Chest workout without weights : Up your chest size with no equipment!

A hard chest workout without weights you ask? No bench, barbell, or dumbbells you say! Well my friends, you can actually really blast your chest using just your bodyweight, when knowing the correct exercises, and proper technique. Read on and let’s get to this.

About the chest muscles

The pectoral muscles (pecs) are located on either side of the chest area. They connect the chest to the bones of the shoulder and upper arm. They are active during the pushing motion of the arms. The chest muscles are used to pull the upper arm towards, and across the front, of the upper body.

There are two main muscles in the chest. These being the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor. The pectoralis major is the larger of the two and makes up the bulk of the chest. Pectoralis minor is smaller and sits beneath the pectoralis major.

Benefits of doing a chest workout without weights

#1 Time-saving.

No need for a gym to do any of these chest exercises. Saves you time and money – win-win.

#2 More compound movement benefits.

Doing push-ups, or chest dips is far better than bench pressing in terms of a compound movement. Way more muscles will be engaged and used during the exercises. This also means a better balance of strength between the shoulders, arms, and chest. Any gains in chest size will also look more naturally balanced against arms and shoulders.

Common mistakes when doing a chest workout without weights

#1 Blowing out the triceps before the chest.

Your triceps are a smaller and less powerful muscle than the chest. If you start your workout with narrow grip push-ups, your triceps are going to be done before your chest. Leave the tricep-focused exercises to the end of your workout.

#2 Not keeping the body rigid enough during exercise movements.

To get the maximum benefit from all these chest exercises it is really important to maintain proper form throughout. keep the body stiff and straight. It should look as if only the arms are moving. Avoid any temptation in using body momentum to do the work for you.

List of exercises for chest workout without weights

There are two primary bodyweight exercises that will work the chest – the press up, and the chest dip. There are a pretty large amount of variations of the press-up that can be done. To hit all areas of the chest a lot of those variations will need to be done.

• Standard push up
• Wide grip push up
• Narrow grip push up
• Incline push up
• Decline push up
• Dynamic push up
• Side to side push-ups
• Plyometric push-up
• Chest dips

#1 Standard push up

Primarily hits, and works the mid portions of the chest. Also works the tricep. This version gives the best balance of work between the tricep and chest.

How to do a push-up correctly.

1. Find a flat level surface.
2. Get on your hands and knees, facing downwards.
3. Hands should be slightly more than shoulder-width apart.
4. Fingers pointing forward, in line with the shoulders.
5. Extend the legs straight out behind, feet almost together, balancing on the toes.
6. Extend the arms and hold the body in a straight line, plank-style position.
7. You are now in the start position.
8. Begin the push-up by lowering the body down using ONLY the arms.
9. Stop just before the chest hits the ground.
10. Raise yourself back up again to the start position using ONLY the arms.
11. You have now completed 1 rep.

*Note – Keep the hips pulled forward to maintain body straightness, and rigidity, throughout the exercise. Doing this will naturally pull the body into a straighter line.

#2 Wide grip push up

Primarily hits, and works the mid portions of the chest. Works the chest more, and triceps less, than a standard push up.

How to do a wide grip push up correctly.

1. Find a flat level surface.
2. Get on your hands and knees, facing downwards.
3. Hands should be wider than shoulder-width apart.
4. Fingers pointing forward, in line with the shoulders.
5. Extend the legs straight out behind, feet almost together, balancing on the toes.
6. Extend the arms and hold the body in a straight line, plank-style position.
7. You are now in the start position.
8. Begin the push-up by lowering the body down using ONLY the arms.
9. Stop just before the chest hits the ground.
10. Raise yourself back up again to the start position using ONLY the arms.
11. You have now completed 1 rep.

The wider the grip the more the emphasis moves toward the chest. There will be a limit to how wide you can go with this. Stop once too much strain is felt on shoulders.

*Note – Keep the hips pulled forward to maintain body straightness, and rigidity, throughout the exercise. Doing this will naturally pull the body into a straighter line.

#3 Narrow grip push up

Primarily hits, and works the mid portions of the chest. Works the triceps more, and chest less, than a standard push up.

How to do a narrow grip push up correctly.

1. Find a flat level surface.
2. Get on your hands and knees, facing downwards.
3. Hands should be narrower than shoulder-width apart.
4. Fingers pointing forward, in line with the shoulders.
5. Extend the legs straight out behind, feet almost together, balancing on the toes.
6. Extend the arms and hold the body in a straight line, plank-style position.
7. You are now in the start position.
8. Begin the push-up by lowering the body down using ONLY the arms.
9. Keep elbows tucked by sides as much as possible
10. Stop just before the chest hits your hands, or as low as comfortably possible.
11. Raise yourself back up again to the start position using ONLY the arms.
12. You have now completed 1 rep.

