Best Chest and Bicep Workout to Build Strength and Mass (8 Amazing Exercises)

There is something to be said for training the t-shirt muscles, including the chest and biceps. If you’re looking for a well-defined, properly triangular physique, you need to train them for mass. If you’re looking for good quality upper body strength, you need to train at least your chest to low reps.

A good chest and bicep workout will see you right: the chest and biceps are vital upper body movers. Every time you push something forwards away from you, you use your chest. Every time you pull something towards your body, you are using your chest. If you focus on training both at once, you’ll be training near enough everything your upper needs to function as it should.

I want to talk you through some of my favorite chest and biceps exercises in detail, showing you how to perform them with good technique. Then I’ll talk you through a couple of typical training sessions, one aimed at strength, the other at hypertrophy (muscle mass gain).

Training Your Chest and Biceps Together

As above, training your chest and biceps together makes a great deal of sense. Most often, you will see people training chest and triceps. This makes a great deal of sense as your triceps work synergistically with your chest through most chest exercises – indeed, you will get a fantastic triceps workout from doing the following exercises.

However, as above, your chest and biceps between them take care of a lot of upper body functionality. They also jointly give you a very powerful looking physique. And, in leaving your triceps to another day, you are effectively working them out twice – once as chest auxiliaries, once directly.

This will give your chest and arms the stimulation they need to grow optimally.

In fact, your chest and biceps hardly interfere with one another at all. Therefore, running a bicep workout routine alongside training the chest muscles can be very effective. If you finish a chest session by focussing on your triceps, your triceps will be tired. They won’t be working optimally. Training chest and biceps together means that they are each fresh and untouched by the other. You will be able to push them to their fullest.

A chest and bicep workout like this – or any routine like this – also allows you to optimize the balance of time in the gym with effort going into each set. If you train lots of different muscle groups in one day, you can only go for a small amount of stimulation in each. If you devote a whole session to just one group, though, you’ll never be out of the gym! Hitting two disparate yet related muscles in one go will allow you to burn them out whilst you use your time more efficiently.

Programming a Chest and Bicep Workout Routine

To optimize training, we’re going to switch between muscle groups. We’ll go for a chest exercise, then a bicep exercise, and back and forth. The full chest and bicep workout routine will consist of eight different exercises, with four for each muscle group.

You needn’t do it like this, of course. If you really want to use your time efficiently, you can superset. This means pairing each chest exercise with a biceps exercise, going for four supersets to hit the eight exercises. This is how I personally like to train, but it can be a little advanced.

Alternatively, you can split your chest and bicep workout. You can run through all four chest exercises before going for all the full bicep workout routine. This means that neither will interfere with the other at all, though it does mean that you’ll burn each out quickly without resting them.

We’ll be focussing on compound lifts for the chest. Compound lifts use multiple joints and muscle groups – as above, we’ll also be hitting the triceps quite hard incidentally with each press. This means that we are maximizing the muscle tissue worked in each session, and thus the opportunity for growth after each. We will be working with free weights, making this a bit of an intermediate routine – the focus will be on barbells and dumbbells rather than machines.

Chest Workout Exercises

Let’s begin our chest and bicep workout with our four chest exercises. We’ll be working with:

1. Push ups
2. Bench press
3. Incline dumbbell chest press
4. Standing cable chest press

1. Push Ups

We’re going to begin our chest workout with one of the most fundamental movements in resistant training – the humble push up. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, it’s an excellent mass and strength builder, especially for newer athletes. Being a bodyweight compound exercise, it’s safe to perform and it generates a lot of heat – this means that it represents a perfect warm up before we load up with free weights in subsequent sets.

If you find them a little easy, you can always perform more challenging push up variations, like jump push ups, weighted push ups, close grip push ups (though this will take the emphasis out of the chest) or even dips. If they are too hard, as they may be for beginners, consider performing them with your knees on the ground.

If push ups are hard on your wrists, use push up handles or a couple of lighter dumbbells. This will put your wrists into a much more neutral, natural, comfortable position.

To perform push ups:

• Get into a plank position with your hands beneath your shoulders, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. If you can, keep your feet together, though beginners may find more stability from keeping them slightly separate
• With your elbows at 45 degrees from your body, bend your elbows and lower your chest to the ground, keeping your spine neutral
• Inhale on your way down, pause at the bottom
• Push yourself back up to the start position, exhaling as you do so
• Repeat for your desired rep range

2. Bench Press

Bench presses are sort of a gold standard for chest training. Though they are slightly sup-optimal for building muscle, they are still very, very good. They are also phenomenal for building strength and are one of the three main lifts incorporated into powerlifting.

