Best Chest Building Exercises

A thick, rugged, muscular chest is right up there on the list of most body builders, both professional}} and amateur. Unfortunately, there is so much misinformation out there when it comes to properly training the pectorals}} that chests like I just described are becoming rare these days.

The big key to building the pecs you need is to choose exercises that powefully activate the pectoral muscle fibers. The first movement that springs to mind for most bodybuilders when they think of chest exercises is the flat barbell bench press. But the bench press is not a great chest builder unless you happen to have the optimal leverage for it. On top of that, most people do the bench press incorrectly. If you put together poor leverages and poor technique it is no wonder you feel the bench more in your delts and triceps than in your pecs!

I am going to show you 3 of my favorite chest building exercises. It is important to keep in mind that if these are done with poor technique you are short-changing your muscle gains and may be setting yourself up for injury. To prevent this from happening make sure to get some technique tips from an expert so that you can build the pecs you want without getting hurt.

Flat Paused Bench Presses
I know I just finished saying that the flat bench press is not the best chest building exercise, but there are particular variations that do hit the pecs well, provided you perform them properly. The paused bench press is one possible variation. By pausing the bar on the chest for one to 5 seconds before pressing it back up you kill the stretch reflex and lose any stored energy you created during the eccentric. This will make pressing the weight back up much more difficult, but it will also require your pecs to create a massive amount of force in order to press the bar from your chest back to the starting point.

Inclined Dumbbell Bench Presses
One of the common complaints of bodybuilders is not just their overall chest mass, but their upper chest size in particular. Incline movements are a great solution to this because they target the clavicular portion of the chest, which gives the appearance of a higher chest, without giving you a saggy looking chest. The use of dumbbells is a good idea here as they allow for a deeper stretch in the bottom of the exercise. This deep stretch stimulates a lot of underused motor units in the upper chest which can cause new growth to occur.

Standing High-to-Low Cable Crossovers
While different versions of the bench press are good, to really focus on the pectorals you need to work on the flying motion. This can be done with many different exercises, but I really like standing cable crossovers here because of the constant tension the cable gives you throughout the entire exercise. The key here is to focus on a good stretch at the beginning and keeping tension on the pectorals throughout the movement. This is a great ending exercise to any chest training session.
Keep in mind that while these exercises are great for building powerful pecs, they must be done with the correct technique in order to get the most from them.