Who is saying you have to go to the gym and spend an hour & a half to build a chest? Of course, it’s one way to do that, but not the only way.
The Muscle Mass for Chest can be built with these simple tried and tested chest exercises that I am about to show you. And the best part about these exercises is, can be done at home.
Moreover, I have broken it down in two-part.
- Chest Exercises without any Equipment.
- Chest Exercises with Dumbbells.
It will provide a wide range of exercises and movements to workout chest. Don’t worry if you don’t have dumbbells at home.
You can still rock it.
Moreover, you will find information about how to design your workout regime. Which will include: How many reps and sets you should do for optimal growth, and of course, How much rest do you need?
There are 3 major groups on which we will be working on separately to increase the size of the chest.
- Upper Chest.
- Middle Chest.
- Lower Chest.
So, each specific muscle group will have to work, to do the exercise. Hence it will help to develop a bigger chest fast.
7 Chest Exercises At Home (No Equipment Required)
The very first thing comes to mind when we think about chest exercises.
A standard Push… Right.
And it is a splendid exercise to build chest muscles.
So, let’s see how the standard push-ups are done.
1. Standard Push-Ups
- Get into a plank position, keeping hands shoulder-width apart.
- Now, start to lower your body.
- Keeping Elbows slightly closer towards the Back.
- When the chest is closest to the surface.
- Start pushing against the surface. And get to initial position.
Standard push-ups mainly target middle and upper chest.
2. Incline Push-ups
To do incline push-ups you need an elevated platform like a table (height around 1-1.5 feet).
These are done just like regular push-ups, the only difference is that the hands are on the elevated surface.
How to do Incline Push-ups?
- So, place your hands on the elevated surface, and get into a push-up position.
- Perform the same action as you did in standard push-ups.
Incline push-ups very specifically target the lower chest muscles.
The most important thing while performing this exercise is that you should do it slowly and feel your chest contracting.
3. Decline Push-Ups
It is the exact opposite of incline push-ups. The hands are placed on the ground and feet on an elevated surface.
You can select the height according to your compatibility. Because, the higher the height, the more difficult the exercise becomes.
How to do Decline Push-Ups?
- Place feet on an elevated surface and hands-on ground( slightly wider than the shoulder.
- Now perform the regular push-ups.
And, keeping back straight in decline push-ups is a little difficult, so make sure your back is straight and tight throughout the moment for better results.
Decline push-ups are the best suited to target upper chest muscles.
4. Single Leg Push-Ups
Single leg push-ups are designed to overload the upper chest muscles.
These push-ups are performed keeping a leg in the air.
When you raise your leg in the air it transfers body weight on the hands, hence making this exercise a great option to work out the upper chest in less time.
How to do Single Leg Push-ups?
- Get into a regular pushup position and raise one leg in the air.
- Keep your core tight throughout the push-up.
- For beginners, it might be difficult to keep the leg in the air. so you can keep your foot on the heal of the other foot.
5. Clap Push-ups
Although the function of Clap push-ups are the same as single-leg push-ups, to Overload chest muscle to the maximum.
In addition, Clap push-ups are more explosive and required additional strength as compared to single-leg push-ups.
A beginner may find this exercise hard to do. So you need to build the necessary strength to be able to do clap push-ups.
For that, stand still, keep core tight, fall to the ground in push-ups position. for additional help check out the video.
How to do Clap Push-ups?
- Perform a half rep standard push-up.
- When you closest to ground, push explosively so that you lift off the ground.
- While in the air, do a quick clap and get into push position.
Make Your Clap Help You Build Aesthetic Chest.
6. Bodyweight Dips
Dips are a great chest exercise to strengthen the lower chest and triceps at home.
Moreover, while performing dips, chest muscles experience most stress on the outer side. Making dips a wonderful solution for man boobs problem.
And guys, this is a fact that lower chest muscles are the least developed areas of the chest. Taking away the opportunity to have a bigger and wider chest.
Where to do Dips at home?
To do dips at home you need two spots, which are parallel, And above the ground and in one plane. where your hands can be placed just beside the quads(legs). Means shoulder width.
Like:- You kitchen Counter, two tables, two chairs, Parallel rods( In Playground), etc.
How to do Dips at Home?
- Place your hands on the platform.
- Push your shoulder down, keep elbows straight but don’t lock, and flare elbows a little bit( to target chest).
- Keep back straight, bend forwards a little bit. ( you can bring legs forward if you want to)
- Now start bending your elbows and let your body go down while maintaining the position.
- As you down, get back to the upper position and try to squeeze your chest for better chest optimization.
It could be challenging for beginners to perform dips at first. So try to do supported or negative dips. Like:-go to Upper position and do a negative rep, then push yourself with legs and get to the upper position.
As you develop enough shoulder agility and flexibility, you will be able to go deeper. But for now, you should not force yourself to go deeper, It could be injuries.
If you have any Shoulder Problem, Don’t do Dips without concerning your Doctor.
7. Single Hand Push-Ups
A single hand push-ups are Advance level chest, triceps, and core exercise. In addition, Single hand push-ups obviously required a lot of core stability and chest strength.
Single hand push can also be used to target muscle imbalance in the chest and triceps, besides building strength.
How to do Single Hand Push-Ups at Home?
Single-Arm Push-Ups Is a Great Challange.
Key point- It’s extremely Important to Keep your Back Tight and Straight while performing any Exercise.
Comment below, which is your favorite Bodyweight Chest exercises to do at home.
Chest Exercises At Home (With Dumbells)
You could be asking yourself these questions.
What is the need for dumbells? Are Bodyweight exercises are not good enough to build Chest muscles at home?
This can’t be questioned, that bodyweight exercises are very important. Bodyweight exercises are done throughout the world and one the best way to train the chest at home.
