Chest is one of the most enjoyable muscle groups to train. Yet, it seems to be a muscle group that many people struggle with developing. This then often leads them to throw every single possible chest exercise at it in hopes that it’ll grow. But, the truth is, this haphazard selection of exercises for chest often does more harm than good. Today I’ll show you how you can get the most bang for your buck when it comes to how to build a bigger chest by instead just focusing on 2 simple yet very effective chest exercises geared for mass (incline dumbbell press and cable/banded movement) – that when paired together, can make a big difference in your chest development.
The first exercise is the low incline dumbbell press. Pressing movements for the chest are necessary because it enables us to apply a high amount of tension to our chest overtime since can both lift heavier loads with it and easily progress it over time with more weight. But dumbbell presses have advantages over barbell presses since it allows us to achieve a greater range of motion on our chest fibres, while also giving us the freedom to tweak our form to better suit with our individual chest fibres and with what just feels most comfortable on our joints.
Now, a low incline press is one of the best chest exercises geared for mass for a of couple reasons. The first reason is that we want to ensure that we’re adequately training each portion of our chest. That’s because with a low incline up to just 15 degrees, you get a significant boost in upper chest activation but with less of an increase in front delts involvement and with less of a drop in activation from the middle and lower portions of your chest. And I’d even argue that when you then apply a slight arch in the upper back and tuck the elbows in slightly as you perform this movement, you’ll now be aligning the resistance with even more of your chest fibres and experience even greater activation of your whole chest. The second reason why this chest exercise is beneficial is comfort. By adding a slight incline, your shoulders will now be placed in a slightly externally rotated position which for many is a much more comfortable pressing position for the shoulder to be in.
The next exercise is going to be any sort of cable or banded movement, like a seated cable fly or, if you don’t have access to cables, then banded push-ups or banded flyes. During a dumbbell press, our chest experiences the greatest amount of resistance at the bottom, stretched position. But as you press the weight up the resistance progressively decreases until you reach the top position, where the chest now receives very little stimulation. And what we know about muscle growth is that exercises with different strength curves will likely produce different amounts of muscle growth in each region of our muscle. Which implies that if we stuck only with the dumbbell press or added in other exercises for the chest that have a similar strength curve like the dumbbell fly, then we’d be failing to adequately train and stimulate our chest in the locked out position.
The cable fly accommodates for this by providing adequate tension on the chest throughout the whole range of motion, especially during the fully contracted position. You can also play around with the angles of this chest exercise to emphasize the upper, mid, or lower portions of your chest as well. Similarly, if you don’t have cables, the banded push-up or banded fly is a suitable alternative since the resistance applied to your chest will be lowest at the bottom position but then progressively increase as you lockout and reach the chest’s fully contracted position.
Now, what you choose to do with these two exercises is totally up to you. I would definitely recommend plopping them somewhere into your current chest routine as you see fit. And if you’re currently doing a ton of different exercises and volume for your chest yet not making any progress, then shifting more of that volume and effort to these two movements instead, while focusing on performing them with proper form and progressing them overtime, will do wonders for your chest development.
When it comes to how to build a bigger chest, often times, more is not better. For a step-by-step program that uses science to show you exactly how to train AND how to fuel your body week after week so that you can build muscle and lean down as efficiently as possible, then simply take the analysis quiz to discover which science-based program would be best for you and where your body is currently at below:
https://builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/
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https://www.youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – Overview
0:29 – Exercise 1
1:03 – Exercise 1 Reasoning
3:23 – Exercise 2
3:37 – Exercise 2 Reasoning
4:51 – Exercise 2 Alternative
5:15 – Application
MUSIC: https://soundcloud.com/iamryanlittle
Chris Wright
yes,been training for a few years and chest is the most lagging muscle
it sucks
@GGL Honestly can’t remember but it’s definitely possible, lol.
genetics
@TheBobes Whenever I squeeze my chest, I can only feel my right chest getting tight. Idk why.
@dynL same with my left
Big fan of cables for chest development as well as banded push-ups. Cables offer constant tension while allowing you to hit the muscle with tension throughout the ROM.
damn boooooooooooooy
Ye but they are a bit difficult to master
@Vp Football I don’t necessarily agree with that. I think they are difficult only if someone doesn’t take the time to start lighter to focus on form first. I actually think cables are safer & easier to master than free weights if done properly.
