For many gym-goers, chest workouts start and end with the bench press. Or, if they’re not big on barbells, press-ups. While those are both fantastic exercises, for a truly pecs-tacular chest you need to expand your exercise repertoire to include flyes.
The good news is that below you’ll find a training plan containing variations of those chest exercises that will hit your muscles from different angles. Follow it to the letter and you’ll be the proud owner of a bigger, stronger chest in next to no time.
The chest workout plan below requires a barbell with weight plates, dumbbells, a weight bench, a rack and a pull-up bar, and a degree of training experience. You’ll be working out four times a week with heavy weights to strict tempos, so you should already know your way around the weights room and understand what a tri-set involves. If you take on this workout plan as a beginner, even if you get through the first session or two you’ll probably find that the DOMS involved puts you out of action for the rest of the week.
Don’t worry if this plan isn’t for you. Further down this page we’ve listed a range of chest workouts to suit all abilities and equipment.
Chest Workout Routine Instructions
You’ll be training four times a week throughout this four-week chest workout plan, but it won’t all be chest work. Two of your weekly workouts are chest-focused, while the other two are full-body sessions.
The chest sessions are workouts 1 and 3 in the plan and they differ in their approach to chest-building. The first session increases strength using a high number of sets but fewer reps. The second uses bodybuilding principles to form a chest workout in which you do fewer sets, but a higher number of reps with the aim of increasing size alongside strength.
Before you attempt any workout, ensure you have run through a series of warm-up exercises. If you don’t have a routine established already, try this gym warm-up.
All the workouts are made up of five moves. The first two exercises are big, compound lifts done as normal sets. Select a challenging, heavy weight for you with these and push yourself as hard as possible. Then the final three moves are a tri-set, so you rattle through the first set of 3A, then the first set of 3B, then the first set of 3C with minimal rest between them. Rest, then start the second sets.
Do the workouts in order, sticking to the sets, reps, rest periods and tempo detailed. Our guide to tempo training will explain why performing a rep at a certain tempo is beneficial, but here’s a reminder of how to decipher the four-digit code: the first digit indicates how long in seconds you take to lower the weight, the second how long you pause at the bottom of the move, the third how long you take to lift the weight, and the final digit how long you pause at the top. X means that part of the move should be done explosively. Keep each rep smooth and controlled so your muscles – not momentum – do the work.
How To Fuel Your Chest Workouts
To get the most out of this plan, you need to make sure you consider your nutrition carefully. Even if you nail every rep of the workouts, you won’t get the results you want if you’re not fuelling your training in the right way.
That starts with eating enough protein to repair and rebuild your muscles after a workout. We asked a dietitian how much protein you need to build muscle and the answer for people following this type of high-volume plan is 1.2-2g per kg of bodyweight per day. Before you begin browsing our selection of the best protein powders, remember that it is always better to get your protein requirement from food rather than a supplement, which is easier than you might imagine and will also help ensure you have a healthy, well-rounded diet.
Outside of protein, it’s important to maintain a healthy diet in general, starting with getting at least five portions of fruit and veg a day. Also make sure your energy reserves are topped up by eating carbohydrates, aiming for wholegrain varieties to maximise the fibre you get from your food.
If all that sounds like a lot of effort, there’s also the option of using a meal prep service. Some will send a variety of healthy meals at once that you can reheat and eat when you wish, while others will deliver daily and cover all your meals and snacks with a menu designed to fit your precise training goals. These are, of course, more expensive than cooking for yourself, but it's certainly no more expensive than a takeaway habit and a whole lot healthier.
Workout 1: Chest 1
1 Bench press
Sets 5 Reps 5 Tempo 10X0 Rest 60sec
Lie on a flat bench holding a barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Brace your core, then lower the bar towards your chest. Press it back up to the start.
2 Incline bench press
Sets 5 Reps 5 Tempo 10X0 Rest 60sec
Lie on an incline bench holding a barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Brace your core, then lower the bar towards your chest. Press it back up to the start.
3A Incline dumbbell press
Sets 4 Reps 8 Tempo 2010 Rest 20sec
Lie on an incline bench holding a dumbbell in each hand by your shoulders. Brace your core, then press the weights up until your arms are straight. Lower them back to the start.
3B Incline dumbbell flye
Sets 4 Reps 10 Tempo 2111 Rest 20sec
Lie on an incline bench holding a dumbbell in each hand above your face, with your palms facing and a slight bend in your elbows. Lower them to the sides, then bring them back to the top.
3C Press-up
Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo 2010 Rest 60sec
Get into position with your feet together and hands underneath your shoulders. Brace your core so your body is straight from head to heels. Bend your elbows to lower your chest, then press back up powerfully.
Workout 2: Total Body 1
1 Squat
Sets 5 Reps 8 Tempo 2010 Rest 60sec
Stand tall with a bar across the backs of your shoulders. Keeping your chest up and core braced, squat down as deep as you can. Drive back up through your heels to return to the start.
