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Today we will reveal the best chest and tricep workout for both strength and muscle mass. Both workouts routines have been split for either beginner and advanced lifters.
Each workout routine will show you how to perform the exercise and how many reps.
It's both for beginners and advanced lifters essential to follow a good workout guide for optimal muscle and strength gains.
Training chest and triceps together is something that bodybuilders have been doing for decades. The reason for training those muscle groups together is very logical. When you do a chest exercise, like a bench press, you are automatically activating your triceps in the process. This works the same for your back and biceps. When you do a pull-up, you will activate your biceps. It's, therefore, by many weightlifters preferred to train them together since you are already working them.
Some people like to do a different split like biceps with chest and triceps with back. Their theory is that they still have plenty of energy left for the bicep muscle while training chest.
Therefore they could lift heavier weights. However, this is a personal preference. I like to train triceps while doing chest and biceps within my back and bicep workout.
First of all, we will show you the best chest exercises for optimal muscle and strength gain. It's important to let you know that we are strong believers in first training your chest before triceps. This is because your chest muscle will need your full energy and is most likely the heavies to train and gain in terms of muscle.
It's important to notice that we will split our chest exercise in 3 ways. The upper chest, full chest, and lower chest.
The chest muscle is also known as the Pectoralis muscle and divided between the pectoralis minor and pectoralis major. You also have the upper muscle which is known as the clavicular head.
Below you will find 4 exercises that are all very easy, safe, and effective for optimal chest muscle gains.
A quick note: If you are a beginner, always make sure to start slow and ask your physician if you are able to do this exercises.
The most common, simple, and effective exercise for optimal chest gains is the bench press. It a very neutral exercise that has been around for years. Some people like to switch it up with dumbells, but it's essentially the same idea.
This exercise is one of the best chest builders since it targets the whole chest and not just the upper or lower chest. In the process, you will also use your triceps and a bit of shoulder, but this is unavoidable.
The bench press is also a 'strongman' movement. You will see many strong men do this exercise as heavy as possible. Currently, the world record bench press is 349.27 kg (770 lb).
However, if you are looking to gain muscle, you would need to be in the 6-12 rep range.
Some people don't like this exercise since it could hurt their rotator cuffs. It's therefore highly recommended doing a proper rotator cuff warm-up before bench pressing.
It's also good to note that if you are going to life heavyweights, always make sure to let someone spot you. There have been too many people injured from letting the bar drop.
Pro's
Cons
| Sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| 3 | 8-12 |
The incline bench press is essentially the same exercise as the regular bench press, however, this time the bench is at a 15-30 degree. This will make sure your body is targeting the upper chest muscle, which is also known as the clavicular head.
Most people like to use the 30-degree bench. If you go higher, you will target your shoulders more. It's advised not to take it higher than 45 degrees. Bodybuilders love this exercise because this is targeting the upper chest muscle, which is essentially the hardest to gain muscle at.
You could do the same exercise with dumbells, which is the same movement. However, you have a little bit more control of both shoulders and makes it safer for your rotator cuffs.
It's advised to stay in the 8-15 reputation range for optimal muscle activation.
Just like the regular bench press, it's advised to ask someone to spot you if you are going to life heavyweights.
I wouldn't advise using this exercise in the 1-3 rep range. It could give lots of stress on your shoulds, and actually, your shoulders could take most of the workload, meaning you are not adequately activating your chest muscles.
Pro's
Cons
| Sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| 3 | 8-15 |
The cable crossover is a perfect replacement exercise for the dumbbell fly. It essentially makes you do a fly with cables making it an ideal exercise that targeted the chest muscle.
The great thing about the cable crossover is that you can target the chest in 3 different ways. You can either choose to focus on the upper chest, the whole chest, and the lower chest muscle.
Many bodybuilders like doing this exercise as a 'pump' or finish exercise because it will give you a fantastic pump if done right.
When performing the cable crossover exercise it's very important to mention that you get a good stretch in the muscle. This will make sure you are hiring every muscle fiber.
The reason why many bodybuilders like to use this exercise as their last exercise is that you aren't able to go heavy. If you end up doing it very heavy you can get insure yourself pretty badly.
If your gym doesn't have a cable crossover you could always use a pec fly. This is basically the same exercise, however, you are not as flexible as the cable crossover.
Below you will find a video that will tell you everything you need to know how to perform the cable crossover exercise.
