Quick Effective Good Chest Workouts to Get You Shredded

If you’re trying to get good chest workouts in and you’re short on time, these quick, effective, and good chest workouts will give you the results you want in as little as 20 minutes! Let’s face it, we all love our time at the gym or going out with friends but sometimes we don’t have that much time to spare, so it’s important to keep it efficient yet still make progress towards your fitness goals!

The good news is, that there are many effective ways to workout your chest even if you don’t have hours to spend in the gym.

Quick, effective, and good chest workouts can be hard to come by, especially if you don’t have too much time in your day or if you’re just starting out.

Today, we’re going to be looking at some good chest workouts that are going to help you get the physique you’ve always wanted and aren’t going to take up much of your time in the process.

Table of Contents

The 3-day Workout Plan

Chest workouts are incredibly important for building muscle, but many people find them boring or too time-consuming. But if you have only a few days per week to work out, you can still make big gains in your chest development with our 3-day workout plan.

Plan:

Simply do an upper-body workout on Monday, lower body on Tuesday, and another upper-body workout on Wednesday. On Thursday, take a rest day so that you can recover from your weekend workouts. (Just be sure to schedule at least two full rest days per week.) On Friday it’s back to the lower body, followed by another upper-body Saturday workout. This gives you three days of chest workouts per week—not bad considering most chest programs require four or five!

For best results, do these exercises:

Flat Bench Press
Decline Bench Press
Chest Dip
Incline Pushup
Resistance Band pullover
Pushups

Cable Crossovers

To really shock your chest into new growth, superset each exercise with one of its cousins. For example, start off every set of flat bench presses with incline bench presses; alternate between incline flyes and flat flyes; follow pushups with cable crossovers; etc.

Not only will these supersets give you greater chest stimulation than normal sets alone would, but they’ll also help build core strength—another essential part of getting strong fast! If you need to move faster through your workout, drop down to lighter weights while keeping reps high.

Then add more weight as you get stronger and increase reps as needed. Finally, keep track of how much weight you use on each exercise during each session—it’s not unusual for guys to lose as much as 20 pounds over several months when doing three-day-per-week training programs like this one! When adding weight, don’t go past what feels challenging—if it’s too easy, then raise it again the next session.

Exercise Routines

It’s important to include a variety of exercises in your chest workouts. For men, sticking with flat bench presses, incline presses, dumbbell flyes, and cable cross-overs (anytime you bring your hands together) will give you all of these. For women who want that beautiful cleavage but don’t want to lose their actual chest strength, incorporate push-ups as well.

And remember: There’s nothing wrong with adding some light cardio into your routine once or twice a week if you have trouble building muscle. Combining cardio with resistance training can boost endurance while helping to increase lean muscle mass—which is good for burning fat! Don’t forget cardio machines like stationary bikes and ellipticals that help build strength while burning calories too.

So get moving! No matter what exercise program you choose, be sure to maintain proper form throughout each set so that you’re not just wasting time. This means performing every rep at a slow and controlled pace and avoiding any sudden jerking motions with your arms or legs. If you feel yourself beginning to strain or bounce off of certain muscles, it’s time to back off on weight and try again at a slower pace.

Remember: The goal isn’t just to complete each set; it’s also about how effectively you perform them. For example, if you are working out three times per week, perform an upper-body pushing movement on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and an upper-body pulling movement on Tuesday/Thursday.

The following routine focuses specifically on building a big chest—it includes both compound movements (multi-joint exercises) and isolation movements (single-joint exercises). A good way to approach training is by focusing first on compound movements for 2-3 weeks before switching over to isolation movements for 2-3 weeks.

This allows time for recovery after each type of movement. It also gives your joints some time off from being stressed by compound lifts while allowing you to focus more energy on isolating specific muscle groups through single-joint exercises.

Alternative Training Routines (optional)

Alternative routines are, well, alternative. They are not necessarily better or worse than normal chest workouts; they are just different exercises that work similar muscle groups. For example, there is a difference between bench pressing, incline pressing, and decline pressing. All of these exercises build up your pecs but focus on different areas of it.

Incline presses target more of your upper pectorals while declines target more of your lower pectorals. If you want bigger pecs, you should do all three types of presses in order to cover all areas. This will give you a great overall workout as opposed to sticking with one type of press only.

Two Types of Presses

In getting good chest workouts, you’ll want to use two different types of presses:

Compound lifts; that work for several muscle groups at once, such as bench presses. These are great for building mass.

Isolation lifts; that target one muscle group only, such as flyes or crossovers. These exercises help you target a specific area so you can truly fine-tune your physique.

Do a mix of compound and isolation exercises, performing 10-12 reps per set. Perform three sets of each exercise (3×10-12). Rest 2 minutes between sets. Repeat twice a week. It’s important to do both compound and isolation movements if you’re looking to build size in your chest while maintaining definition throughout your body.

Compound movements will help bulk up your upper body, but isolation exercises will allow you to hone in on certain areas like your pecs without adding bulk elsewhere on your body.

7 Best Chest Exercises for Strength

A strong chest boosts overall upper-body power, giving you a more muscular, athletic look. Use these seven exercises to gain size—and then add dumbbells or resistance bands for muscle definition. When using weights, keep your reps between five and eight; when using just your body weight, shoot for 15 to 20 reps per set.

For each exercise, do three sets of each exercise at least twice a week. If you can’t do all three sets without resting in between, use lighter weights or fewer repetitions. Do two to four total sets of each exercise. For example: Do one set of bench presses, rest 30 seconds, and then do another set of bench presses before resting again. Continue until you’ve done all three sets twice over with no rest in between them.

