We’ve worked our upper backs and our biceps and triceps, so it’s time to round out upper body day with my picks for the best chest exercises. And before you ask—these are the best chest exercises for men and women. You’ll find gendered lists out there, but the same exercises work for all genders. I’ll explain.
What the chest muscles are and what they do
The major muscle in your chest is the appropriately-named pectoralis major—which is, literally, Latin for “the major muscle in your chest.” We call these the pecs for short. (There is also a pectoralis minor; it’s a tiny muscle that lies underneath the pec major.)
The pecs originate on your sternum (breastbone, in the middle of your chest) and connect to your upper arm. When they contract, they bring your arms closer to your chest. If you’re giving somebody a big ol’ bear hug, your pecs are working. The pecs are also active if you’re pushing that person away, since they keep your arms in front of your chest as you push.
With this in mind, exercises that work your chest are those that bring your arms together in front of your body, as well as exercises where you push something away from you at roughly chest level.
Should women do chest work?
Yes, of course—because your chest is part of your body. If you don’t train your chest, you’re neglecting a whole area of your body that could be contributing to your overall strength and health. As we’ve seen, your chest muscles help with pushing actions, and anything you do with your arms in front of you. A strong chest is part of a well-rounded, strong body.
To answer the two most common questions about this:
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Do chest exercises make your breasts smaller? No. You can’t make a body part smaller by exercising it.
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Do chest exercises make your breasts look bigger? Not really. You’ll build muscle under your breasts, but most people find this doesn’t do anything noticeable for their breast size or their body’s overall shape.
If your main concern is how you look, training your chest isn’t going to make a big difference in your appearance. It will make a difference in your strength and muscle mass. I wouldn’t skip these exercises. The more upper body strength we have, the better.
The best chest exercise to fit in with the gym bros: bench press
You probably saw this one coming: I’m crowning bench press the overall winner, and it’s already recognized as such by gym bros the world over. This is the exercise where you lie on your back on a bench, and lift a barbell by pushing it away from you, toward the ceiling.
There are tons of variations on this lift, but a regular barbell bench press is my pick. You can load it heavier than most other versions, and honestly it’s just really fun. To do it properly, plant your feet on the floor and tuck your shoulders under your back. (A small arch in your back will likely result.) This puts your body in the strongest and most efficient position for moving heavy weight safely.
But don’t be afraid to try other variations! Dumbbell bench press is a classic, and there are versions of bench press you can do with an inclined or declined bench to hit different parts of the muscle. Mix things up with feet-up bench, or reverse grip.
Best isolation: machine flyes
I apologize sincerely to the English-speaking world, on behalf of all the gym bros, that there is not a good way to pluralize the exercise known as the chest fly or pec fly. Flies? No, that sounds like a bunch of insects. Flys? Doesn’t make sense. Flyes? That makes even less sense, but it’s what people call it. I’m sorry.
In any case, you’re flapping your wings like a butterfly. You can do flyes with dumbbells, lying on a bench; the trick is to do it with your arms relatively straight, rather than turning it into a bench press. You can do flyes with two far-apart cables and call it a “cable crossover,” but good luck grabbing two whole cable stacks on a busy day at the gym.
Instead, just use a machine. Pretty much every gym will have a machine known as the “pec deck” (sometimes it can do reverse flyes too) and you can just sit in there, adjust the starting position as needed, and get your flyes in.
Best minimalist chest exercise: dips
I featured dips in our list of the best tricep exercises, so I won’t spend too much time on them here. Like bench press, dips work both the chest and the triceps. You can make dips easier by using an assisted dip machine, a bench to rest your feet on, or a band. You can make them harder by holding a weight plate between your knees, or by chaining weights to a dip belt.
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