10 Minute At Home Chest Workout
When was the last time you did an exercise strictly for your chest? If you don’t have an answer to this question, you’re not the only one. Strength training has many benefits such as reduced fat, improved heart health, controlled blood sugar levels, boosted flexibility and mobility, but that still isn’t enough to get people to focus on strengthening their chest muscles. This is likely because many people don’t know the many benefits that chest exercises offer besides muscle strength! Whether you do a chest workout at home or in a gym, there was so many benefits to incorporating it into your workout.
Chest exercises have many benefits, one of which is improved posture. As one of the largest muscles in your upper body, the pecs play a very large role in maintaining good posture. Your pecs also help to stabilize the shoulder joint. Additionally, strengthening chest muscles helps support better and deeper breathing. This is because the pecs are attached to your ribs, which expand with every breath. Lastly, although you might not realize it, you use your pecs a lot during daily activities. Anything that involves lifting, holding, squeezing or pushing requires your chest, so it definitely doesn’t hurt to have a little extra strength in that area of your upper body.
If you don’t know where to start, here is a quick 10 minute chest workout that can be completed at home or at the gym.
Chest Fly
Targets: chest, biceps, and shoulders
Chest Fly’s are a great upper body exercise that uses dumbbells to strengthen the muscles of the chest and arms. Chest Fly can be done lying on the floor or on a weight bench. Like most strength training exercises, you will want to focus on form before adding weight. Keep a slight bend in your elbow and lower your arms slowly and lift them back up slowly. Slow, controlled movements will give you better results and help to prevent injury.
How To Do a Chest Fly:
1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor and hold dumbbells straight up over your chest.
2. With a slight bend in your elbow, open your arms wide out to the side. Squeeze your chest as you bring the weights back together at the top.
Complete this exercise with 3 sets of 10 reps with dumbbell weights.
Chest Press
Targets: pectoral muscles
Chest Press’ target the main muscle of the chest- the pectorals. It also uses the deltoids of the shoulder and the triceps of the upper arm. Building chest support and definition contributes to a fit look, but strengthening this muscle is also very functional. If you are active in any way, you need chest support. The chest press helps you with any daily activities that require pushing or carrying. It can help restore muscle balance for athletes that use pulling muscles such as in wrestling, climbing, and swimming.
How To Do a Chest Press:
- Lie on a bench or floor with a dumbbell in each hand. If you use a bench, you may have the feet up on the bench or on the floor, whichever is comfortable.
- Position the dumbbells at the shoulders with upper arms at about 45 degrees to the body. The palms should face forward and your thumbs should be wrapped around the handle.
- Squeeze the abdominal muscles and tilt your chin slightly toward your chest. Push the weights upward.
- Lower the weights, muscles contracted, then return to starting position.
Complete this exercise with 3 sets of 10 reps with dumbbell weights.
Close Grip Chest Press Fly
Targets: triceps, chest, shoulders
How To Do a Close Grip Chest Press Fly:
1. Start off laying with back on a flat bench, feet in front of you and holding a dumbbell in each hand elevated above your chest.
2. Slowly lower the dumbbells to your chest, keeping them close together, without touching and hold for a count.
3. Return back to the starting position.
Complete this exercise with 3 sets of 10 reps with dumbbell weights.
Push Ups
Targets: pectoral muscles, shoulders, triceps, abs
Traditional push ups are beneficial for upper body strength. They work the triceps, pectoral muscles and shoulders. When done with proper form, they can also strengthen the back and core by engaging the abdominal muscles. Push ups are a fast and effective exercise for building strength.
How To Do a Push Up:
- Get down on all fours, placing your hands slightly wider than your shoulders.
- Straighten your arms and legs.
- Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor.
- Pause, then push yourself back up.
- Repeat.
Complete this exercise with 3 sets of 10 reps with dumbbell weights.
Barbell Bench Press
Targets: pectorals, arms, shoulders
Bench Press is an excellent exercise for strengthening upper body push strength and will strengthen your pectoral, arm, and shoulder muscles. Additionally, by strengthening the triceps, it strengthens pressing strength. Bench Press is a great way to strengthen both pushing and pressing movements.
How To Do a Bench Press:
- Lie back on a flat bench holding a barbell in the rack above you with a shoulder-width, overhand grip.
- Drive your feet into the floor to contract your quads and glutes, and clamp back your shoulder blades to shorten the weight’s path of travel. This increases neural drive to your chest, delts and triceps.
- From the starting position, breathe in and lower the bar slowly until it skims the middle of your chest.
- Focus your mind on activating your chest muscles and push the bar back to the starting position explosively as you breathe out. That’s one rep.
Complete this exercise with 3 sets of 10 reps with a barbell.
And you’re done! This 10 minute at home chest workout is a quick and easy way to strengthen your upper body. Make sure you are alternating resting with your workout days so your muscles have enough time to recover in order to get the best results!
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