If you are new to strength training and your New Year’s decision is to construct a robust higher body full with capped shoulders, a broad again, and three-dimensional biceps and triceps for sculpted arms—congratulations on working to higher your self. Might we add you would be remiss to neglect chest exercises—extra particularly you need to deal with chest exercises for rookies. When you are simply beginning out, you want the fundamentals to construct your basis.
“If there’s one thing that’ll earn you respect in the gym, it’s a powerful, chiseled upper body—and that starts with your chest,” says Simon King, P.T., proprietor of Cre8 Fitness fitness center in London.
Not solely will a stronger chest aid you fill out a T-shirt that significantly better, however your on a regular basis actions like rotating your shoulders, pushing actions like opening a door, and selecting issues up (all issues your chest helps with) will develop into that a lot simpler.
The following chest exercise for rookies will hit your pecs from each angle to enhance strength and muscle dimension. Don’t sweat it if you happen to’re fully new to lifting.
“Every Herculean physique achieved had to start from nothing,” provides King.
Directions: Sets and Reps
- When you are simply beginning out, use mild to reasonable weight and intention for 3 sets of 8 reps with 90 seconds relaxation in between to familiarize your self with the exercises and stimulate each strength and muscle acquire.
- For muscle hypertrophy: When you degree up, full 3 to 4 sets of seven to 12 reps with 1 to 2 minutes relaxation in between.
- For muscle strength: As you advance, use heavier weight and full 3 to 5 sets of 1 to 6 reps with 2 to 5 minutes relaxation in between.
When you start itching for extra selection, find out how to construct your chest with out the fitness center or attempt these six methods to make your chest workouts more durable.
Related: 50 Best Chest Exercises of 2025 to Build Your Pecs and Pushing Power
Best Chest Exercises for Beginners
1. Pushup
James Michelfelder
Why It’s Effective
“You’d never build a house on a soft, shaky foundation,” King says. “This is the reason mastering the pushup is paramount, and the place to start for all beginners.” Don’t rush your progress. It’s a easy transfer, however many battle to execute it accurately.
How to Do It
- Start in a tall plank place with fingers immediately beneath shoulders, arms straight, ft flexed, to start.
- To recruit as many muscle fibers as attainable, preserve your hips in step with your shoulders.
- With management, bend your elbows and decrease your body as shut to the ground as attainable.
- That’s 1 rep.
- Complete 3 AMRAP (as many reps as attainable) sets.
Pro Tip
If it feels too simple, take a barely narrower grip or elevate your ft, King suggests. If it feels too laborious, start in your knees, or elevate your fingers, positioning them on a chair or bench whereas your ft are on the ground.
2. Barbell Bench Press
James Michelfelder
Why It’s Effective
“Once you’ve mastered pushups, you know you’re ready for this juggernaut of an upper-body exercise,” King says. The bench press prompts your lats, glutes, core, chest, and triceps, so it is a terrific practical transfer that’ll form and add dimension to your complete higher body.
How to Do It
- Set up the barbell with mild or no weight, to start.
- Position the highest quarter of a flat bench so it sits immediately under the bar.
- Lie on the bench together with your ft on both facet, planted on the ground.
- Take a grip simply wider than shoulder-width aside, holding your fingers immediately above your elbows.
- Breathe in and decrease the bar down to your chest and then exhale as you press the bar up.
- That’s 1 rep.
Pro Tip
“If it’s too easy, slow down the lowering phase to three seconds for each rep,” King recommends. If it is too laborious, decrease the weight. Have a accomplice spot you at first and as you add weight.
3. Medicine Ball Chest Throw
Justin Steele
Why It’s Effective
“Heavy medicine balls are functional, versatile, and a huge bang for your buck in terms of improving explosive power and speed,” King says. “This exercise will not only fry your chest but also hit your abdominals to strengthen and condition your entire upper body.”
