Are you looking for chest workouts without weights that won’t put added stress on your joints? Check out this do-it-yourself guide to building muscle without weights!
Building a strong and muscular chest doesn’t require a gym membership or expensive weights. With a few simple bodyweight exercises, you can target all the major muscles in your chest and build a bigger, stronger chest at home.
Bodyweight chest exercises are great for beginners and advanced trainers alike. They’re challenging, but they’re also adaptable, so you can modify them to fit your fitness level. And since you don’t need any equipment, you can do them anywhere, anytime.
Why are your chest muscles important?
The chest is made up of two basic muscles, the pectoralis major and minor, which are sometimes referred to as ‘pecs.’ The pectoralis major is the largest of the two muscles, extending over the upper chest and attaching to the shoulder and breastbone in a fan shape. The pectoralis minor, on the other hand, is a tiny, triangular muscle located directly beneath the pectoralis major.
So, what exactly do these muscles do? They are, nonetheless, quite significant when it comes to managing your arm movements. From pushing and turning your arm towards your body’s center to lifting your arms high. Consider picking up a child, swinging a tennis racket, or pushing a large object away from you.
Additionally, as these muscles take up the majority of the chest wall, working them out will burn a considerable amount of energy. If you’re looking to shed some pounds and tone up, then this is an especially good muscle to train. It will rev up your metabolism quite nicely.
Given the significance of this powerful muscle, we’ve created two personalized workouts—one with and one without equipment—that you can do from the comfort of your own four walls to get a toned and muscular chest.
Chest exercises at home without equipment
The traditional push-up and all its variations are some of the best workouts you can undertake to strengthen the strength of your chest. Varying your body position and the length of time you perform the exercise will target different parts of your chest for balanced upper body strength.
1. Regular push-ups
This traditional bodyweight exercise is a great place to start and to keep as a training mainstay in any full-body or upper-body workout. Use a wide hold since it will train your chest muscles more than a narrow grip will.
2. Incline push-ups
If a conventional push-up is too difficult for you to begin with, try an incline push-up. The steeper the inclination, the less body weight is required to push. This is also an excellent workout for toning your lower chest.
3. Decline push-ups
What goes up must eventually fall down. These push-ups will help you particularly target your upper chest and deltoid muscles. It also adds more of your body weight to the activity than a regular push-up, making it more difficult.
4. Plyometric push-ups
Are you prepared to spring into action? These push-ups can be done in a variety of creative and fanciful ways, such as clap push-ups. These intense bursts of plyometric movement will have your muscles firing on all cylinders.
5. Time under tension push-ups
Slowing down a movement and paying attention to proper form, believe it or not, will result in excellent conditioning results. Lowering yourself very slowly into a push-up and returning to your starting position will improve your muscular mass.
6. Wide Push-ups
This is an excellent addition to your at-home chest training. Instead of keeping your hands shoulder-width apart, consider spreading them a little wider. This will aid in the recruitment of your triceps, as well as your deltoids and pecs.
8. Diamond Push-ups
Another step up from the traditional push-up. Instead of placing your hands shoulder-width apart, consider placing them underneath your chest, with your thumb and index finger touching. This is an excellent addition to your home chest workout program because it works your core muscles in addition to the chest and arm muscles we’re already activating.
9. Shuffle Push-ups
We know what you’re thinking: “Another push-up variant?!” and you’d be correct. However, it is still an excellent supplement to your home chest training routine. Start in a conventional push-up stance, but instead of keeping both hands level, push one out in front of you and one behind you. Perform a push-up, then switch hands and attempt again. Perform at least 10 reps of this so that you have an even number of reps with your hands in each position.
10. One-leg Push-ups
To perform this home chest workout, you’ll need some serious chops. Begin in the usual push-up position and then elevate one leg. Complete your set of reps (aim to get to 10) while keeping your glutes tight. Alternatively, you could switch legs between reps. Just make sure you do an equal number of reps on each leg.
11. Off-set Push-ups
This is a difficult one. Begin in a regular push-up stance, but lift one hand to rest on a stable surface. This might be anything from a chair to a coffee table. So long as it is flat and strong. Then do a set of press-ups before switching arms. If you’re performing more than two sets, make sure you complete an even number of them to avoid overworking one side.
12. Close-Grip Push-Up
The close-grip push-up is an excellent exercise for developing triceps strength and working the inner muscle fibers of the chest. You’ll still be strengthening the chest and anterior deltoids, but you’ll be focused on the triceps. Furthermore, the narrower base of support strengthens the core even more. Here, adjust your hand posture to reduce strain on your anterior deltoid.
Chest Workouts Without Weights
When these workouts are used in conjunction with weighted chest exercises, you’ll improve your relative strength, and the extra volume will come in handy for added size and strength.
100-Rep Push-Up Challenge
This one is basic and straightforward, but it is difficult since physical tiredness builds quickly. This takes less than five to ten minutes and results in a fantastic chest and triceps pump.
Perform a total of 100 tight push-ups for a set amount of time.
When you stop to rest, subtract the total number of repetitions done up to that point from 100 total reps to get the duration of rest (seconds) you can take before restarting. For example, you begin with a set of 20 push-ups and rest for 80 seconds before repeating (100 total reps – 20 reps). You squeeze out another 18 repetitions on your second set, giving you 62 seconds of respite (100 total repeats – 20 reps – 18 reps). As you get closer to 100 total reps, the rest times increase shorter and shorter, allowing you to do singles, doubles, and/or triples under high quantities of exhaustion with less than five to ten seconds of rest.
4-Way Push-up Workout
This push-up ladder begins with a challenging push-up variation and progresses to three easier push-up variations. Even so, as the push-up varieties become easier, the repetitions rise.
While this appears to be possible on paper, the sheer volume of push-ups (150-200 total reps) will catch up with you.
The 4-way push-up training works the fast-twitch and explosive muscle fibers (plyometric push-up), as well as the inner chest and triceps (close grip and normal push-up). The final 20 repetitions of each set tax the slow-twitch muscle fibers.
- Five plyometric push-ups
- 10 close-grip push-ups
- 15 scapular push-ups
- 20 push-ups
- Rest 60-90 seconds
- Repeat for three to four total sets