But this is not the only reason you should do bodyweight exercise, there are other important aspects as well.
For instance, bodyweight exercises mostly are compound moments, Which generally match with our daily activities. So it helps to make you energetic while performing such activities.
Furthermore, bodyweight exercises do not require any equipment, so these can be done anywhere, on vocation, friend’s house, traveling. Not to mention these exercises cost zero money investment.
So, what is the need for Dumbbells?
World’s top-notch fitness experts say that variety is an important factor for building muscles.
Dumbbells can be used for adding variety and wide range of motion.
Most people use their dominant hand to do most of their works. So, while performing exercises the dominant side does most of the works, creating a muscle imbalance.
The Muscle imbalance problem can be solved with Dumbbells. Also, one hand push-ups can also be used to target muscle chest imbalance. But for beginner one hand push-ups will be very Challenging.
So I would suggest you use dumbells if you have a chest muscle imbalance.
Now, Let’s look at Dumbbell exercises to build a bigger chest at home.
1. Standard Dumbbell Chest Press
It is a Dumbbell version of standard push-ups. But the key difference is, in case of push-ups, Triceps take some load off the chest.
In the case of the chest press, most work is done by the chest.
How to do Chest Press at Home?
- Lie on a flat bench, with dumbbells in hands, in such a way that dumbbells are in front of the chest.
- And, keep your feet on the floor.
- Roll shoulders, back and down towards feet, as hard as possible to minimize the participation of shoulders.
- Tighten your core and tuck your chin.
- Now, slowly start to bend your elbows and allow dumbbells to come down.
- Don’t lock your elbows.
- Push the dumbbells up, keeping shoulders on the bench.
- Your 1 rep is completed.
2. Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
The dumbbell incline chest press specifically targets, the upper chest as in the case of Incline Push-ups.
It is very effective for building chest strength and size. Along with it also, indirectly targets front shoulders.
Which provides you a well-developed chest and broader shoulder appearance.
To this exercise, you will need an incline bench.
How to do Dumbbell Incline Chest at Home?
- Set the angle of bench 30-45 degrees. As the angle gets bigger, more the shoulder will participate in the movement. Ideally, the angle is 30 degrees.
- Lie down on the table, holding dumbbells with a neutral grip( palms facing in).
- While dumbbells are in front of the chest, keep them 3-4 inches apart.
- Keep feet on the floor, neck in a relaxed position.
- Maintain your elbows at 45 degrees with respect to rips.
- Slowly lowers the dumbells, as far as you can handle comfortably. ( typically the dumbbell bars should be at about chest level).
- Don’t flang your elbows too wide.
- Now, contract your chest and push the dumbbell up, keeping shoulders fixed on the bench.
- One rep is completed.
3. Chest Fly
Chest flys are often perceived as best chest openers, but it’s more than just an opener. It helps to stretch the pec muscles, and build its strength and more muscle fibers.
It also reduces the upper body stress, and increase range of motion.
But, It should be done slowly, with light weights that you can handle comfortably.
How to do Chest Fly at Home?
- Lie on a flat bench, hold lightweight dumbbells, with palms facing each other. And (Inhale).
- Extend your arms (like you are reversing a hug) and slowly moves downward. (make a slight bend in the elbow)
- And it’s extremely important that dumbbells should not go down the shoulder level.
- Without locking elbows, go back to where you started. And (Exhale).
4. Straight-Arm Pullover
Straight Arm dumbbell pullover directly hit the Bottom of pec(lower chest), lats, abs, and triceps, when done correctly.
The most significant benefit of the pullover is, It helps to expand the ribcage, hence increasing the size of the chest.
Just like Dips, You Should NOT do Straight-Arm Pullover without Concering your Doctor, If have any shoulder Problem.
How to do Straight-Arm Pullover at home?
- Lie on a bench just like you did on standard dumbbell press.
- Keep your feet and core engaged during the movement. Pressed your upper back and shoulder on the bench.
- Hold medium to a lightweight dumbbell with straight Arm, just in front of the chest. This your starting position.
- Now, slowly lowers your Arms until your biceps touch your ears.
- While maintaining the tension equally on both shoulders, start to bring your arms up to the starting point.
- This One Rep.
To Make Pullover Easy Use Lighter Weight.
How to Design a Workouts Regime for You?
The most things for a workout regime are
- Number of Reps of Exercise.
- Number of Sets.
- Rest Time Duration.
Number of Reps of Exercise!
Simply defines, how many times we are doing a complete Moment (exercise) is called a Set.
Livestrong states, that optimal reps range for Any Exercise is 8-12 reps in a set for max results.
But obviously, it varies according to Individuals, Some might be able to do more, and some less.
So try to do in between 8-12 reps in a set, as you get better at it, you can either increase the rep range to 20-30 or Choose more challenging Exercise, with the same rep range.
The order of Difficulty of Exercise is:
For dumbbells exercise, we can’t put them in order because these exercises work very differently. So
Number of Sets!
It is directly related to time under tension. We have to choose a set range that puts adequate stress on muscles, on which you are working out.
So the optimal set range is 3-4 for each exercise. According to builtwithscience.com, we should do 12-16 Sets in a workout.
Which means 4-5 exercises per workout.
Rest Time Period:
While a workout rest period of 30-60 seconds is best to replenish energy and grow muscles.
And In a day 7-8 hours of sleep is mandatory.
Quick tips for dumbbells Exercise!
Use dumbbells that are adjustable in weight. So that you don’t have to buys a lot of dumbbells.
A quick tip, guys to have an aesthetic chest you need to cut down extra fat, so that muscle growth is easily visible.
That it guys about, chest exercises that you can do at home.