Pro's
Cons
| Sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| 3-5 | 10-15 |
Chest dip is an amazing chest exercise that is mainly focussed on the lower chest. This is mainly a bodyweight exercise but you could also use weights to increase the workload.
This exercise can be done with various different machines but would only just require 2 simple bars where you can lean on.
It's a bodyweight exercise just like pull-ups and is very easy to do. When performing this exercise it's extremely important that you focus on your chest and not on your triceps or shoulders.
The chest dip is a perfect exercise if you are going to train chest and triceps on the same day because you will also activate your triceps a lot.
It's, therefore, essential that you lean slightly forward and get a good stretch on the chest muscle before coming up.
The video below will explain to you in 1 minute how to safely perform the chest dip for optimal muscle gain.
Pro's
Cons
| Sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | 8-12 |
After you did your chest training your triceps will most likely be a little bit fatigued. This set of exercises is put together for optimal strength, mass, and muscle pumps.
Before we get to the tricep exercises, let's take a look at how this muscle is formed.
As the name already mentioned, the triceps consist of three different muscle parts. You have the lateral head, medial head, and the long head.
This tricep routine is focussed on targeting every tricep head.
The tricep pushdown is a very good tricep exercise, which is mostly done with a cable and normal bar attachment.
With this exercise you can focus on all triceps head, this depends on how you hold the bar. For example, if you hold the bar pronated you will focus the lateral head. If you would like to focus on the long head you need to hold it with a neutral grip. And if you would like to target the medial head you would need to hold a supinated grip.
When performing the tricep pushdown, it's crucial to hold your elbows close to your body and lean a bit forward.
You could go very heavy on this one since it's the first tricep exercise. As mentioned earlier, you can perform this exercise with many different approaches.
It depends on which tricep head you would like to focus on. I like to focus on the lateral head with a printed grip.
Pro's
Cons
| Sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| 3-4 | 8-12 |
This exercise is also called 'skull crushers' and is a very good movement for the whole triceps. You could also do them with dumbbells if you are someone that likes to focus on each arm separately.
Make sure to get a good stretch on your triceps when you go down with the bar and keep your elbows close to your body.
You can either hold the bar close to your forehead or just above your head, depending on what type gives the best stretch to your muscle group.
When performing them with dumbells you have a neutral grip which means you will focus more on the long head of the tricep.
Pro's
Cons
| Sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| 3 | 8-12 |
The seated triceps dips are also a body-weight exercise and can be performed almost everywhere. As you can see in the image below, you will see that it's best to do it between 2 benches.
When performing the tricep dips, you must keep your elbows close to your body.
I like to do this exercise as a finisher to get a good pump.
If the body-weight is to light, you can place a weight on your legs for the extra workload.
Pro's
Cons
| Sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| 3 | 8-12 |
| Sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| 3 | 8-12 |
Below you will find an easy to use chest and tricep workout routine for beginners. If you are someone that is just starting out working out it's always advised to start slow and adjust where needed. Do not start off with heavyweights because you could seriously injure yourself.
| Exercise | Reps | Sets |
|---|---|---|
| Chest | ||
| Bench Press | 10-12 | 3 |
| Incline Dumbbell Press | 10-12 | 3 |
| Cable Crossover | 12-15 | 3 |
| Tricep | ||
| Tricep Pushdown | 8-12 | 3 |
| Dumbbell Tricep Extension | 10-12 | 3 |
Below you will find the advanced workout routine for chest and triceps. As you can see, it contains of four chest and three triceps excercises.
| Exercise | Reps | Sets |
|---|---|---|
| Chest | ||
| Bench Press | 10-12 | 3 |
| Incline Dumbbell Press | 10-12 | 3 |
| Cable Crossover | 12-15 | 3 |
| Tricep | ||
| Tricep Pushdown | 8-12 | 3 |
| Dumbbell Tricep Extension | 10-12 | 3 |
Yes, you can train chest and triceps together. It's actually preferred by many fitness gurus and bodybuilders to train them together since you are already working the triceps when doing chest.
Chest and tricep workout for strengthA good chest and tricep workout routine for strength would be the following exercise with a rep range of 1-5:
Also, make sure to check out the best exercises for training forearms.
Chest and tricep workout while cuttingIf you are currently trying to lose weight or preparing for a show or event it's best to not change your workout routine and stay lifting heavy.
What supplements should I use?You could use something like a pre-workout to enhance your chest and tricep workout. Other supplements like laxogenin or epicatechin could help you with gaining more lean muscle mass.
I hope you liked our chest and tricep workout. Make sure to check out our other training guides:
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