decline Chest Press
The next dumbbell exercise on our list is a decline chest press. This exercise is pretty much opposite to the incline chest press. Station your legs at the end of the declined bench and then lie down securing a dumbbell in each of your hands. After lying down, pull the dumbbells above the shoulders keeping shoulders width apart and palms are facing each other. Now bring down the weights slowly until your elbows become parallel with the floor. In the last move, bring the dumbbells back up and contract your chest while exhaling.
An Overview of the Best Dumbbells Chest Workout at Home
After learning these four chest workouts with weights exercises, it's time to know how much of these exercises are necessary for a better, bigger chest.
Conclusion
Exercise plays an important part in keeping you healthy and active. Every part and muscle of your body needs due attention including the chest. Our chest consists of two muscle groups e.g. the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor. Training all these muscle groups to need a healthy workout. Most people join the gym for this purpose, but, some don't have enough time and resources to join the gym. Therefore, doing exercises at home is the best alternative for them. One can opt for either no equipment exercises or with equipment exercises. You can check both types of exercises as described in the article to make your chest muscles strong and well trained.
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