The Ultimate Guide To Chest and Back Workout for Upper Body Strength

Why Do It: The bench press is a compound exercise and is known as the king (or queen) of chest exercises. It recruits many different muscle groups to move the bar, including the pectoralis major and minor, the triceps brachii, and the anterior deltoid.

How to Do It:

1. Lie back on the incline bench with the bar parallel to your eyes and your feet flat on the floor.
2. Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart on the barbell (make sure you grip the bar firmly too!).
3. Breathe in and engage your core.
4. Lift the barbell off the rack and slowly bring it down to your chest. 
5. Push the bar back to the starting position slowly whilst engaging your chest muscles.
6. Repeat the process for the desired number of reps. Then, place the barbell back onto the rack.

Why Do It: It targets most of your back muscles (but especially your rhomboids and latissimus dorsi), as well as your core. And because you’re doing one side at a time, you’ll be able to strengthen and correct muscle imbalances.

How to Do It:

1. Place your left knee and left hand on a bench, adding some of your body weight to stabilize yourself.
2. With your right hand, pick up the dumbbell.
3. Your right leg should be facing forward with a slight bend in the knee. This will result in a bend in your torso, usually between a 45-degree angle and a 90-degree angle.
4. Hang the dumbbell in your right hand and then pull it up toward your right hip in a slow and controlled motion. Then, bring it down.
5. Repeat until you’ve done the number of reps you’d like, and then switch hands.

Why Do It: Not only do dips help to build muscle in the chest and triceps, but they also work your shoulders and back. They can improve your lifts in other exercises, such as the bench press, overhead press, rows, pull-ups, and more.

How to Do It:

1. Step onto the parallel bars, or grab a pair of gymnastics rings, and hold them with your palms facing each other.
2. Lean forward slightly (so that your chest muscles are activated).
3. With your arms straight, bend your legs behind you so the weight is on your arms.
4. Whilst looking downwards, lower your arms until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle (use a mirror to help if you have one).
5. Straighten your arms, pushing back to reach the original position.
6. Keep going until you’ve reached your reps, and then step back onto the parallel bars. If this is too easy for you, consider adding a dumbbell between your legs or using a weighted vest.

Why Do It: Lat pulldowns strengthen the latissimus dorsi and the biceps brachii. They help to build a wider back and can assist in exercises such as the pull-up (which you’ll see later).

How to Do It:

1. Place your hands on the lat pulldown attachment with an overhand grip (slightly wider than shoulder-width).
2. Sit down on the seat.
3. Lean back slightly, and bring down the attachment to your upper chest area. It’s important to try not to use your biceps here but focusing on bringing the attachment down with your lats.
4. Slowly bring the attachment back up, and continue until you’ve hit your rep range.

Why Do It: It’s an accessory movement that helps to build muscle mass in the chest muscles and front deltoids. They aren’t as tough on your joints as a chest press using barbells or dumbbells but still give you that chest pump.

How to Do It:

1. Set the cable machine to the position you want it to be in on both sides (you can start from a high, medium, or low position).
2. Attach handles to each side and select the desired weight.
3. Take hold of both handles, step forward, and push the handles forward until they meet in front of your body at the pecs region.
4. Slowly bring the handles to their original position.
5. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

Why Do It: Seated cable rows are an isolation exercise that works the latissimus dorsi, trapezius, and rear deltoids. Because it uses a cable machine, there’s increased stability as you’re pulling in a fixed range of motion (this helps to prevent injury).

How to Do It:

1. Sit down on the machine with your feet on the pads and a slight bend in your knees. 
2. With your body upright and your chest sticking out, take a hold of the attachment (a narrow handle is the most common).
3. Pull the handle towards your lower abdomen area whilst squeezing your shoulder blades You should feel this in your trapezius.
4. Pause for a split second then return the handle to the original position by leaning forward and straightening your arms.
5. Repeat.

Why Do It: You’ll work multiple muscles, including the trapezius, rhomboids, latissimus dorsi, and biceps brachii. We also like that pull-ups improve grip strength. There are tons of variations so you can challenge yourself whatever your level.

How to Do It:

1. Step onto the pull-up bar and take hold of the handles with a wide grip (more than shoulder-width). Your palms should be facing away from you.
2. Take your feet off so that you’re in the dead hang position.
3. Whilst keeping your chest up and looking upwards at the bar, pull yourself up.
4. Pause for a moment, then lower yourself down until you’re back to the start.
5. Pull until you’ve reached the desired rep range and then step off the pull-up bar.

Why Do It: The dumbbell bench press uses nearly every muscle in your upper body. Because you’re holding a separate weight in each hand, it can fix imbalances and strengthen the stabilizer muscles around your shoulder.  

How to Do It:

1. Sit down on a flat bench with the dumbbells resting on your quadriceps.
2. Lie back and at the same time, place the dumbbells in their starting position (your hands should be slightly outside of your body by the chest region).
3. Press both dumbbells up at the same time until your arms are extended fully and the weights are over your body.
4. Lower the dumbbells back to the starting position and repeat until you’ve finished your reps. 
5. Come off the weight bench in the opposite order that you came onto it (don’t just drop the dumbbells onto the floor!).

Why Do It: It works the upper back muscles and may contribute to a thicker back. Make sure you do it with a full range of motion if you want to maximize gains.
How to Do It:

1. With the bar in between your legs, lean forward, and take hold of the attachment with an overhand grip. (You can also do this like a landmine row if you don’t have a t-bar attachment.)
2. Put your chest up and pull the bar towards your body (for most people this will be around the lower chest region).
3. Pause at the top, lower until your arms are fully extended, then repeat.
4. If you don’t have the equipment for a T-bar row, you can do a bent-over row or a barbell row instead.

Why Do It: It’s a functional bodyweight exercise that can be done anywhere without any equipment. Push-ups work the pectoralis major and minor, deltoids, and triceps brachii. We like how many different types there are too so you’ll never get bored.

How to Do It:

1. Get into the plank position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. 
2. Breathe in and engage your core.
3. Lower your body by bending your elbows, and go as deep down as possible (ideally, your chest should touch the floor).
4. Push (hence the name!) yourself back up until your arms are straight.
5. Keep going until you’re done. 

Why Do It: They help to grow your chest muscles and improve your posture. The key here is to start light and activate your chest muscles. Going too heavy can cause injury.

How to Do It:

1. You can do these on a flat bench, or adjust the bench so that it’s at a 30 to 45-degree angle.
2. Lie down on the bench with the dumbbells in their starting position (your arms should be straight up and the dumbbells over your body).
3. Lower the dumbbells out to the side, ensuring that there’s a slight bend in your elbows.
4. Reverse the motion, engaging the pectoralis major, bringing the dumbbells to their starting position over your body.
5. Repeat.

Why Do It: You’re pulling in a fixed range of motion, which can help prevent injury. But the main reason we like straight-arm pulldowns is that they isolate your lats which some other back exercises don’t.

How to Do It:

1. Grab a straight or slightly curved bar on a cable machine with an overhand grip. The cable should be placed in a high position.
2. With your arms straight, push the bar down in front of you (try only to use your lats here).
3. Return the bar to the top position.
4. Repeat the process for the desired number of reps.