Chest Workout At Home Without Equipment
Gifford Brickley
Many people believe that working on your chest muscles means hitting the gym constantly and using equipment at all times. However, there are plenty of chest exercises you can perform without any additional equipment. When creating a solid chest workout routine, you can simply rely on your own body weight.
Make sure to maintain a tight core during the entire duration of the exercise to reap the most benefits. Also, keep your body in a straight line without bending your back, lifting your butt, or sagging in the middle.
An adjustment from the basic push-up, decline push-ups are for those ready for something more challenging, as the exercise is performed with your feet positioned on an elevated surface. The focus is on the upper pectoral muscles and the front shoulder area. We like them because they are a good way to increase the challenge of this exercise for people who already feel comfortable with the classic push-up.
Diamond push-ups, also referred to as triangle push-ups, are a compound exercise best-suited for stronger trainees. As the starting position requires the person to take a much narrower hand position, forming a triangle shape with their thumbs and index fingers, this variation requires the triceps and anterior deltoid to contribute more to the movement compared to the standard push-up.
While the same muscles are at play, the inherent difference between standard push-ups and plyometric push-ups is that the latter require a higher velocity force production to get your hands off the floor. In short, the muscles have to produce more force per rep in order to generate enough acceleration and subsequent velocity to leave the floor.
Wide push-ups are a useful core stability exercise. Besides improving your pectoralis chest muscles, shoulders, and triceps, wide push-ups may rely on the serratus anterior muscle more than push-ups done with a narrower grip. [4] The serratus anterior spans throughout your upper rib area and assists in arm and scapula (scapular protraction) movements.
Consequently, a seal push-up is an excellent alternative for those who find the standard push-up challenging and/or those aiming for a higher rep range. Most trainees can do a lot more seal push-ups than standard or incline push-ups!
The pectoralis major is made of two heads, the clavicular head, which emerges from the clavicle, and the larger sternocostal head, which emerges from the sternum, the upper costal cartilages in the ribs, and finally, the tendon of the external oblique muscle. [5] This muscle assists in moving the arms and stabilizing the shoulder joint.
The deltoids are the large muscles found on top of your shoulder joints. Like the triceps, they have three separate heads: the anterior, the lateral, and the posterior. Although all three are activated in a push-up, the anterior head sees the most recruitment thanks to its location.
Many people believe push-ups help improve the chest, and chest only. However, as we already saw, these exercises help engage several muscle groups at the same time, which makes them a compound exercise that actually gives you a whole-body workout:
The benefits of lifting weights for the heart include enhanced function thanks to increased muscle mass, strength, and decreased fat mass. For instance, resistance training plus aerobic exercise improves strength, work capacity, and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) for individuals with stable coronary artery disease. It also reduces body fat without increasing adverse events. [7,8,9]
Start with your hands underneath the shoulders but play with your hand position to find what works for you. Get into a solid front plank position and do the push-up with slow control while keeping your core and glutes tight to maintain rigidity throughout the body. Keep your elbows tucked alongside your ribcage without flaring them either in or out.
Place your feet on the floor and your hands in the TRX straps. The closer the feet are to the anchor point, the more difficult the exercise will be, further away easier. Start with your hands at chest level with arms extended and palms facing each other. Maintain a strong plank-like position and lower your body towards the floor while opening your arms in an arc motion with your elbows slightly bent. When you feel a good stretch in your chest, push your arms back together and return to the starting position.
The pectoralis major is a large superficial muscle located on the anterior surface of the thoracic rib cage. The pectoralis major has three heads: clavicular, sternocostal, and abdominal. All three parts converge laterally and insert onto the humerus.
The main role of the pec major is the adduction and internal rotation of the arm on the shoulder joint. The clavicular part of the chest helps flex the extended arm up to 90 degrees, while the sternocostal part assists in extending the flexed arm by pulling it down.
The 4-way push-up workout challenges the fast-twitch and explosive muscle fibers (plyometric push-up), the inner chest and triceps (close grip and standard push-up). It challenges the slow-twitch muscle fibers due to the final 20 repetitions every set.
This bodyweight chest workout is meant to build chest and triceps mass. The goal is to train the entire chest region while also working the supporting muscles of the triceps, rhomboids, and scapular stabilizers. The workout includes tempo work and supersets to increase time under tension and maximize muscle fatigue and metabolic build-up.
Now that you have a handle on the best chest exercises without weights to strengthen your chest, you can also check out these other helpful chest training articles for strength, power, and fitness athletes.
Mike holds a Master's in Exercise Physiology and a Bachelor's in Exercise Science. He's a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and is the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at New York University. Mike is also the Founder of J2FIT, a strength and conditioning brand in New York City that offers personal training, online programs, and has an established USAW Olympic Weightlifting club.
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But we can do so with this exercise by getting into the standard push-up position and then elevating one of your hands onto a platform. Then, perform the push-up. But as you press up, rotate your body towards that elevated arm. This will now enable our arm to move across our bodies to a greater degree. And, as a result, better activate the chest and its inner fibers.
If needed, you can start by doing these on your knees, and then progress them by wearing a weighted bag and/or using a band for added resistance.
Knowing how to progress exercises is pretty complicated - especially when you have limited access to equipment. Thankfully, though, the team here at BWS has the necessary expertise to do just that. Our 3-on-1 coaching program takes the guesswork out of training, nutrition, and even mobility work - so you can focus on what matters: making gains. If you're interested:
You can start by just performing the eccentric portion of the movement. You can do so by controlling your upper body downwards until you reach the floor. And then simply pushing your self up back to the start position and repeating this.
Then, once you master that, you can move onto a push-up fly. Here, you perform the fly with just one of your arms. The other one bends and extends with you to help push your body back-up.
And then from there, you can perform the full fly but with your hands positioned closer to your knees to decrease the load. Over time, you can lengthen the lever and increase the load placed on the chest by performing the movement with your hands further out forward from your knees.
Just keep in mind though guys that for the best results, you need to pair your workout routine with the right nutrition plan. As THAT really is the key and is FAR more important than your training when it comes to drastically transforming your body and packing on size. And to be honest now is a better time than ever to start prioritizing your nutrition and learning how and what you need to be fueling your body with to maximize growth.
You can take the press-up and make it slightly harder. At the top of the press-up, hold the position and purposely tense the chest muscles. This adds an extra workload to the muscles and increases the difficulty.
The advantages of doing a Spiderman press-up are that it helps your chest and arm muscles work harder. When you move your leg forward, it shifts your weight, which means that your muscles must adjust to the new position. This helps to work different muscle groups, including your pectoral muscles, deltoids, and triceps.
This move will work your core again and again, first by supporting the press-up motion and then by rotating your body. Better still, if you hold the T position then your core needs to work hard to keep you upright.
This simple movement targets the main muscles of the chest, the pectoralis major and minor. In addition to exercising the chest, the incline Press-Up engages the shoulders (deltoid), arms (triceps) as well a long list of muscles throughout the abs, back, hips, and legs that act as stabilizers and prevent any sagging or arching of the spinal column during the movement.
Now, if you want to challenge yourself, add this into your routine. A great conditioning exercise further strengthening your core with added movement. The same basics apply but for the alternating hands-on and off the object ensuring the feet move in tandem as you go. If you want to give this a try and need to take it easy, simply complete the motion then shuffle between hands.
This adds an element of balance and stability to the regular push up, forcing you to engage your core more. By using a stability ball or alternative object, you also allow your muscles to move through a wider range of motion. A great all-in-one" movement working a wider range of the chest muscles than usual.
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