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.

What are chest muscles?

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

• Pectoralis Major muscle: this is the first pectoral muscle and is the largest muscle in your chest. It is located just under the breast tissue and makes up the chest wall underneath your shoulders.
• Pectoralis Minor muscle: this is the second of the pectoral muscles and is a smaller, triangular-shaped muscle which sits below the pectoralis major.
• Serratus Anterior muscle: this muscle runs from the top of your ribcage down to the bottom and along your scapula, which is the triangular-shaped bone in your upper back.
• Subclavius muscle: this is a small, triangle-shaped muscle that sits across your shoulders and elevates your top rib.
• Intercostal muscles: these muscles make up a group of different muscles that sit between your ribs and make up the chest wall.

Bodyweight chest exercises

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.

Chest workouts with dumbbells

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:

Signs that you’re overdoing your upper body 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.

How to recover from a chest workout

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