Chest Exercises
Your chest is mostly the pectoralis major, a fan-shaped muscle that runs from your collarbone and breastbone to your upper arm. It pushes your arms forward and pulls them across your body.
That gives chest exercises two basic shapes: presses, where you push a weight or your body away from you, and flyes, where your arms sweep together in a wide arc.
7 exercises, each animated in 3D. Drag to see them from any angle and watch which muscles do the work.
Barbell Bench Press
The classic chest builder. Lying on a flat bench, you lower a barbell to your lower chest with your elbows tucked, then press it back up over your shoulders.
View in 3D →Dumbbell Bench Press
A flat-bench chest press with a dumbbell in each hand. Each arm works on its own, and the hands can travel a little further than with a barbell.
View in 3D →Incline Dumbbell Press
A chest press on a bench set to a low incline, which shifts more of the work to the upper chest and front of the shoulders.
View in 3D →Push-Up
The classic bodyweight chest exercise. Holding your body in one straight line, you lower your chest toward the floor and push back up.
View in 3D →Dumbbell Fly
A chest isolation move on a flat bench. With a slight, fixed bend in your elbows, you open your arms in a wide arc and hug the dumbbells back together over your chest.
View in 3D →Cable Crossover
A cable chest fly. Standing between two high pulleys, you sweep the handles down and together in front of your hips in a wide hugging arc.
View in 3D →Parallel Bar Dip
A bodyweight push for the chest and triceps. Supported on two bars, you lower your body by bending your elbows, then press back up to straight arms.
View in 3D →How to train your chest
Build a chest workout around one or two presses and add a fly for extra work at a stretch. Pressing on an incline bench shifts more of the work to the upper chest, the part that attaches to your collarbone. Most presses also train your front shoulders and triceps.
At the bottom of a press, keep your elbows tucked about 45–60° from your body rather than flared out to 90°, and lower the weight no deeper than your chest. Flared elbows put more strain on the front of the shoulder.
The animations show general technique, not advice for your body. If you have an injury or are new to lifting, check your form with a qualified coach. See the Disclaimer.
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