Decline bench press

Lie on a decline bench and grasp an Olympic barbell with an overhand grip, hands wider than shoulder-width apart. Lift it off of racks at your chest. Lower it in a straight line towards your upper chest as you squeeze your pectorals for contraction. Pause slightly, then press it back up. Reps: 3 sets of 6–8 reps with 120–150 kg or more per set

Cable Crossover

The cable crossover is a great way to kick off your chest workout. The main reason for that is because it’s easy on your shoulder joints. If you have shoulder issues, then you probably should stay away from most chest exercises, but if not then here’s what you need to do for 8 reps: stand in front of a low pulley machine and grab one handle in each hand.

Step back with one leg (your working leg) about two feet behind your other leg (your stance leg). Bend down slightly at first with arms straight but bend further as you lift your working arm so that it touches at least 2 inches below your chest. Return slowly to the start position, control all movement and repeat on the opposite side.

Pushup

Start in a prone position with your hands directly below your shoulders. Your arms should be straight, forming a 90-degree angle at your elbows. Without changing your elbow angle, bend your wrists back so that your hands are directly under your shoulders.

Push yourself off of the floor, straightening out your arms completely as you do so. Inhale as you lower yourself, and exhale when pushing up.

The pushup works primarily through pectoralis major and minor muscles (chest) as well as triceps brachii (back of arm). If doing them on stairs or against a wall make sure not to lean into it otherwise it may put too much pressure on your neck and cause injury. If using stairs/walls ensure your arm remains straight!

Resistance band pullover

This is a great movement for building strength in your pectorals. If you don’t have access to weights, resistance bands are a good alternative. Plus, you can do it at home since all you need is a door frame. Just be sure that whatever device you use allows you to perform it correctly; make sure it’s not too heavy or light so that it doesn’t stress your shoulders or back more than it should be.

This video shows how

Chest dip

The chest dip requires no equipment and is a great workout for getting your pectoral muscles toned. Begin with two benches or chairs that are about as high as your hips. The object is to straddle one bench, put your hands behind you on top of another bench, and then push yourself up off both benches by lifting your hips off one bench. Then lower yourself back down until you’re slightly above parallel to the ground before repeating.

Incline push up

Be sure your arms are straight throughout. Your hands should be underneath your shoulders, with elbows locked. Keep your body in a straight line, from head to toe, as you lower yourself. Once your chest touches your hands, push back up.

This will work all of your chest muscles—pecs, triceps, and shoulders. Make sure that you keep a slight bend in your elbows so that you don’t overwork them; keeping a slight bend is also great for preventing injury during workouts. Do two sets of 20 repetitions once a week for best results.

Flat bench press

A barbell flat bench press is an effective exercise for developing upper body strength. It targets almost all of your major muscle groups, including your chest, triceps, shoulders, and back. With a well-designed program that incorporates several types of resistance training, you can develop overall strength in addition to muscular definition.

To start your workout, select a weight that’s heavy enough to provide a challenge but not so heavy that you struggle with every rep. Complete five sets of 10 repetitions each. Increase your weight slightly for subsequent sets as long as you’re able to complete all 10 reps without difficulty.

The diet plan

If you want a diet plan that’s effective, you have to have a specific target in mind. What do I want my chest to look like? or How much weight would I like to lose? Your goals will dictate how you should eat and train for the best results. If your goal is general weight loss, strength training at least twice per week along with aerobic exercise is generally recommended.

If you are looking for a more defined chest, however, training should be split up into two separate days: one chest workout focused on hypertrophy (increasing muscle size) using moderate weights in 8-12 rep ranges; one chest workout focused on building strength using heavy weights in 4-6 rep ranges. The rest of your workouts can be used to build other muscles in your body.

Supplement tips

Getting bigger isn’t necessarily your goal. When it comes to your chest, just getting leaner is what matters most. In order to achieve that lean look, you’ll want to consume enough protein every day; aim for about one gram per pound of body weight per day.

As for supplements, research has shown that a good combination of fish oil, multivitamins, glutamine, and creatine (in particular) will help support increased muscle mass without adding fat stores.
Also, consider supplementing with branched-chain amino acids—leucine, isoleucine, and valine—which are thought to promote anabolism.

To maximize growth potential, however, be sure to eat plenty of carbs along with them. And if you’re taking any performance-enhancing drugs or steroids, avoid these supplements entirely because they can interfere with their effectiveness.

How to track your progress (and get in all the required reps!)

Tracking your progress can be one of the hardest parts of hitting a new fitness goal. If you don’t have a plan in place, it’s easy to get caught up in all of life’s other demands. One way around that is workout tracking apps like Strava, which let you track distance, speed, elevation change, and more—all while integrating with your music player so you can run or bike without ever missing a beat.

And these days most smartphones even come with an activity tracker built-in (Google Fit on Android or HealthKit on iPhone) that counts your steps (and thus your runs) for you. Either way, just remember: Tracking your workouts shouldn’t kill your motivation. It should help keep it alive!

Recovery tips

Your chest workout is only as good as your recovery strategy. In addition to giving your muscles enough time for rest, you also want to eat a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats. Don’t forget about sleep either—your body builds muscle when you rest it after lifting weights.

Try not to train your chest more than three times per week if you are working out for less than an hour each time. For shorter training sessions or when you have fewer days between workouts, however, limit yourself to twice per week instead of three times a week—if you work out on consecutive days (that is one workout directly after another), give yourself at least one day of rest in between them.