Yes we know, he explained it in the video.
Always putting out quality content!
Fantastic clarity to each and every video. Keep it up.
I like how working-out can be scientific like this, rather than “Hey bros! I did this for the last 2 months and it was really good. You should try too!”
Yo my dude! why is your profile your 1×1 Picture lmaooo js lol
I like how the kid looks dyel. Natty lifting is one of the biggest scams out there.
@User 2389 i mean juice lifting is one of the biggest scams too really, kids really think if they lift they’re gonna look like their IFBB bodybuilder idols. they’re giving them false hope and just sell their supplements to them.
@dafuqawew
Juicing will at least give you a decent physique if you lift. If this guy didn’t lift for 3 months he would look dyel. He already looks dyel in a shirt lmao. And he lifts professionally basically.
@User 2389 thats basically being a natty. some people just want to add muscle for a short amount of time. thats why theyre juicing they want shortcuts. and some people wants bodybuilding/lifting as their lifestyle cause it gives them a sense of purpose, strength and discipline. health purpose too.
Never been this early
Love the information! I’ve been lacking in the gym because of work but you are my go to when I’m in the gym working out.
Been doing low incline DB press for years (due to shoulder injuries). Glad you included it in the video. The best chest pressing movement in my opinion, especially for the longevity of the shoulders
I have been skipping all bench movements for a year to due lingering shoulder issues (discomfort, clicking, but nothing major). Want to start again now. Low incline DB press is better for shoulders in your experience? Like Jeremy says
Build up the strength of your rotator cuff muscles first and make sure you stretch your shoulders out good and warm up lots. I think this is the perfect press because a lot of the time 45 degrees which is the usual incline level is hard on the shoulders and flat can also be hard on the shoulders but just make sure you don’t go down passed 90 degrees and your shoulders should be fine. Just work on the strength and stretch lots I’ve had those problems too and I can press heavy again now. Hope this helps
I walk slowly but I never walk backward.
that tank top is almost legendary
Imagine he isn’t washing it
@Moritz Schäfer He is. He just filmed all his videos over 2 non-consecutive weeks in 2018.
he should consider it as a merch item at this point lol
Lol glad I’m not the only one who noticed that he always wears the same outfit
Definitely an “iconic item” *cough Cyberpunk cough*
Jeremy keeping it old school and not getting involved in YouTube fitness drama at all.
The drama free ones tend to do the best.
I unsubscribed to someone because of the drama. Some people just want to make videos of popular YouTube fitness experts so they can get more views.
Drama is for girls and man-children. were out here to workout
I recall another channel, let’s just call them “X” had issues with Jeremy about a year ago (maybe less). What is going on now?
Regardless of what critics may say, Jeremy’s channel is very informative and is straight forward/no nonsense.
@dsb8283 I remember, and I think said channel thrives on drama.
A lot of powerlifters swear by the banded push-up, great bang for you buck exercise
The 2 exercises: 05:09
Thx
So I can only do 1 due to my work not beign able to go to the gym SMH.
Thanks!
Thanks bro
What’s your favourite chest exercise? Comment below! Let me know what other muscle groups you’d like me to dive into as well in a similar fashion as I did here!
Low incline barbell press. German volume (10 x 10).
@Abdulkerim yumuşak u are a doctor and u are asking if you should absolutely need to quit?lol you dont sound like a doc to me bro but i would suggest you should just go ahead and quit i did it too and everything got better inside and outside of the gym best thing ive done for myself just quit its not even that hard
@Themfing Mfer Yes, Sir. Thanks!
@Mike Bull thanks m8, yeah im a doctor indeed :) and would love to inform you that doctors are ahead of the list when it comes to substance abuse such as alcohol smoking and etc. i surely know every harm it does yet as a former smoker , you can also guess it s hard when its about habits. I have been smoking for 12 years now. Hope i quit at some point, but i want to do my best until i accomplish that
I do heavy chest flies (barrel style) on the floor, along with dumbbell bench press, flat and incline. I’ve been training for 10 months and my chest has blown up in size with these exercises (I do 12 sets twice a week).
There is a misspelling on the third part, first sentence in the description.
bro do more of these videos man, lately I haven’t had much time so I need to get the most out of the gym in fewer exercises.
Hey Jeremy! Thank you for this! Will do these on mu next chest day! Woot!