The Best Pectoral Exercises For A Massive Eye Catching Chest

Regardless of whether you simply want to ditch the flab, firm up your pecs and loose the "man boob" look, or your goal is to build a massive eye catching chest, then you really need to be focusing on the most effective pectoral exercises on a regular basis.  While running into the gym and jumping from chest exercise to chest exercise without a decent plan can actually help you build your pecs to some degree.  If you really want to build a big strong chest that you can be proud of, then you need to plan your upper body workouts around a short list of the top chest exercises and ditch the laundry list of just plain ineffective chest exercises.

Regardless of what body part you want to focus your attention on, I think that  you are much better suited picking with the pec exercises that allow you to train with heavier weights through a range of motion that incorporates muscle fibers from many different body parts. When it comes to chest training, I prefer to stick with the fundamental chest presses that involves the muscles of the shoulder and chest at the same time, and sometimes even the lats.

I really think that you get more bang for you buck hitting the gym this way than you would by trying to singularly isolate each muscle fiber.  If you try to lift for chest growth by focusing on isolation movements that don't incorporate your deltoids, you reach a point where while you are isolating the pectoral muscles, you aren’t training with a heavy enough weight to stimulate real muscle growth.

Below are my choices for the best all around pectoral exercises.  Learn how to perform each of these pec exercises with proper form and start using them in your pectoral workouts.  Not only will you begin to instantly feel a difference in the size and strength of your pecs, and after a few weeks of determined effort, everyone will begin to take notice of your bigger, stronger chest muscles.

My Top 3 Favorite Pectoral Exercises

1.  The Bench Press - This is the universal "granddaddy" of all pec exercises. Including muscles from your chest, delts and tri's this "old school" chest exercise can help you gain some serious chest muscle quickly!

To perform the bar bell bench press - Lie on your back on a flat bench with your butt in contact with the bench and your feet flat on the ground. Grip the bar with an overhand grip spaced just wider than shoulder width. Lower the barbell in a controlled and slow manner until it's located just below the lower portion of your pectoralis. Extend you arms upward while pushing the weight until the bar is in the initial position.

2. Barbell Incline Press - The barbell incline press is another classic (and very effective) pec exercise that can help you whip your chest into incredible shape. The barbell incline press works the muscles in your chest and shoulders.

To perform the incline press: Sit on an inclined bench set to between 45 and 60 degrees. I personally like to lower the angle of the bench even lower to somewhere between 35 and 40 degrees because it allows me to train with much heavier weights than I can train with if the angle of the bench is steeper. Just give this pec exercise a try and see what works best for you..

Wrap your thumbs around the bar with an overhand grip that is slightly wider than shoulder width. Lower the bar in a slow and controlled manner to the top of your chest. Make sure that your back and butt are in contact with the bench during the entire exercise. Press the weight up until the bar is back in the starting position. Make sure to avoid any aching in your back during this exercise.

3. Weighted Dips - When performed correctly weighted dips are one of the most effective chest exercises. Weighted dips target your chest muscles while incorporating your deltoids at the same time.  One of the unique things about weighted dips is that when performed correctly, dips allow you to really stretch out your chest and shoulder muscles at the bottom of the exercise, which can help to increase the range of motion of your shoulder joints.

To perform chest dips: Hang from the parallel bars with your arms fully extended and you legs curled up behind you. Bend your elbows and lower your body slowly until your chest is level with the parallel bars, then press down and lift your body back up to the starting position. In order to place more of an emphasis on your pectoralis and less on your triceps, lean forward through the complete movement.

If I had to narrow my list down to only 3 pectoral exercises to make up the bulk of my chest workouts, incline press, bench press (as well as the dumbbell equivalents) and chest dips would be the ones I'd go with.  Not only do these basic chest exercises require little in the way of fancy equipment, but they are the most effective exercises for building a powerful muscular chest.