The Best & Worst Chest Exercises To Build Muscle (Ranked!)

in this video i'm going to be ranking my top 10 chest exercises from worst to best now these are my top 10 exercises meaning i think they're all good it's just that some have a slight advantage over others but of course this is very individual so exercise number eight on my list could very well be number one on your list and just because an exercise isn't on my list doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't any good i'm gonna rank each exercise out of five stars so the perfect exercise would get a five star rating and i'll be ranking them according to personal enjoyment do i like doing the exercise tension generating potential does the exercise effectively apply tension to the target muscle progressive overload potential can you reliably add weight or reps or some other variable to keep driving progress and finally convenience slash ease of access will most gyms have the exercise and will people be able to do it without a ridiculous amount of setup and then after i give my top 10 i'm going to list three of my worst chest exercises so you can probably avoid those all right number 10 on my list is the amrap push-up where amrap stands for as many reps as possible so basically body weight push-ups to failure the main upside of the amrap push-up is that it's so accessible all you need is your own body weight i usually use them as a finisher at the end of a workout to burn the pecs out in a more metabolic capacity however because i have to do so many reps to get to muscular failure like 50 reps or more i do find that they're a bit too cardio intensive for me i'll usually get to rep 20 or 30 before i start to feel my chest at all which is essentially wasted energy as far as muscle building is concerned now obviously you can knock the rep count down by loading the push-up in a number of ways which we'll get to later in the list and of course there's nothing wrong with having to work your way up to a full push-up either using a progression from your knees for example regardless the main thing to keep in mind is that you should go all the way to failure otherwise you do risk leaving your pecs under-stimulated from the low loading but despite its limitations the amrap push-up can be a great way to challenge yourself to beat your rep count from last time i give the amrap push up three out of five stars number nine on my list is the dumbbell stretch iso hold this is where you hold a pair of dumbbells in the bottom position for 60 seconds or so generally i recommend picking a weight at around 50 percent of your five rep max so if you can do a hundred pound dumbbells for five reps i'd choose around 50 pound dumbbells for your iso hold and similar to the amrap push-up i think these are a great way to finish off a chest workout and they're one of those rare exercises where you can directly overload time under tension by incrementally adding time to the set so for example if you start at 50 or 60 seconds you can try to add five seconds to the hold time each week as a novel form of progressive overload granted because this exercise uses what's called isometric resistance meaning the muscle doesn't go through a full dynamic contraction and eccentric contraction it may be slightly less effective than exercises that use a full range of motion with that said since almost all other common exercises already use dynamic contractions i still include these periodically as a novel way of stimulating the muscle there is some albeit inconsistent research hinting toward a possible benefit from weighted stretching especially if done at the end of a workout so later sets aren't compromised and there's very convincing evidence that training a muscle at long muscle lengths in other words in the stretched position is more hypertrophic than training a muscle at short muscle lengths so as long as these are included in addition to dynamic movements rather than replacing them i think they're a technique worth trying out i give the dumbbell weighted stretch isohold three stars number eight is the pec fly machine now there are a bunch of different options here the most popular is the standard pec deck machine where you're essentially doing a flat fly now i personally prefer a fly machine more like this one because it's set at a slight incline so there's a bit more emphasis on the upper packs but since it's not as common i'll use the standard pack deck here which still accomplishes the same basic thing and in general i do like most pec fly machines because unlike a dumbbell fly where you have high tension at the bottom and zero tension at the top machines offer a nice even tension profile in the stretch position at the bottom and the contracted position at the top now the reason it doesn't rank higher for me is that they can be a bit harder to progressively overload on compared to other exercises at a certain point if you just keep increasing the load you might find it harder to feel your pecs working or to keep your form tight so when it comes to progressive overload once you hit a certain weight on the stack i mainly stick to just increasing reps at that same weight or focusing on the mind muscle connection at the same weight but since i don't really think of the pec fly as a heavy overloading movement anyway i don't think that's a really big deal and i mainly use it as a tool to squeeze in a little extra chest volume without taxing the triceps or shoulders too much i also like the fact that the weight stack makes it really easy to do a drop set on your last set where you can strip the weight back by 50 or so and crank out another 10 to 12 reps i give the pec fly machine three and a half stars number seven on my list is the cable crossover ladder for these i do three sets of cable crossovers with the cable set at different heights for each set so for the first set