Good looking triceps and a noticeable, bulging chest are well within your reach! Getting the body of your dreams requires more than just persistence and motivation. Whether you are looking to build your strength or gain muscles, it can be a difficult journey if you don’t have any guidance.
Don’t worry! We can help you prepare for your muscle building journey. We will teach you how to maximize your gains and target your chest and triceps area through the best workouts, so keep on reading!
Creating Your Chest and Tricep Workout
Your chest and triceps are part of your upper body. Your chest is a wide area that can be targeted to improve your muscle gain, while your triceps contribute to at least 60% of your upper arm mass.
Some of the most important strategies for gaining muscle are contracting your targeted muscles, keeping a good volume of workouts, and varying the intensity of your workouts throughout the week. By building out strong muscles in the chest and tricep area, you can lift more weight and gain more strength, which leads to noticeable muscle gain.
In order to understand how to target your chest and tricep muscle, you should know the basic anatomy of the body. The chest area alone consists of three parts which are the upper chest, lower chest, and the full chest. The triceps also have three parts: the lateral head, medial head, and long head. It is crucial to know these parts to understand which workouts you should do to maximize your gains.
How many times do you need to go to the gym and train these muscles? According to a study by Schoenfeld, there is a significant increase in gains for people who go to the gym three days a week and use at least one kind of exercise per muscle group. The average amount of sets per workout is about three sets with at least 8-12 repetitions per session. This can vary depending on the exercise, so we’ve broken down the details for some of the best triceps and chest workouts!
Best Chest Workouts for Gains
1. Bench Press
The bench press is one of the most simple yet effective workouts you can do. You can do different variations to target different areas. As for this workout, a simple bench press can do wonders for your chest muscles.
- Equipment: Flat bench, barbells, or dumbbells
- Lie flat or straight on your back and make sure your hips are on the flat bench at all times during this workout.
- Grip the barbell or dumbbell tightly, making sure your hands are positioned wider than your shoulder width. The bar should be directly over your shoulders.
- Slowly lift the bar or dumbbell and push forward.
- 3 sets and 8-12 repetitions
2. Inclined Bench Press
Another variation of the bench press which targets the upper chest area by using a different angle of 45 to 60 degrees is the inclined bench press.
- Equipment: Inclined bench, barbells, or dumbbells
- Press your feet firmly on the ground for support, keeping your back tightly pressed on the bench.
- Grip your bar with palms facing forward. Hold tightly and push your elbow to a 45 degree angle. You will definitely feel the burn from your chest muscles.
- Inhale as you lower the bar to the level above your chest.
- 4 sets and 8-12 repetitions
3. Chest Dips
The chest dip is a good workout for targeting your lower chest. It’s easy to perform, making it a good workout for beginners.
- Equipment: Parallel bars or similar equipment
- Lift yourself up, making sure that your arms are locked and your hands firmly gripped to the bars. Your head should be at a neutral angle. Bend your knees so that your thighs are the same angle as your torso.
- Make sure to slowly exhale as you lower yourself down.
- 2-3 sets and 8-12 repetitions
4. Cable-crossover
The bench press may be the most common and well-loved form of workout for your chest, but the cable-crossover can provide a compound type of workout that can target your pectoral muscles or the whole chest area.
- Equipment: Cable machine
- Calibrate the weight based on your progress or your level of training.
- Position yourself in the middle of two cable machines; make sure you are in the middle of both. Grip both cables tightly and check that the handles are leveled with your shoulder.
- Place one of your feet slightly forward from the other, making sure that you lean yourself forward at a vertical angle.
- When you are ready, gently pull forward until both of your hands cross over your chest area.
- 3 sets and 10-15 repetitions
Best Triceps Workouts for Gains
1. Triceps Dip
Tricep dip is just like chest dips but focused mainly on activating the triceps by using the bodyweight. This is an effective workout for building your strength and contracting your tricep muscles.
- Equipment: Parallel bars or similar equipment
- Grip both handles and slowly lift yourself up. Make sure to contract your triceps and only lean forward when lowering yourself. Always keep your elbow pushed against your shoulder to maximize the workout.
- 3 sets and 8-12 repetitions
2. Triceps Pushdown
This tricep workout is flexible and can handle different kinds of weights while also targeting many parts of the triceps.
- Equipment: Cable machine
- Calibrate the weight based on your progress before starting this workout.
- Make sure to position yourself firmly in front of the cable machine. Hold the bar and make sure to keep your elbow close to your body as you push in a downward angle. Lean slightly forward as you do the pushdown.
- 3-4 sets and 8-12 repetitions
3. Lying Triceps Extension
This workout is commonly known as “skullcrushers” since the weights are pushed overhead.
It is a good workout for the whole triceps area.
- Equipment: Bench press, dumbbells, or barbell
- Position yourself firmly on the bench press and hold the bar tightly, keeping it straight in front of your shoulders. You can hold it close to your forehead or just above your head.
- 3 sets and 8-12 repetitions
4. Triangle Push Ups
The triangle push up workout is a leveled up version of the popular push up — but with a twist.
- Equipment: No equipment needed
- Face the ground and position both arms close to one another, forming a triangle shape. Proceed as if you’re doing a regular push up.
- 3 sets and 8-12 repetitions
Conclusion
Whether you are looking to maximize your gains or build your strength, trying this chest and tricep workout routine will be good for you. Many athletes may argue about the best of the best workouts, but you will never know unless you try them! Follow these steps and keep working towards your goal of building a better you.
