Best Body-Weight Chest Exercises

An awesome chest and well-muscled pecs are often seen as the pinnacle of a great physique. There’s a reason why in most gyms, Monday’s are “International chest day” – and it’s because most guys prioritize their chest muscles above all others.

Leaving aside how this may not be the most balanced approach, let’s look at a typical muscle-building chest workout.

It might start with a bench press. In fact, for most guys, it almost certainly will. After many sets on the flat bench, they may move to the incline and possibly the decline bench too, before hitting some dumbbell presses at various angles, then some flyes, a few sets of crossovers or machine presses, before perhaps finishing off with a few token pushups.

Unfortunately, while this routine may look good on paper, it’s far from optimal.

Additionally, it relies on having a huge range of equipment – something which many guys just don’t have the luxury of. This also becomes an issue when you can’t make it to the gym, need to train on holiday, or in busy times, when you simply can’t fight your way through the crowds to get to the bench press, dumbbell rack or seated chest press machine.

With that in mind, wouldn't it be great to have a routine that didn't need equipment? One that was based purely on body-weight moves, but was just as effective (if not more so) than the one detailed above?

The good news is, you can have just that.

While body-weight exercises often get a bad rap, they’re incredibly effective when it comes to building your chest. And not just when you can’t make it to the gym either. These killer moves can be used any time and you’ll be surprised just how much more you feel them than you do your regular exercises.

We’ll start our list with the last exercise mentioned in your typical guy’s routine – the pushup.

Perfecting the Pushup

If you could only ever do one move for your chest, I’d advise making it the pushup.

The trouble is, most people DON’T do them right. Here’s a rundown of how a pushup should be performed for maximum chest recruitment.

- Hands shoulder-width apart

- Elbows tucked in close to your sides so they’re not flaring out

- Forearms completely vertical

- Fingers facing straight ahead

- As you descend, your back should remain flat, and your hips in line with your mid-back – no sagging butts!

- Drop until your chest is just an inch above the floor, then push back up forcefully while keeping your elbows tucked.

See Also: Pullovers - For Building a Big, Healthy Chest

Perfect the pushup with these technique cues, work on building up your workout volume (ie. Increase your reps, number of sets, time under tension and workout density) and just by doing that, you’ll make more gains in terms of chest size than you have done in years.

Stepping Up Your Body-Weight Game

Getting great at pushups is all well and good, and will serve you well in the long run, but to really get the most bang for your chest-building buck, you need a few more go-to exercises. These are definitely more advanced, but are worth learning and persevering with in your pursuit of perfect pecs.

Decline Pushup

This is performed exactly the same as a normal pushup, using all the same technique cues, but with your feet placed on a box or bench. This increases the range of motion, making for a tougher pushup.

Ring Pushups

Want to up your pushup performance even further?

Get hold of a pair of gymnastic rings and perform your pushups on those. The instability and the elevation off the floor makes these a seriously tough move. Be warned – you should be competent at decline pushups before trying these. Ideally you should be able to perform at least 15 perfect decline pushups before trying the rings.

Clap Pushups

This that guy in your gym who does pushups with a clap at the top looks really cool? That could be you.

Start with your hands on a box, push up, clap, then land with your hands on the floor. Once you’re okay with these, start with your hands on the floor. You can progress these by adding in an extra clap, or even trying a clap round the back, or wearing a weight vest.

These are designed to build power, so keep your reps low, but quality high. Five to eight sets of three to five reps is ideal.

Dips

Dips may be seen by most as a triceps builder, but they’re brilliant for your chest too.

The regular parallel bar dip hits your pecs, but to make it more chest-orientated, use a slightly wider grip, and let your elbows flare out just a touch throughout the movement.  A slight forward lean will also take some of the tension away from your tris, and transfer it onto your chest too.

Ring Dips

In the same vein as ring pushups, ring dips add instability. You can get a great stretch across your pecs in the bottom position, but once again, don’t take these lightly. Even the strongest, most advanced trainee will struggle with ring dips at first. Get your ring pushups up to 10 per set before you attempt ring dips.

Floor Flyes

You don’t need a bench and dumbbells to do flyes.

Assume a pushup position with each hand on a duster, cloth or towel. (You’ll need a slippery floor for this – ie. Not carpet.)

Let your hands slide out to the sides, while you lower your torso to the ground as you would for a pushup. Go as wide as you can with your hands, then squeeze your pecs to bring your arms back to the start position. These are the toughest move of the lot!

Chest Squeeze

The chest squeeze is a simple exercise where you stand with feet shoulder-width apart and clasp your hands together in front of your chest.

The goal is to squeeze your palms together as forcefully as possible, engaging your chest muscles. Hold the contraction for a few seconds, then release.

This exercise helps strengthen the chest muscles and can be done anywhere without the need for equipment.

See Also: Push-ups For Strength

Isometric Chest Contractions

Isometric chest contractions are a muscle-strengthening exercise that focuses on the chest muscles without any movement.

To perform this exercise, start by standing upright with your feet shoulder-width apart. Next, press your palms together in front of your chest, positioning them so that the palms are touching, and your fingers point straight ahead. Now, push your palms together as hard as possible, engaging the chest muscles while keeping your arms stationary. Hold this contraction for about 20-30 seconds, then release.

This exercise can be repeated for multiple sets and helps develop chest strength and muscle endurance while also promoting better muscle control and mind-muscle connection.

By now you can see how not only can body-weight chest exercises provide an alternative when you don’t have access to weights every now and again – they can actually be just as effective as pumping the iron.