Why Chest And Tricep Workouts Are Important For Upper Body

Chest and tricep workouts are an absolute must if you wish to build your upper body strength and mass.

It so happens that the muscles worked during chest and tricep workout are push movements. These movements are used in certain day-to-day activities such as pushing a door open.

So, it’s imperative to build your upper body in a way that can help you strengthen regular activities. Chest and tricep workouts assist with improving posture while reducing risk of injury. Finally, a well-developed set of pectoral and tricep muscles can improve overall physical appearance of the upper body.

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Muscles used in chest and tricep workouts

Chest exercises (Photo by Arthur Edelmans on Unsplash)

One of the most common workout splits in the fitness industry is pull-push-legs.

That means you do pull movements on day 1, push movements on day 2, and legs on day 3. Repeat. Day 7 is for rest. The idea is to try and work on each muscle group at least twice a week.

In chest and tricep workouts, the muscles worked on are pectoral muscles (chest), triceps, and anterior & lateral delts (shoulders).

Some of the compound chest exercises focus on the pectoral muscles as the primary muscle group and triceps & shoulders as the secondary muscle group. However, chest and tricep workouts include isolation exercises too.

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Chest and tricep dumbbell workout

Dumbbell workout (Photo via Unsplash/Ryan Hoffman)

A chest tricep dumbbell workout is done using a pair of dumbbells, and the weight can differ based on the exercise you’re doing.

Here are some of the chest and tricep workouts you can add to your routine:

1) Dumbbell bench press

The dumbbell bench press works on the chest and has an impact on the triceps and shoulders.

To do dumbbell bench press:

• Lie on the flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand. Keep the dumbbells at shoulder level.
• Flare your chest, arch your back, and push the dumbbells towards the ceiling using your pectoral muscles.

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2) Dumbbell incline press

This is another compound movement that works on the chest as primary and triceps and shoulders as secondary.

To do a dumbbell incline press:

• Put the bench in an incline position.
• Keep the dumbbells at chest level.
• Flare your chest, and push the dumbbells towards the ceiling.

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3) Dumbbell fly

This is an isolation exercise for the pectoral muscles. You can use a flat bench or an incline bench.

• Keep your dumbbells in each hand, and hold them above your chest with your arms extended (but a slight bend on the elbows).
• Open your arms, and lower the dumbbells towards the side.
• Use your pectoral muscles to bring the dumbbells back to the starting position.

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#4 Double-arm tricep extension

This is an exercise for the tricep muscles. To do double-arm tricep extensions:

• Hold one end of a dumbbell with both palms, and hold it overhead.
• Keep your elbows stable, and lower the dumbbell behind your head.
• Push the dumbbell back to the starting position using your tricep muscles.

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#5 Tricep kickback

This is another exercise for the tricep muscles.

To do a tricep kickback:

• Hold a dumbbell in each hand.
• Bend forward and bring your elbows up but your forearms should be extended towards the ground.
• Your elbows should be in-line with your back.
• Keep the elbows stable, and push the forearms upwards.
• At the top of the motion, your entire arm will be in-line with your back.
• Steadily lower the dumbbell before starting the next rep.

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Chest and triceps workout at home

Tricep dips (Photo by John Fornander on Unsplash)

While chest and tricep workouts are a must, it doesn’t have to be at the gym. If you want to workout at home, you should do bodyweight exercises for the muscle groups. Two exercises that help with improving chest and triceps are:

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Push-up

Shoulder width and wide-grip push-ups work on the muscles while close-grip push-ups work on the triceps.

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Dip

If you dip straight with your torso straight, the pressure comes on the triceps. If you slightly bend your torso forward, the pressure will come on your chest.

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It’s important to add chest and tricep workouts to your routine to become stronger with time. Even if you don’t want to get buff but only lose weight, you should never skip exercises and only do cardio for weight loss. Ideally, a mixture of strength training and cardio is the best way forward for weight loss!