2 Chin-up
Sets 5 Reps 8 Tempo 2010 Rest 60sec
Hold a bar with an underhand grip. Brace your core, then pull yourself up until your chin is higher than the bar. Lower until your arms are straight again.
2A Overhead press
Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo 2010 Rest 20sec
Hold a bar with your hands wider than shoulder-width apart. Keeping your chest up and core braced, press the bar overhead until your arms are straight. Lower it back to the start.
2B Bent-over row
Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo 2010 Rest 20sec
Hold a barbell with an overhand grip, hands just outside your legs. Bend your knees slightly, brace your core, then pull the bar up, leading with your elbows. Lower it back to the start.
2C Good morning
Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo 2111 Rest 60sec
Stand tall holding a light barbell across the backs of your shoulders, feet shoulder-width apart. With your core braced, bend forwards slowly from the hips, as far as your hamstrings allow but not past horizontal. Return to the start.
Workout 3: Chest 2
This uses the same moves as Workout 1 but with different protocols – low sets and high reps to focus on increasing muscle mass
1 Incline bench press
Sets 3 Reps 12 Tempo 4010 Rest 60sec
Lie on an incline bench holding a barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Brace your core, then lower the bar towards your chest. Press it back up to the start.
2 Bench press
Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo 4010 Rest 60sec
Lie on a flat bench holding a barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Brace your core, then lower the bar towards your chest. Press it back up to the start
3A Incline dumbbell press
Sets 3 Reps 12 Tempo 3010 Rest 20sec
Lie on an incline bench holding a dumbbell in each hand by your shoulders. Brace your core, then press the weights up until your arms are straight. Lower them back to the start.
3B Incline dumbbell flye
Sets 3 Reps 15 Tempo 2010 Rest 20sec
Lie on an incline bench holding a dumbbell in each hand above your face, with your palms facing and a slight bend in your elbows. Lower them to the sides, then bring them back to the top.
3C Press-up
Sets 3 Reps 20 Tempo 2111 Rest 60sec
Get into position with your feet together and hands underneath your shoulders. Brace your core so your body is straight from head to heels. Bend your elbows to lower your chest, then press back up powerfully.
Workout 4: Total Body 2
1 Front squat
Sets 5 Reps 8 Tempo 2010 Rest 60sec
Stand tall with a bar across the front of your shoulders with elbows up. Keeping your core braced, squat down as deep as you can. Drive back up through your heels to return to the start.
2 Rack pull
Sets 5 Reps 8 Tempo 2111 Rest 60sec
Stand tall in front of a barbell resting on safety bars at knee height. Using a double overhand grip, bend down and deadlift the bar up, squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top.
3A Standing dumbbell biceps curl
Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo 2010 Rest 20sec
Stand with dumbbells by your sides, palms facing forwards. Keeping your elbows tucked in, curl the weights up, squeezing your biceps at the top. Lower them back to the start.
3B Triceps extension
Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo 2111 Rest 20sec
Stand tall holding a dumbbell over your head with both hands, arms straight. Keeping your chest up, lower the weight behind your head, then raise it back to the start.
3C Lateral raise
Sets 4 Reps 12 Tempo 2111 Rest 60sec
Stand tall, holding a light dumbbell in each hand with palms facing. Keeping your chest up and a bend in your elbows, raise the weights out to shoulder height, then lower back to the start.
More Chest Workouts
Gym Chest Workout
You’ve got two fine chest workouts for the gym – do you need more? Why yes, especially since those above skip one of the finest chest exercises around: the dumbbell pull-over. This session also employs the cable machine to give your muscles another type of stimulus.
See the chest workout for the gym
Home Chest Workout
This no-kit workout from strength and conditioning expert JC Santana is designed to complement your efforts in the gym. It’s three rounds of a series of press-up variations and, provided you can handle the volume of reps, you’ll be done in 15 minutes.
See the home chest workout
30-Day Press-Up Challenge
If the home chest workout above is too advanced, work on your press-ups with this 30-day plan, where you build up to knocking out 100 press-ups in one go. It starts with just 20 press-ups today. That’s day one done. From there you’ll build up using variations like the diamond and decline press-ups, which builds strength throughout your upper body but, of course, works wonders on your chest in particular. If you like a medium-term goal to motivate your fitness efforts, give this a go.
See the press-up challenge
Sam Rider is an experienced freelance journalist, specialising in health, fitness and wellness. For over a decade he's reported on Olympic Games, CrossFit Games and World Cups, and quizzed luminaries of elite sport, nutrition and strength and conditioning. Sam is also a REPS level 3 qualified personal trainer, online coach and founder of Your Daily Fix (opens in new tab). Sam is also Coach’s designated reviewer of massage guns and fitness mirrors.
