Best Chest and Triceps Exercises

Best Chest and Triceps Exercises

There’s no denying the fact that when you’re at the beach with your shirt off, a broad muscular chest and well-defined triceps will turn heads. Many men make the mistake of focusing on their biceps when it’s the size of the triceps that will decide just how big their arms will look because they’re the bigger muscle of the two. 

By training your triceps, you’ll not only have bigger arms but will not be wasting unnecessary time doing countless bicep curls just to make your arms look huge.

Train chest first

It’s important to note that when training, you’re only as strong as your weakest link. That means, you should always train your bigger and stronger muscles first. In this case, most chest exercises will incorporate some of your triceps muscles.

So, if you train your triceps and exhaust them first, your chest workout will be compromised. It’s best to focus on working your pectoral muscles first, and after you’ve given them your full attention, you can then hit your triceps until exhaustion.

Now let’s look at some of the best chest and triceps exercises that you can do.

*Chest

Barbell bench press

No list would be complete without the bench press. This is the most popular exercise in the gym and the one that guys brag about the most.

It’s a simple exercise. You’ll lie flat on a bench with both your hands holding a barbell above your chest perpendicularly. You’ll then lower the bar until it almost touches your chest, and then you push it back up.

You should lower the bar for 3 counts and push it up for one count. The eccentric motion is the one that truly activates the muscles for most exercises.

Dumbbell bench presses

Similar to barbell presses, but you’ll be holding one dumbbell in each arm. While you’ll not be able to move as much weight as you would if you used a bar, with dumbbells, you’ll be able to truly target each side of your chest and train the weaker side.

If you wish to train the lower chest, use decline bench presses and if you wish to train your upper chest, use incline bench presses.

Cables

Besides dumbbells and barbells, you can do many chest exercises using cables too. Bench cable flyes, cable crossovers, etc. are highly effective too. The benefit of using cables is that there is always tension on your muscles.

Unlike a bench press where there’s a brief rest if you were to lock your elbows at the top of the movement, with cables, you’ll always be fighting the tension.

*Triceps

Generally, after a chest training, your triceps should already have gotten a workout too. However, if you wish to hit them harder and train the muscles to failure, there are a few exercises that you can use.

Skullcrushers, overhead triceps extensions, triceps dips, rope triceps pushdown, and tricep kickbacks are fantastic for training your arms. Since most of these are isolation exercises, it’s best to save them till the end of the workout.

Work your chest and triceps once or twice a week and gradually try to increase the weights. Always use good form and never use jerky movements just to move more weight. 

Leave your ego at the door when you engage in weight training. With time, your muscles will get bigger and you’ll have all the bragging rights when summer comes.