Chest Exercises
182 exercises — The chest (pectoralis major and minor) is one of the largest pushing muscle groups in the upper body, responsible for pressing movements and arm adduction. Training it well means combining horizontal presses, inclines for the upper chest, and flyes for stretch and contraction. This library collects every chest exercise in the WorkoutX database, each paired with a looping video animation so you can see the exact range of motion before you lift. Filter mentally by equipment — flat and incline barbell presses for raw strength, dumbbell presses and flyes for a deeper stretch, cable crossovers for constant tension, and push-up variations you can do anywhere. Every move links to a full page with step-by-step instructions, the primary and secondary muscles worked, and the equipment needed. Developers can pull the same chest data — names, muscles, equipment, and video links — straight from the WorkoutX API.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best chest exercises for building mass?
Compound presses drive the most growth: the barbell bench press, incline barbell press, and dumbbell bench press load the pecs heavily. Pair them with flyes or cable crossovers to fully stretch and contract the muscle.
Can I train chest without equipment?
Yes. Push-ups and their variations — incline, decline, wide, and close-grip — train the chest using only bodyweight. Browse the bodyweight push-up moves in this list for animated form guides.
How many chest exercises should I do per workout?
Most lifters use 3–4 chest exercises per session: one heavy press, one incline movement, and one or two isolation flyes. Adjust volume to your experience level and weekly frequency.
Do these chest exercises come with animations?
Yes. Every chest exercise here has a looping animation of the full movement, plus step-by-step instructions, form tips and the muscles worked. Through the WorkoutX API the same animations come as 720p MP4 at 30 fps, with male and female models.
For developers
Building a fitness app?
Get all 182 chest exercises from the WorkoutX API: names, muscles, equipment, instructions and 720p MP4 animations, in one REST call.
# Chest exercises, 20 at a time
curl "https://api.workoutxapp.com/v2/exercises?bodyPart=chest&limit=20" \
-H "X-WorkoutX-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"