Keep the elbows tucked as much as possible to stop them flaring outwards. The narrower the grip, the more difficult this exercise becomes, and the more stress on the elbows. Only go as low as you can comfortably handle.

*Note – Keep the hips pulled forward to maintain body straightness, and rigidity, throughout the exercise. Doing this will naturally pull the body into a straighter line.

#4 Incline push up

The incline push-up targets more of the lower portion of the chest. Also good for those struggling with the regular version. Raising the upper body reduces the bodyweight to lift, making the exercise a little easier.

How to do an incline push up correctly.

1. Find a flat level surface that also has a raised item such as a box, or bench, etc.
2. Place your hands on the raised item, and your knees on the floor behind you.
3. Hands should be slightly more than shoulder-width apart, fingers pointing forward.
4. Extend the legs straight out behind, feet almost together, balancing on the toes.
5. Extend the arms and hold the body in a straight line, plank-style position.
6. You are now in the start position.
7. Begin the push-up by lowering the body down using ONLY the arms.
8. Stop just before the chest hits the raised item.
9. Raise yourself back up again to the start position using ONLY the arms.
10. You have now completed 1 rep.

The higher the raised item, the more the lower chest is targeted. However, raising the item also makes this exercise easier. Aim for the sweet spot, and have the item around mid-calf to mid-thigh height. You can also do this lower chest exercise in narrow or close grip variations.

*Note – Keep the hips pulled forward to maintain body straightness, and rigidity, throughout the exercise. Doing this will naturally pull the body into a straighter line.

#5 Decline push up

The incline push-up is intended to target the upper portion of the chest. Also good for those who find the regular version too easy. Raising the feet increases the weight on the upper body, making the exercise that bit harder.

How to do a decline push up correctly.

1. Find a flat level surface that also has a raised item such as a box, or bench, etc.
2. Place your hands on the floor, and your feet on the raised item behind you.
3. Hands should be slightly more than shoulder-width apart, fingers pointing forward.
4. Legs should be straight out behind, feet almost together, balancing on the toes.
5. Extend the arms and hold the body in a straight line, plank-style position.
6. You are now in the start position.
7. Begin the push-up by lowering the body down using ONLY the arms.
8. Stop just before the face reaches the floor.
9. Raise yourself back up again to the start position using ONLY the arms.
10. You have now completed 1 rep.

The higher the raised item, the more the upper chest is targeted. However, raising the item also makes this exercise harder. Use an item around mid-calf to mid-thigh height. You can also do this upper chest exercise in narrow or close grip variations.

*Note – Keep the hips pulled forward to maintain body straightness, and rigidity, throughout the exercise. Doing this will naturally pull the body into a straighter line.

#6 Dynamic push up

The is good for building strength and explosive power in the chest, triceps, and shoulders. This chest exercise is a fair bit harder than a regular push-up, with explosive strength, and coordination required.

How to do a dynamic push-up correctly.

1. Find a flat level surface.
2. Place your hands on the floor, and your feet behind you.
3. Hands should be a little more than shoulder-width apart, fingers facing forward.
4. Legs should be straight out behind, feet shoulder-width apart, balancing on the toes.
5. Extend the arms and hold the body in a straight line, plank-style position.
6. You are now in the start position.
7. Begin the exercise by lowering the body down using ONLY the arms.
8. Stop just before the chest reaches the floor.
9. Raise yourself explosively upwards, and off the floor, using ONLY the arms.
10. Land back down on hands with narrow grip, and feet together.
11. Lower yourself down again.
12. Stop just before the chest reaches the floor.
13. Once again, raise yourself explosively upwards, and off the floor.
14. Land back down with standard width grip, and feet shoulder-width apart.
15. You have now completed 1 rep.

Ensure you have good strength, and correct technique built up from standard, and narrow grip push-ups before even attempting this. Injury risk is always increased with more explosive and dynamic movements such as these. Remember to land back down as softly on the hands as possible to avoid injury.

#7 Side to side push up

This variation will place more load on one side of the body than the other for each half rep. Great for building extra strength, of normal ones are starting to get too easy!

How to do a side-to-side push-up correctly.

