In this blog, we’ll explore 10 of the best chest exercises you can do at home without any gear. These movements are beginner-friendly, scalable for all fitness levels, and perfect for building muscle definition, improving posture, and boosting upper-body strength. If you know how to set up an effective at-home chest workout, you can build muscle using nothing but your body weight.
Your arms should be at about a 45˚ angle away from your body. The dumbbell around the world is not a well-known exercise, but it doesn’t mean it’s not effective. This exercise is great for the chest and shoulders, but you should have healthy shoulders to perform it as it moves your shoulder blades through a large range of motion. The pec major is the larger of the two pec muscles, making up most of the chest. The large fan shaped-muscle has two heads, the sternocostal head, known as the lower chest, and the calvicular head, referred to as the upper chest.

Creating an effective home chest workout routine involves planning exercises that target all areas of the chest and scheduling appropriate rest days to maximize muscle growth and recovery. Here’s how you can structure your at-home chest training regimen. When we put these 3 effective chest exercises together we can create the ultimate bodyweight chest workout that hits all three areas of the upper, middle and lower chest.
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Chest exercises can help to build strength and muscle mass in the chest, which can improve your overall body composition (1). Having more muscle mass can help to create a more toned, sculpted look. These exercises work because they strengthen your chest, shoulders, and core. Since you’re against the wall instead of fighting gravity on the ground, they’re also easier on your joints. It’s totally normal if you can’t keep your arms touching the wall throughout the entire exercise. Begin with a range of motion that suits your body, and gradually increase mobility over time with practice.
Every time you bring that band up and across your body, focus on the clavicular fibers coming down and out toward that arm. The only piece of equipment you’ll need for this is a wall, coffee table, or anything that you can put your feet onto. So, with that said, if you’re just a beginner, you don’t have to do these from your feet shoulder width apart – you can do them from your knees. The best way to demonstrate this is to look at a traditional bench press. There are two portions of this lift, and it’s the bottom portion that tends to be the hardest. So, let’s kick off this home chest workout with our first superset.
To make the exercise more challenging, you could aim to push yourself higher off the floor or add a clap. Make sure to maintain a tight core during the entire duration of the exercise to reap the most benefits. Also, keep your body in a straight line without bending your back, lifting your butt, or sagging in the middle. This explosive movement increases strength and power in your chest.
Do three reps of the Classic Pushup with proper form keeping the core tight. Once you’ve got an understanding of the biomechanics of the chest muscles, you can adapt gym chest exercises to the home environment, and I’ll show you exactly how to do it. Yes, with or without dumbbells benching from the floor is called a floor press.
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This is a variation of the bench press where you hold the dumbbells pressed together with a neutral grip (palms facing each other). If you’ve been in the gym for some time, you’ve probably seen this exercise being done with a weight plate. The Svend press is a standing chest exercise where you press the weight straight forward with your hands in a prayer-like position. So, any movement that involves bringing the arm up, reaching or pressing forward, or bringing your arms across your body will activate the pectoralis major.
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Let’s say you don’t have access to a kitchen counter that looks like that. As soon as you’re done with Decline Push-ups, you’ll move to a Low-to-High Banded Crossover. The hardest is madmuscles safe part of this exercise is when the bands are reaching their highest amount of tension. Attach a resistance band to something that is both convenient and stable. We want to make sure we’re training that zone, and pause reps are the way we’re going to do that.
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If it’s been a while since you picked up a pair of dumbbells, there are easy-to-follow modifications. If you’re looking for an extra challenge, push yourself with more advanced progressions. Your core and glute muscles are the building blocks of a good, strong foundation. Put them to the test with this fiery 21-minute, at-home, bodyweight exercise challenge. Use it as a stand-alone workout, or tack it onto a quick HIIT cardio workout for a double burn.
The upper section of the chest is called the clavicular portion, which has fibers that run off the clavicle and down. Endomondo newsletter has tips, workout plans, and resources that will help you in your fitness journey. While the views expressed are those of the writer, https://madmuscles.quora.com/ they are grounded in their academic background and scientific research. A team of qualified medical experts fact-checks the content, ensuring its accuracy. The information is further supported by reputable sources linked within the article.
Keep your legs straight out, resting on the balls of your feet to balance your weight. Perform the dip with the same form as traditional chest dips. Once you have mastered the classic push-up form, challenge yourself with advanced push-up variations. These enhancements can target different muscle groups more intensely and add diversity to your home chest workout routine. The normal or traditional push-up is a good exercise for chest training at home, as it activates various regions of the chest effectively.
Additionally, normal push-ups strengthen your shoulder and triceps muscles. The incline push-up work a little more of the lower part of the pectoral muscle. It is an easier to execute than the traditional push-up, as it uses the help of a bench or chair to relieve the weight of the body on the arms. If you look at the classic incline bench press, you will see that your upper arms are aligned not directly in front of your torso but at a 120 degree angle upwards from that position. Try the lying Svend press for your next dumbbell chest workout without bench access as an alternative to the standing Svend press.