What?! No bench press? Read below for my justifications for these chest exercises for men.
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Justifications
I know that most men consider the bench press as the premier chest exercise. The truth is, it’s extremely over-rated and wouldn’t even be included in my dream gym. Here’s why: Not all exercises use the same amount of muscle. And, those that do use a lot, use them more and get greater results. For more information on this, see the bottom of List of Exercises by Body Part. Exercises can be ranked by quality from best to worst.
Most Effective
- Exercises where your body moves instead of a weight or machine. Ex: Push ups vs. bench press
- Exercises using dumbbells or cables while your body is supported. Ex: Dumbbell bench press vs. bench press
Less Effective
- Exercises using barbells while your body is supported. Ex: Bench press
- Exercises using machines:while your body is supported. Ex: Machine Chest Press
I also wanted to include exercises that targeted specific areas of the chest and/or stressed the chest is a variety of motions and directions.
TRX Push Up was for the overall chest in a pressing motion. And, nothing uses more muscle than the TRX.
Dumbbell Incline Chest Press. I chose this because dumbbells are superior to barbells for activating muscle. Also, the incline puts more stress on the upper pec muscle fibers.
Dips were chosen to target the lower pec muscles and also because it forces you to move your body rather than moving an object.
I chose the TRX Chest Fly because I wanted to include a fly movement to supplement all the pushing motions. And again, nothing uses more muscle than TRX.