This page includes beginner chest workouts at home and in the gym for developing and shaping your chest aka pectorals. The pectorals, commonly referred to as simply pecs, is a large muscle group in your upper body (chest).
Developing Your Chest
You need to train your pecs with a variety of exercises to develop a balanced and even looking chest.
Many people only perform the flat bench press. However performing this exercise only may not fully develop your pectorals, and it could even result in an uneven looking chest, or perhaps not look as aesthetically pleasing as it could.
For these chest workouts I have included various different exercises for the chest (pectorals) that will target all the main areas of the chest.
The chest along with the arms is a favorite area to train by many, including myself. The chest can easily fall behind other body parts if not trained properly or often enough.
You can also over develop the pectorals by training them too frequently, either way it will result in an unbalanced looking physique which is not what you want, it shouldn’t be anyway.
Working Areas of Chest – Muscles Worked
- Outer pecs – standard flat barbell or dumbbell bench press is the best exercises to develop and target your outer pecs, plus parallel bar dips.
- Inner – chest flyes, cable crossovers, pec deck, narrow grip bench press, it’s very important to squeeze your pectorals together during these exercises to really target the inner sections of the chest.
- Upper – incline bench press, narrow press.
- Lower – decline bench press, narrow press.
The narrow grip bench press is normally considered to be a tricep exercise, however if your squeeze your pectorals together at the top of the movement you will target those inner sections of the pecs.
Always perform your exercises with good form, slow and controlled technique with good breathing. Inhale during the relaxed part of the exercise and exhale during the contractions or push motion. When possible always tense your pectorals during the final or extended point of the exercise.
Beginner Chest Workouts at Home & Gym
| Chest Home Workout | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Knee Press Ups | 2 | 20 |
| Dips | 3 | 10 - 20 |
| Press Ups | 3 | 10 - 20 |
| Workout One | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Flat bench press | 4 - 5 | 8 - 15 |
| Incline chest flyes | 3 - 4 | 10 - 20 |
| Cable cross overs | 3- 4 | 10 - 20 |
| Workout Two | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Incline bench press | 4 - 5 | 8 - 15 |
| Pec deck | 3 - 4 | 10 - 20 |
| Flat bench chest flyes | 3 - 4 | 10 - 20 |
| Decline bench press | 3 | 8 - 15 |