How to Do It
- Take a kneeling place dealing with a wall or a accomplice, to start. Note: This places a higher emphasis on the higher body. To recruit the legs extra, assume an athletic stance (proven).
- Hold the medication ball with each fingers at chest top.
- Garnering as a lot energy as attainable, throw the ball straight on the wall or your accomplice, following by way of together with your fingers as if you happen to had been mimicking the urgent portion of an explosive pushup.
- That’s 1 rep.
Pro Tip
If it is too simple, lie in your again and throw the ball within the air, catching it, and repeating rapidly and explosively.
4. Dumbbell Bench Press
(*10*)
James Michelfelder and Therese Sommerseth
Why It’s Effective
“Hitting your pecs is key if you want to bulk up your chest,” King says, “and the flat dumbbell bench press really hones in on that stimulation while targeting your triceps and deltoids.” Dumbbells have a singular benefit over a barbell in that they “develop independent motor control, help iron out dominant-side muscle imbalances, and offer more versatility so you can vary the grip to target slightly different muscles,” he provides. Plus, it is safer to push to failure throughout a bench press if you happen to’re utilizing dumbbells as a result of you possibly can drop them, if obligatory.
How to Do It
- Lie down on a flat bench with a dumbbell in every hand, to start.
- Place your fingers shoulder-width aside holding the dumbbells on both facet of your chest till your arms create a 90-degree angle.
- With your palms dealing with ahead, press the weights up as you squeeze your chest muscle mass to create rigidity.
- Once your arms are straight, decrease down and repeat.
- That’s 1 rep.
Pro Tip
“If it’s too easy, pause at the bottom of each rep for two seconds to increase time under tension,” King suggests. If it is too laborious, use a lighter load or change to a impartial grip (palms dealing with each other) so your lats can assist the motion, he provides.
Related: 30 Best Dumbbell Exercises of 2025 to Build Muscle Without a Full Gym
5. Decline Dumbbell Flye
Jay Sullivan
Why It’s Effective
“Building big muscles that maintain mobility isn’t an easy thing to do, but dumbbell flyes build sculpted, 3D-looking pecs that can perform as well as they look,” King says. It’s all due to the “stretch and contract” relationship. “One of the most proven ways to grow new muscle fibers is to stretch the desired area under load, then contract the muscle, which stimulates growth through fatigue,” he explains. In this case, when you launch the stretched place, there is a surge of blood, which helps ship protein.
How to Do It
- Set a bench to a decline angle, to start.
- Holding a dumbbell in every hand, lie down on the bench.
- With your palms dealing with one another, press the weights up so your arms are straight.
- Slowly decrease the weights down with a slight bend in your elbows, following a large arc, till you are feeling a stretch in your chest.
- Keep rigidity in your pecs as you deliver your arms again to the start place.
- That’s 1 rep.
Pro Tip
If it is too simple, decline the angle of the bench extra to actually goal your higher pecs, King says. And if it is too tough, change over to the cable machine flye.
6. Pullover
Beth Bischoff
Why It’s Effective
Pullovers goal a wide variety of higher body muscle mass, together with your lats, chest, and triceps. They additionally present a deep stretch for higher muscle development and improved shoulder mobility.
How to Do It
- Lie in your again on the ground and maintain one dumbbell overhead with each fingers.
- Press the weight over your chest, then attain again over your head, bending your elbows solely barely.
- Continue till you are feeling a stretch in your lats, then pull the dumbbell again over your chest.
- That’s 1 rep.
Pro Tip
For a deeper strength and higher vary of movement attempt laying flat on a bench press together with your head barely above the highest.
7. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
James Michelfelder
Why It’s Effective
“Holding the weights closer together allows an increased range of motion, helping recruit all the motor units available in your pecs,” King says. “To maximize results, squeeze your pecs at the top of the move. Your muscles will learn which need to fire and which can relax, placing the maximum stress on the right muscles.”