The bench press uses all of the muscle fibers across the pecs, the main muscles of your pecs. They also bring your anterior deltoids into play a little (the front of your shoulders) whilst relying heavily on the triceps.

Begin with the bar on its own, going for steady, high-quality reps. Then slowly build up to your working weight, at which point you will want to perform your four working sets. This will ensure that your chest and arms are fully warm for what follows.

Your first working set will be slightly lighter than your fourth. You will want to get steadily heavier with each set until your fourth and final one is hard to complete.

To perform the bench press:

• Lie down on the bench with your clavicle under your bar. Draw your shoulders in and down, arch your lower back, and keep the backs of your shoulders and your hips on the bar
• Breathe and brace, staying firm
• Take hold of the bar just outside of shoulder width apart
• With your brace in place, unrack the bar, allowing it to stay still above your solar plexus for a second
• Then lower it with control, keeping your elbows at a 45 degree angle from your body
• Allow it to lightly touch your sternum
• Then push the bar back up to the start position. If going for low reps (1-4) try to do the whole set without rebreathing. If going higher, exhale with each press, inhale at the top and brace again before lowering for the next rep.
• Repeat for your desired rep range

3. Incline Dumbbell Chest Press

The bench press is fantastic for full pressing strength and mass building. However, a lot of the stimulation goes into the triceps. It’s also a little awkward as you have to keep the bar path smooth.

Dumbbells change this up, especially when pressing from an incline. They put far more emphasis into the chest, incorporate the full upper chest, and are far easier to lift smoothly at higher rep ranges. You will be able to bring in a greater range of motion for the pecs whilst also finding it easier to push yourself hard, free from the fuss and bother of the conventional flat bench press.

Incline chest presses have been shown to be better for building purely chest mass than the flat bench, so this is where we are getting most of our hypertrophy from in this workout.

To perform the incline dumbbell chest press:

• Adjust a bench to an incline position. The greater the incline, the more into your upper chest and anterior delts you’ll be going, but the lighter the weight you will be able to lift
• Bring a set of dumbbells to your chest, braced as if in the bottom portion of a bench press. If they are too heavy to lift into position, place them on your knees before you lie back on the bench. As you lie back, use a little leg momentum to bring the dumbbells into position
• Breath and brace
• Press the dumbbells up above your chest, exhaling as you go. Inhale at the top, brace once more, and lower back to your chest
• Repeat for your desired rep range

4. Standing Cable Chest Press

Though we’re not going for any isolation exercises in the chest portion of this training regime, we are beginning to zero in more and more on the pecs. Push ups and bench presses use a lot of triceps and shoulders. Incline chest presses use a little less, going a lot more into the pecs.

Standing cable chest presses go very intensely into the pecs, working as a great finisher for your chest.

Cables are great. They keep constant tension into the muscles they are working, making them perfect for stimulating hypertrophy. They elicit a great pump, feeding plenty of blood into your muscles, and are perfect for working at lighter weights that really get into the target area.

To perform the standing cable chest press:

• Fix a couple of handles to the cable cross, a little above shoulder height
• Gripping the handles, step forwards, one foot in front, and lean slightly forwards
• Brace your core and bring your hands just in front of your armpits, arms at a 45 degree angle to your body. It should look similar to a bench or chest press starting position
• Exhaling, extend your arms forwards. At extension, squeeze your pecs slightly
• Return to the start. Allow your chest to stretch out a little. This will ensure a full range of motion for your pecs
• Repeat for your desired rep range

Biceps Workout Exercises

Next up in our chest and bicep workout we’ve got our four biceps exercises. These will largely be isolation exercises – they use a single joint, the elbow, loading only a small amount of muscle mass, namely the biceps. We’ll be going for:

1. EZ bar standing curls
2. Dumbbell hammer curls
3. Drag curls
4. Preacher curls

1. EZ Bar Standing Curls

We’re beginning with the largest exercise, the standing curl. I’ve suggested using an EZ bar simply because it’s far easier on the wrists and will allow the greatest stress into the biceps. However, barbells are absolutely fine if this is what you have access to or are more comfortable with.

The trick to getting a good standing curl is to keep your hips slightly back and completely still. The more you thrust through your hips, or even just sway or move on the spot, the more you will be using momentum rather than contractile force.