i put the cables low and fly out and up to target the upper packs a bit more for the second set i put the cables at around chest height and fly straight out to target the mid packs a bit more and then for the third set i put the cables high and fly out and down to target the lower packs a bit more this variation between sets allows you to individually target the upper mid and lower chest with just one piece of equipment cables also give you a nice even tension profile so you don't need to worry about losing any tension at any point in the range of motion and i find the uniqueness of modifying the focus on each set helps keep me more engaged on an otherwise kind of vanilla exercise now this isn't a movement that lends itself extremely well to progressive overload but it is a unique and effective pump style exercise that most people will have access to i give the cable crossover ladder three and a half stars coming in at number six is the dip now the dip is without question one of the best chest exercises from a tension generating standpoint you get this fantastic stretch at the bottom and a big squeeze at the top with even tension applied throughout the range of motion the main reason that it doesn't rank higher for me is that i don't find it to be the most enjoyable exercise the fact that you have to load it with a belt can be a little annoying and i find that if i don't load it heavy enough i have to do so many reps to get close to failure but if i load it heavily it can start to crank my shoulders a bit that said i really do love the dip from a pure efficacy standpoint and it's a staple in most of my programs as an exercise that lends itself well to progressive overload as a chest builder i give the dip four stars number five on my list is the deficit push-up plus bands i really like this movement because unlike the regular push-up you get an extra stretch at the bottom and if you use a band you get extra tension at the top so to set it up stack a couple plates on top of each other and loop a band around your back so it sits just under your shoulder blades place your hands on top of the plates and do push-ups with a nice and controlled tempo i usually do these for sets of 12 to 15 reps sometimes lower depending on the weight of the band now obviously you can just do body weight deficit push-ups if you find that sufficiently challenging or if you don't have any bands you can have a partner load a plate on your back regardless i think this is a very underrated chest builder that packs a huge stimulus without too much fatigue they can be a bit of a pain to set up but overall i do think the gains are well worth it i give the deficit push up plus bands four stars okay exercise number four on my list is the incline dumbbell press so i'm a big fan of this one because as of 2020 incline benches have officially been shown to result in superior upper chest hypertrophy compared to flat and decline benches for the first time before this we mostly just had biomechanical inferences and emg data so that speculation has now been confirmed with longitudinal data also with the dumbbells you do get a little extra range of motion at the bottom which could be slightly beneficial from a hypertrophy standpoint the reason it doesn't rank higher for me is again related to personal enjoyment getting heavy dumbbells into position can be a bit annoying and the effort required to get the dumbbells up can cause a decent amount of fatigue before the exercise even starts especially if you're doing multiple sets with heavier weight but overall i still think they're easily effective enough to override that minor inconvenience i give the incline dumbbell press four stars now for the record i'd give the flat dumbbell press the same four star rating it just doesn't have quite the same emphasis on the upper packs okay in the number three spot i've got the cable press around which has been recently popularized by the n1 training crew and it's a new movement for me it's essentially a single arm low cable fly with a few important features that i think makes it better for one you get quite a lot more range of motion in the fully contracted position normally people stop crossovers just before their hands hit one another but that's actually quite a bit short of the peck's full contractile potential now you could always just cross your hands over but that can feel awkward especially if your hands hit one another and then you have to remember to alternate the over and underhand from rep to rep so doing them unilaterally just feels better it's also a rare instance where you can focus on each peck individually while still having solid stability by bracing against the cable machine with your other hand i usually do these in the 10 to 12 rep range and they're a great way to accumulate more peck volume without fatiguing the triceps or delts much at all i give the cable press around four and a half stars okay so coming in at the number two spot is the machine chest press this may come as a surprise to some of you but i'm actually a huge fan of chest press machines as long as they give a smooth resistance profile and use a full range of motion in my experience a good chest press machine creates a better mind muscle connection with the pecs than almost any other movement because you don't have to worry about stabilizing and so you can focus all your attention on engaging the pecs now obviously this is a bit of a catch-22 as the lack of stabilization means that other smaller stabilizing muscles won't be as active however as long as you're using a combination of machines and free weights and this isn't the only chest exercise you do i don't think that's a big deal also because most machines lock you into a more fixed position you won't have the same freedom of movement at all joints meaning if the machine you're using doesn't fit your particular