5 Best At-Home Pec Workouts and Exercises

At-home pec workouts for a developed chest. (Photo via MIL-TECH PHARMA LTD/Unsplash)
At-home pec workouts for a developed chest. (Photo via MIL-TECH PHARMA LTD/Unsplash)

At-home pec workouts can immensely boost the development of your pectoral muscles in terms of both shape and strength.

Of course, if you’re a regular at the gym, you have assigned days for your chest, which is ideal for good chest workouts. However, if you’re usually working out at home, it goes without saying that you’ve searched for the best chest workout at home.

When you’re exercising at home and do not have access to machines and equipment, you have to depend on your body weight as the only form of resistance. Keeping that in mind, let’s discuss some at-home pec workouts and exercises.


5 best at-home pec workouts and exercises

Since the focus is on good chest workouts at home or at-home pec workouts, it must be noted that whenever you’re working on your chest, the triceps and shoulders become secondary muscle groups that are worked on.

However, if you want to focus only on your pectoral muscles, you need to include isolation exercises. This may not be entirely possible at home considering you might not have a home gym set up.

The best way to work on your pecs at home is by doing push-ups.


The push-up position

Learn the push-up position for maximum benefits. (Photo by James Barr on Unsplash)
Learn the push-up position for maximum benefits. (Photo by James Barr on Unsplash)

To go into the push-up position, do the following:

Lay on the floor (preferably on a mat) on your stomach.

Place your palms on the floor beside your chest on each side.

Turn your feet inwards so your toes touch the floor.

Push yourself upwards using your palms and toes for balance.

At the top of the position, your hands will be stretched, legs will be stretched outwards, and your spine will be straight.

This is your push-up position.


Here are some push-up variations that you can do for at-home pec workouts.

1) Standard push-up

To do a standard push up:

Go into the push-up position.

Slowly lower your body so your chest is a few centimeters from the ground.

Push yourself upwards using your pectoral muscles for the boost.

Ideally, your pecs should be engaged to feel the resistance.

The standard push-up is used for overall chest development.


2) Incline push-up

To do an incline push-up:

Go into the push-up position, but keep your palms on an elevated surface while your feet are on the floor.

Lower your body until your chest touches the elevated surface or is close to it.

Push yourself back to the starting position.

The incline push-up helps with developing your lower chest and has an impact on your back as well.


3) Decline push-up

Decline push-ups work on your upper chest. (Photo by MIL-TECH PHARMA LTD on Unsplash)
Decline push-ups work on your upper chest. (Photo by MIL-TECH PHARMA LTD on Unsplash)

To do a decline push-up:

Go into the push-up position, but keep your feet on an elevated surface.

Move your chest as close to the floor as possible without losing balance.

Push yourself back up with your chest engaged.

The decline push-up works on developing your upper chest along with having an impact on your shoulders.


4) Wide-grip push-up

To do a wide-grip push-up:

Go into the push-up position but keep your palms wider than the standard push-up.

Proceed to do push-ups by moving closer to the floor and pushing yourself back up.

Wide-grip push-ups help with developing your overall chest along with your outer chest as well.


5) Combine the push-up variations

Add advanced variations as you become stronger. (Photo by Fortune Vieyra on Unsplash)
Add advanced variations as you become stronger. (Photo by Fortune Vieyra on Unsplash)

While the first four explain the four most common push-up variations used in at-home pec workouts, they’re still single exercises. To turn them into a proper workout routine, you should combine the four variations and do them as a circuit.

As your endurance and strength improve, you should try to include advanced variations such as Spider-Man push-ups, alternating shuffle push-ups, one-arm push-ups, and others.


Bottom line

At-home pec workouts are just as useful for developing your chest, but of course, without proper resistance training, the growth will not be as accelerated.

Nevertheless, calisthenics is a form of workout that is heavily dependent on bodyweight movements, and individuals who do calisthenics have lean physiques too.

Ideally, whether it’s about the best chest workout at home or good chest workouts at the gym, you must understand how to engage the pectoral muscles to create the resistance that forces the muscles to grow!

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Edited by Diptanil
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