Feel free to swing a little – what you might call ‘Body English’ – in the last couple of reps of the last couple of sets. For the rest, keep it strict, keeping a lighter weight on the bar if needed.

To perform the EZ bar standing curl:

• Lightly load an EZ bar. Alternatively, you can use a barbell
• Grip the bar with a supinated (underhand) grip, with your hands about shoulder width apart
• Keep your spine neutral and your hips slightly back and still throughout
• Flex your elbows to bring the bar to your chest. Keep your wrist still
• Reverse back to the start
• Repeat for your desired number of reps

2. Hammer Curls

Hammer curls are variations of traditional dumbbell bicep curls. However, we’ve already got a supinated range of motion done, and will do so below, so it’s time to work your biceps’ long head and forearms a little with a hammer grip.

To perform hammer curls:

• Set up as you would for a standing curl. However, you will have two dumbbells in a hammer grip – this means your palms are facing one another
• Flex at your elbows, bringing the dumbbells up to your shoulders. Don’t let your elbows travel forwards, and make sure that your palms face one another throughout
• Reverse to return to the start
• Repeat for your desired number of reps

3. Drag curls

Now we’re going to really rip into those long heads, this time using a drag curl. You can perform this on an EZ bar, which I’ll describe below. However, it’s also good performed with a cable, keeping constant tension throughout, or with a light barbell if this is all that’s available.

To perform the drag curl:

• Set up as you would for a standing curl
• However, the motion is distant. Rather than hinging the weight outwards and up, you’re going to hinge the elbows and ‘drag’ the bar upwards, parallel with your body
• Your elbows will come back and upwards behind you, dragging across your ribs
• Take care not to shrug – keep your shoulders neutral and relaxed
• You should be able to bring the bar up to around your clavicle, at which point your biceps will be fully contracted
• Pause here, then reverse the motion
• Repeat for your desired number of reps

4. Preacher curls

Now we’re going to isolate even further, really burning into the bulge in the middle of your biceps. You’ll be best off with a preacher bench – most commercial gyms will have one. However, in a pinch, a bench set up with a generous incline will work well.

The point here is to remove any assistance from the rest of your body so that your biceps are doing all of the work.

Again, it’s best performed with an EZ bar, as it will take the pressure out of your wrists. However, a barbell or even set of dumbbells can work.

You will want a very low weight, ensuring that you can reach a full range of motion.

To perform the preacher curl:

• Sit at a preacher bench, or set yourself up behind an incline bench
• Take the bar in your hands, about shoulder width apart, and rest the backs of your upper arms on the bench
• Begin with the bar up by your chin, then lower it down to almost full extension under control
• Pause at the bottom, tense your biceps, then hinge the elbows to bring the bar back up
• Repeat for your desired number of reps

Chest Muscles and Biceps: Organizing Your Workout

We’re going to look at a couple of ways of organizing your chest and bicep workout.

First off, let’s talk rep ranges. For strength, you will typically want to go with fewer reps using more weight. For hypertrophy, or muscle growth, you want to go with lighter weights for higher rep ranges. However, strength workouts will generally be dominated by compound exercises – isolated exercises will keep to higher rep ranges regardless.

We will always go for four sets of every exercise.

It should look something like this:

Straight Sets

There are three ways in which you could arrange the exercises themselves, as mentioned above. Firstly, you could go for straight sets, working your chest first before moving onto your biceps. This arrangement would look like this:

1. Push ups x4
2. Bench press x4
3. Incline dumbbell chest press x4
4. Standing cable chest press x4
5. EZ bar standing curls x4
6. Dumbbell hammer curls x4
7. Drag curls x4
8. Preacher curls x4

Alternate Sets Between Chest and Biceps

Alternatively, you can alternate between your chest and biceps, giving each a bit of a rest as you work the other. This arrangement would look like this:

1. Push ups x4
2. EZ bar standing curls x4
3. Bench press x4
4. Dumbbell hammer curls x4
5. Incline dumbbell chest press x4
6. Drag curls x4
7. Standing cable chest press x4
8. Preacher curls x4

Supersets

Finally, my preferred option is to go with supersets, performing two exercises back-to-back at a time. This is perfect for those looking to get their heart-rates up a bit and to save a bit of time.

This arrangement would look like this:

1. Push ups/EZ bar standing curls x4
2. Bench press/Dumbbell hammer curls x4
3. Incline dumbbell chest press/Drag curls x4
4. Standing cable chest press/Preacher curls x4