Weighted chest dips are one of the exercises that most people don’t even consider when they sit down to design their chest workouts. While chest dips are typically thought of as a triceps building exercise, the fact of the matter is that with a simple adjustment to the position of your body during the bottom phase of this exercise, you can isolate you pecs and intensely target your pecs!

I personally think so highly of dips that I work them into each of my upper body workouts.  It’s an amazing chest exercise that really doesn’t get the credit (as a chest exercise) that it deserves. If you really want to pack on some solid muscle in your pecs then you need to learn how to do dips properly and make it a point to incorporate dips into your chest plan.

While dips in general have been typically considered to be a body weight exercise, you really won’t be able to get the biggest chest building benefit from this exercise until you start performing dips with some form of weights. However, in order to get the level of strength that you’ll need in order to perform chest dips with weights and decent form, it’s a good idea to perform at least a few workouts of unweighted body weight dips in order to learn the proper form and increase your level of strength so that you don’t actually wind up injuring yourself once you pack on the weight.

In order to work weights into this exercise you’ll need a weight lifting belt that allows you to hang some form of weight between your legs.  The most common type of equipment that see in the gyms these days is a basic weight lifting belt with two round metal rings in the front that you can run a chain through them and, then hang the weight on the chain.  These belts can be purchased ready to use, or you can retro fit one of your own weight belts.

In my opinion, the biggest benefit of weighted dips lies in the fact that you can really stretch out your chest muscles during the downward phase of this exercise in a very systematic manner.  This allows for more nutrient and blood flow through your pectoral muscles, while improving your range of motion and improving your pectoral flexibility. But you do have to be careful to not push the range of motion of this exercise, as you can injure your shoulders or tear your pectoral muscles if you’re not careful.

In order to stimulate the most muscle growth chest dips and and really kick-start some impressive chest growth, you’ve absolutely got to learn how to perform weighted dips with decent form. Make sure to practice this movement a few times before you even try to increase the weight.  You might find that you need to build up a solid level of strength before you move on to heavy chest dips.  If that’s the case don’t worry about it, just focus on completing your dips with good form and your strength will increase.

Here’s how to complete chest dips in order to kick-start some real pectoral growth:

1.) Place your hands on the parallel bars spaced out approximately shoulder width
2.) Straighten your arms in order to lift your feet off of the foot stands
3.) Tilt your body forward while slowly lowering yourself (this is what takes the emphasis off of your triceps and places the bulk of the load on to your chest)
4.) Continue lowering your body until the bottom of your chest is even with your hands
5.) Extend your arms and push your body back to the starting position while focusing on leaning forward as much as possible.

If you want to build a bigger more muscular chest, then you’ve got to add weighted chest dips to your upper body routine.  Not only will they help you improve the overall flexibility level of your upper body, but you’ll be able to stimulate your chest muscles to explode like they never have before!

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.