Chest exercises with instructions

The chest is one muscle sheet loaded at three different angles: upper chest, mid chest and lower chest. All of them bring the upper arm forward across the body — what changes is the angle at which that happens.

The middle carries every flat press: barbell and dumbbell bench press, push-ups, machine presses. The upper part comes in when the bench inclines or the pull runs upward — incline press, low-to-high cable work. The lower part works on decline presses and dips.

Press flat only and you mostly train the middle. That is not a mistake, but it is an incomplete chest. One angle up and one angle down cover the rest.

What matters in execution. Pull your shoulder blades back and down into the bench before the first rep and keep them there. Without that position the load migrates into the front delt. Elbows do not flare to a right angle — around 60 to 75 degrees away from the torso. And the bar or the dumbbells travel the full path. Half a rep is half a rep, whatever the plate says.

How much per week. A rough guideline is 10 to 20 sets per muscle group per week. Chest sits in the middle of that range, because it assists on almost every press for shoulders and triceps — that volume counts.

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