6 Best Push Exercises for Beginners To Activate Chest Muscles

Push exercises, which mainly target the chest, triceps, and shoulders, are great for developing power and muscle in the upper body—especially if you’re looking to increase your strength. You can perform push exercises on a push day or any other day, but here’s how to choose the right ones for you.

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What Are Push Exercises?

Push exercises, also called compound exercises, work more than one muscle group. Push exercises can help you build muscle and improve physical strength. They can also make many daily activities easier.

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Six of the Best Push Exercises for Beginners

1) Bench Press

The bench press is a popular upper body push exercise that trains multiple muscle groups at once. It can be used to build strength and muscle mass in the chest and triceps.

How to do it?

• Lie on a bench, feet flat on the floor and directly under your knees.
• Pull your shoulders back and down, without lifting your butt or shoulders off the bench.
• Put your hands about shoulder-width apart on the bar.
• Tighten your core, take a deep breath, and unrack the barbell.
• Bring the bar to your chest and pause briefly before pressing it back up.

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2) Incline Barbell Bench Press

The incline barbell bench press is a type of push exercise that can help you develop a more attractive upper chest. It's one of the best push exercises for targeting this area. Include this push exercise in your chest workout to fill out your pecs—and make them appear bigger overall.

How to do it?

• Lie on a bench angled at 30 to 45 degrees with your feet flat on the floor.
• Pull your shoulder blades together, down, and back, and without lifting your butt or shoulders off the bench, arch your back slightly.
• Hold the bar with hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and take a deep breath.
• Brace your core and unrack the barbell.
• Bring it to your upper chest making sure to keep your elbows at about a 45 degree angle relative to your body.
• When the bar touches your chest explosively press it back to the starting position.

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3) Dumbbell Bench Press

The dumbbell bench press is a similar exercise to the barbell bench press. The difference is that the range of motion is greater, which means you can train your muscles in a way that’s usually better for muscle growth. However, the downside is that you can’t lift as much weight on dumbbells.

How to do it?

• Lie on a flat bench and hold dumbbells in each hand.
• Let the dumbbells rest on your thighs and give them a nudge with your legs so they’re directly above your chest.
• Press the dumbbells straight up over your chest until your arms are straight and your elbows locked.
• Lower the weights back down to their original position, which is on top of your thighs.

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4) Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

The incline bench press is a chest exercise that works on your chest, triceps, and shoulders. It lets you use a greater range of motion than regular bench presses do, but it’s easier to lift heavier weights when you use a barbell.

How to do it?

• Lie on a bench that’s angled at 30 to 45 degrees and grab a dumbbell in each hand.
• Hold the dumbbells at your thighs, and then lie back, lifting them up so they’re resting on either side of your chest.
• Press straight up until your arms are straight and your elbows are locked, then lower them back down to the starting position.

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5) Dip

This movement trains your upper body to push simultaneously, and it's also a great choice if you use a dip belt. The belt allows you to safely add weight to help build muscle and strength.

How to do it?

• Put the desired amount of weight on the dip belt and fasten it.
• Put the handles of a dip bar or dip station in your hands, straighten your arms and gently jump off the ground so that your arms are straight and supporting your entire body weight.
• Bend your knees to keep your feet from touching the ground, and lower your body by bending your elbows until they are parallel to the floor.
• Press hard into the handles to drive yourself back up to the starting position.

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6) Standing Barbell Overhead Press

The barbell overhead press, one of the popular push exercises, targets your chest, shoulders, triceps, and upper back. It also works on all-body balance and coordination.

How to do it?

• Set a barbell in a rack at the height of your upper chest.
• Put your hands shoulder-width apart on the bar and turn your palms away from you.
• Lift the bar off the rack, step back with each foot, keep your elbows tucked close to your sides, and lower the weight until your arms are straight but not locked.
• Put the bar back on the rack.

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Takeaway

Push exercises are useful exercises for people of all ages and fitness levels. They provide a workout that benefits the joints, and they offer something to everyone from beginners to professionals.