skeleton well it may not be the best option for you in general i'm a fan of most hammer strength chest press machines and i'm a huge fan of this plate loaded machine at my gym in particular i just haven't found a piece of equipment that i personally feel working my chest this well while at the same time allowing me to apply progressive overload consistently and efficiently assuming it's a good one i give the machine chest press four and a half stars and coming in at the number one spot this should come as no surprise to longtime subscribers the bench press going back to my criteria real quick the tried and true bench press ranks about as highly as an exercise can for all four criteria it's probably my favorite exercise period for any body part it places high tension on the entire pec throughout the full range of motion it's very easy to overload especially since you can micro load it with just five pounds or less and it's very accessible almost every gym has a bench and a barbell now there are some people who make arguments against the bench press as a so-called hypertrophy exercise they'll usually say that it's good but maybe not the best choice because the barbell limits your range of motion at the bottom this is true however i think this concern pretty much goes away once you consider that the bench press is rarely if ever the only chest exercise someone does as long as you're including another exercise like the press around deficit push-up or a fly variation your pecs will experience their extra end range benefits there and the overloading benefits from the bench press also i think it's worth mentioning that the so-called range of motion deficit is often exaggerated in my opinion especially when you look at the range of motion at the shoulder joint itself some people also say that they don't get as good of a pump from the bench press as other exercises which is fair from a personal enjoyment standpoint however the pump is not nearly as correlated with hypertrophy as many think and mechanical tension is far more important than the pump for muscle growth now i tend to favor the flat bench myself especially with my power lifting background but i will periodically include the incline bench press especially when i'm trying to focus a little more on my upper chest perhaps most importantly though the bench press is a very motivating exercise most people myself included like seeing their bench numbers increase which makes progressive overload more likely there's just something about hitting bench press pr's that's so much more motivating than hitting pr's on any of the other exercises i give the bench press five stars now as promised there are a few exercises that i'm personally not a fan of the first is the standing plate press this one just gets gravity wrong gravity always points down meaning the resistance is pointing vertically but you're pressing horizontally this is much more of a dealt exercise than a chest exercise and for that reason i give it one star for the record doing a lying down is slightly better but you're still not maximizing pec tension at all with this and i'd suggest just using dumbbells instead next there's the alternating one arm dumbbell press this is fine enough and it will work your chest however the extra balance that you need to stay on the bench means you won't be able to load the pecs as effectively they also give each pack a little mini rest in between each rep which isn't detrimental as long as you take each side too or close to failure but i really doubt that it's optimal i give it one and a half stars lastly there's the dumbbell pullover this actually isn't a chest exercise even though some people still use it for that purpose it mainly targets the lats triceps and teres muscles of the back and just about the only chest involvement you'll get is when you squeeze your pecs at the top as a chest builder i give it one and a half stars now obviously having a list of exercises like this can be very helpful as a starting point but it's also important to know how to incorporate them into a complete training routine for example some of the exercises i've shown here are better performed earlier or later in the workout or for higher or lower reps and so on so if you're looking for a full routine to put all of this information to use you can check out my complete training programs at jeffnipper.com i've got push-pull legs upper lower and full-body programs for all experience levels and if you aren't sure which one is best for you there's a program selector tool that'll make the best recommendation for you and your goals so i'll put a little more info about my most popular programs down below and if you use the code chest you can save 20 off any program on my site and that'll also let me know that you came from this video and i'd really appreciate that support also i want to give a quick shout out to john green's book the anthropocene reviewed for the five star review idea i read that book a little while back and it gave me the idea to apply the five-star rating system to exercises here on the channel so that's it for this one guys don't forget to leave me a thumbs up if you enjoyed the video subscribe if you haven't already and i'll see you guys all here in the next one

Channel: Jeff Nippard

Views: 2,909,000

Keywords: chest exercises, chest exercise, exercises for chest, exercise for chest, chest exercises at home, chest exercises home, best chest exercise, best chest exercises, exercises for a bigger chest, exercise for a big chest, dumbbell chest exercise, dumbbell chest exercises, chest workout exercises, chest workout and exercises, how to get a bigger chest, how to build a bigger chest, chest workout, big chest workout, athleanx, athlean x, jeff cavaliere, jeff nipard

Id: NsEbXsTwas8

Length: 14min 1sec (841 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 03 2022