How to Do It
- Lie down on a bench at a 45-degree angle with a dumbbell in every hand, to start.
- Start with the weights resting in your chest.
- Press the flat plates collectively so your palms face each other.
- As you press up, preserve the weights pressed collectively firmly so that you’re tensing the pecs as you press.
- Lower again down so the weights relaxation briefly in your chest.
- That’s 1 rep.
- Perform 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps.
Pro Tip
If it is too simple, shorten the remaining interval or enhance the load. If it is too laborious, change again to a flat dumbbell chest press.
8. Dumbbell Floor Press
James Michelfelder
Why It’s Effective
“The floor press is an underrated exercise that targets the chest, core, triceps, and stabilizing shoulder muscles, which all increase power,” King says. “Plus, if you suffer from shoulder or lower back pain when you press, then this exercise is a must, because being flat on the floor gives you constant feedback on whether you’re in the correct position.”
How to Do It
- Grab your dumbbells with an overhand grip, to start.
- Sit, then lie flat in your again on the ground or on a mat.
- Plant your ft on the ground and bend your elbows so your arms type a 90-degree angle.
- Keeping your core braced to restrict overextension of your decrease again, press the dumbbells towards the ceiling till your arms are straight.
- Lower down beneath management till your triceps relaxation on the ground and push again up to the beginning place.
- That’s 1 rep.
- Complete 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
Pro Tip
If it is too simple, lie flat as a substitute of bending your knees and planting your ft. If it is too laborious, change to pushups to strengthen your pecs.
9. Cable Crossover
James Michelfelder
Why It’s Effective
When in search of a full, spherical chest, it’s necessary to hit some isolation work that actually targets simply the pecs, King says. “The bilateral aspect of the cable crossover allows you to strengthen your weaker side, whereas compound movements won’t always work on muscle imbalances,” he provides. “For maximum definition, it’s key to place muscles under as much stress as possible.”
How to Do It
- Position the cables high so that they’re degree together with your shoulders, to start.
- Grab each cables and lunge ahead right into a cut up stance for max stability.
- Press the cables into the center of your torso till the cables cross over.
- Stop as soon as you’ve got created a spot (roughly the dimensions of two knuckles) between your fingers, alternating which hand is on prime of every rep.
- Then, slowly let the cables pull your arms again so that they’re stretched aside (as if you happen to had been doing a flye).
- That’s 1 rep.
- Repeat for 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps.
Pro Tip
If it is too simple, pause for 2-3 seconds whereas the cables are crossed to fatigue your pecs, King suggests. If it is too laborious, don’t cross over, and cease when the fingers are shut (as pictured above).
10. Pec Deck
Getty Images/12963734
Why It’s Effective
A pec deck supplies an remoted and managed motion sample for extra stimulation of the chest muscle mass.
How to Do It
- Set up the pec deck so the vertical bars are positioned shut to the machine.
- Adjust the seat so the handles are roughly chest top, to start
- While dealing with away from the machine, attain again with one hand to seize one deal with, then the opposite.
- Pull the handles collectively and resist rigidity on the way in which again.
- That’s 1 rep.
Pro Tip
Start out with a light-weight on this exercise to keep away from over extending your vary of movement.
Related: Best Healthy Bagels You Can Buy If You’re Choosy About Carbs
Common Chest Workout Mistakes for Beginners to Avoid
Who would not need to acquire as a lot muscle mass as rapidly as attainable? But whereas it is tempting to take brief cuts (e.g. ego lifting) to see “newbie gains” sooner, sluggish and regular is the rule to preserve a sensible tempo together with your chest workouts whereas avoiding overtraining and damage.
If you are simply beginning out, curb the push mentality and go for weights which are manageable and real looking on your degree. Even if the weight feels on the lighter facet, this permits you to excellent your type and let your muscle mass adapt to a brand new sequence of exercises. Adding weight in a managed method will finally aid you attain your objectives sooner.
Discussion about this post