1. Find a flat level surface.
2. Get on your hands and knees, facing downwards.
3. Hands should be slightly more than shoulder-width apart.
4. Fingers pointing forward, in line with the shoulders.
5. Extend the legs straight out behind, feet almost together, balancing on the toes.
6. Extend the arms and hold the body in a straight line, plank-style position.
7. You are now in the start position.
8. Begin the push-up by lowering the body down using ONLY the arms.
9. As you move downward, pivot at the toes and move your head towards your right hand.
10. Stop just before the chest hits the ground.
11. Raise yourself back up again to the start position using ONLY the arms.
12. Once again, lowering the body downward.
13. As you move downward, pivot at the toes and this time move your head towards your left hand.
14. Raise yourself back up again to the start position again.
15. You have now completed 1 rep.

Ensure you have good strength, and correct technique built up from standard, push-ups before attempting these.

*Note – Keep the hips pulled forward to maintain body straightness, and rigidity, throughout the exercise. Doing this will naturally pull the body into a straighter line.

#8 Plyometric push-up

Works the same muscles as the standard push up, however it gives more gains for explosive strength. Aim to get as high from the ground as possible on the push-up part of this chest exercise.

How to do a plyometric push up correctly.

1. Find a flat level surface.
2. Get on your hands and knees, facing downwards.
3. Hands should be slightly more than shoulder-width apart.
4. Fingers pointing forward, in line with the shoulders.
5. Extend the legs straight out behind, feet almost together, balancing on the toes.
6. Extend the arms and hold the body in a straight line, plank-style position.
7. You are now in the start position.
8. Begin the push-up by lowering the body down using ONLY the arms.
9. Stop just before the chest hits the ground.
10. Explosively raise yourself back upwards, and off the floor, using ONLY the arms, getting as high as possible.
11. Land back down with soft elbows.
12. You have now completed 1 rep.

Ensure you have good strength, and correct technique built up from standard push-ups before attempting these. Injury risk is always increased with more explosive movements such as these. Remember to land as softly on the hands as possible to avoid injury.

*Note – Keep the hips pulled forward to maintain body straightness, and rigidity, throughout the exercise. Doing this will naturally pull the body into a straighter line.

#9 Chest dips

For this chest exercise, you will need parallel bars or something similar. The back of two chairs can be used, check out the “tricep dips on two chairs” exercise in this article about tricep dips for more on that. The chest dip is essentially a variation of the tricep dip.

How to do a chest dip correctly.

1. Move into and between the bars.
2. Grip the bars with palms facing inward.
3. Lift yourself upward until your arms are straight.
4. Lean your body forward by moving legs behind the centerline, and moving your head forward, and looking down.
5. You are now in the start position.
6. Begin slowly lowering yourself downwards.
7. Stop when the forearm and upper arm are at 90 degrees, or as far as your flexibility allows.
8. Push yourself back upward again to the start position.
9. You have now completed 1 rep.

Always ensure you keep that forward lean during the entire movement. It is specifically this that works the chest more than during a straight-up tricep dip.

Chest workout without weights at home

To get a great chest workout without weights at home you can use any of the above chest exercises. Aim for 10- 15 reps and 3 – 4 sets of 3 different exercises.

Rest as long as required between sets. For progression, you can gradually lower the rest times.

Below is an example hard pyramid circuit type session. You can use any combination of the above-listed chest exercises. Circuit 2 should be more or less your max reps, and circuit 3 should feel close to all out. Rest as long as needed between circuits, but keep rest between exercises as short as possible for maximum effect.

Example chest workout without weights circuit session

Circuit 1 (65 – 75% of max reps)

• wide grip push-up
• decline push-up (wide grip)
• plyometric push-up
• chest dips

Circuit 2 (85 – 100% of max reps)

• wide grip push-up
• decline push-up (wide grip)
• plyometric push-up
• chest dips

Circuit 3 (max effort)

• wide grip push-up
• decline push-up (wide grip)
• plyometric push-up
• chest dips

In Conclusion

As you can see it is totally possible to get a great chest workout without weights.

All the chest exercises listed also give far greater compound movement benefits, than bench press alone. Your arms, shoulders, and chest will benefit from a more natural balance of strength between them.

Don’t forget however, to balance the strengthening of the triceps, and chest, with pull-ups or similar to strengthen the upper back and biceps.

Also, remember that increasing muscle mass and lowering fat is dependent on the correct diet.

So no more excuses, get on the floor and start working that chest!

Disclaimer

Always consult your GP before undertaking any form of weight loss, fitness, or exercise.