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And so even though I love Arnold, the
Bench Fly still gets the big red X.
What's up, guys, Jeff Cavaliere, athleanx.com.
So, what you see behind me is a bunch of different
chest exercises likely that you recognize because
you re wither doing them right now, or you ve done
them in the past. However, today I'm going to
rank them from the worst to the best so you can
be sure that you're only focusing on the ones that
give you the gains that you're after. So, by the
time this video is over, you're going to want to
keep some of these and others that you're going to
want to kind of just throw away. So that being
said, let's start ranking them one by one.
All right, so as we work our way from the bottom
up, it's important to point out that the exercises
are placed into these categories for a reason.
There are some criteria that goes into selecting
where an exercise will fall. For instance, we
want to make sure this is an exercise that can
actually deliver results. But we don't want it
to be something that is insufficient and being
able to challenge you into cause growth. We also
want to select exercises or favor those that are
multidimensional. They are good for building
muscle, but they're also capable of delivering
good strength gains. We're going to favor
those. We also have some exercises that are just
downright dumb. We'll get to those too, and then
we have the exercises that kind of invite injury
risk. And that's something we want to avoid,
especially if we have better, safer options.
And that's why we start at the bottom of the
list right here with the Bench Fly. Now, look,
I understand that Arnold loved this exercise, but
just because he loved the Fly and I love Arnold
doesn't mean that I have to love the Fly.
Not because I want to dislike the exercise,
but more so that my physical therapy background
tells me that there's reasons to dislike it.
When you perform it on a bench in this unsupported
way with no safety net, you increase the risk of
damage to the anterior shoulder capsule.
That is something that you don't want to damage
ever, because it's very hard to repair and
restore normal mechanics after that happens.
Not to mention increased risk of pec tear that
happens because of the extreme positioning of
your arms during this exercise. Again, all of
this negated most of all by the fact that there
are better alternatives to this that I will cover
for you later on down this list. The fact is, for
all these reasons, guys, I have to put the big red
X first and foremost through the Bench Fly.
All right. So next up in the category of worst is
one that might actually come as a surprise to you,
because you know how often I like to train on my
feet, if at all possible. But it's the Standing
Cable Press. The issue with the Standing Cable
Press is it provides more of a challenge to your
core than the muscles you re actually trying to
build. And just getting into this position here
with any type of heavy weight is going to make
my abs work much harder to make sure that I don't
fall backwards when I'm doing the movement. And
even if I do this out of a split stance where I'm
leaning, my weight forward is still not optimal if
I'm going to press the weight that's necessary to
cause that overload and growth that we're looking
for. For all these reasons, guys the Standing
Cable Press is just not the best press to do
when you're looking for gains in your chest.
So, a couple of big red Xs on the board behind
me. We're still not out of the worst category yet.
Here we have to throw in the Incline Bench Press.
Now, wait, before you riot, understand that just
like size matters, angle matters too--a lot.
And when it comes to the Incline Bench Press
what angle are you setting it at, because it
really matters in terms of the gains that you
see from the exercise, especially up here in
the upper chest. We know that the front delt
and the upper chest fiber's share not only a
close proximity to each other anatomically,
but they share some function too.
Well, we know that if we were to get
completely upright, we would shift the majority
of that function to the front delt, as we would
in an Overhead Press. And if we got completely
horizontal, most of the work would be done
by the chest. Well, that being said, we have to
find that happy medium. And once you cross 50,
55 or 60 degrees, you're actually starting to go
into that realm of less work for the chest and
more for the front delts which is not why you're
doing the exercise in the first place. If you
want to maximize your gains on the Incline Bench
Press, we're going to choose a lower angle, we'll
cover that one later. But for now, the 60-degree
Incline Bench Press has to get the big red X.
No time hasn't made it any better,
it's still fucking stupid.
So, now those gladly behind us I get to break out
my blue marker as we work our way up the rankings
into the Better Category. I say better, not best,
because there's still some limitations here that
I think it's important for you to be aware of.
And we have to start right here with the king of
all of the better exercises, it s the Pushup.
And I say the basic pushup because the basic
pushup is oftentimes, as I pointed out in our
major criteria in the beginning of this video,
not challenging enough.
It's just simply not driving
enough of a stimulus to cause change in the size
of your chest because you can do too many of them.
If you're ripping off 30, 40 or 50 repetitions
per set, there are variations that are going to
provide a better challenge in the basic pushup
no longer is it. Now, if you're a beginner who's
still getting challenged by this exercise, then
by all means you continue to build your strength
up with it before you move on. But that being
said, guys, most of us are beyond the point
now where this is where we should be focusing
our efforts. So, for that reason, I got to give
it a Better listing, but not Best yet because
we know there's better variations to come.
So, since Betters are all about improvement,
let's go back to those flys again, because I
wouldn't leave you hanging, I wanted to give you
an improved version of it or a safer version of
it. And for that, we have to look at the Floor
Fly. I'm a much bigger fan of this exercise
because it gives us a chance to have resisted
adduction, but we get a chance to do it in a
safer setting with the floor acting as the safety
net protecting that anterior shoulder because we
don't have those extreme ranges of motion at the
bottom. Now, some would argue you don't get the
same amount of stretch, but I don't even know
if that's the real benefit of the Fly anyway.
Beyond that, we do get to increase
the weight that we use on a Floor Fly
versus the weight that we can handle to ensure
that safety on a Bench Fly. And for that, we can
create more overload with this in an eccentric
manner, which is going to give us an opportunity
for more growth. For all these reasons, the Better
version of the fly is definitely the Floor Fly.
And wrapping up our better category here is
an often-overlooked exercise that I believe
deserves a second look, and it's the Underhand
Dumbbell Bench Press. And the best thing about
this exercise is it provides those that don't have
access to an incline bench to still work their
upper chest, especially better than that 60-degree
incline dumbbell bench press. EMG studies have
actually shown superior activation of those chest
fibers during the underhand version rather than
too high of an incline press. That being said,
it doesn't come without its limitations.
Namely the fact that you're not going to be able
to load this exercise as much and that's mostly
due to the fact that there's a lack of stability
at the bottom for some. You have to have enough
shoulder external rotation to be able to get your
body in the right position with your elbows tucked
at your sides and your hands, elbows in line to
support the dumbbells, to be able to drive them
up and that low to high dumbbell path to get that
good upper chest activation. And if you don't have
that or you're simply looking to load the exercise
as heavy as possible, then this one might not be
the one for you. But it still deserves its Better
recognition and that's why we're going to put it
right here at the end of the Better category.
And now we continue our way up the chart from the
worst to the best chest exercises. And we land
here squarely in the Even Better Still category,
meaning better than what we just did, but not
quite in the best yet. But I have to start here
with that variation of the pushup that I promised
you before. This is called the Twisting Pushup.
And the main thing we're getting here is this
additional relative adduction that small but
incredibly important addition to the basic pushup
that will take whatever repetition you can do of
the basic pushup and bring it dramatically
downwards. But at the same time increase
the effectiveness of it and that's really all
that matters. No matter what count you can do
of your regular pushup right now, I promise
you, less pushups here, but more from it. For
that reason, we give the Twisting Pushup the
first in the Even Better Still Category.
And speaking of adduction, our next exercise
and are Even Better Still Category is one that
focuses on that adduction function of the chest
better than the things we showed you already,
including even the Floor Fly and it s the Cable
Crossover. So, the thing about the Cable Crossover
is that it not only gives us a chance to get
more production because you're getting our hands
slightly across midline, but it also gives us the
chance to have peak tension. We tend to lose it in
either version of the dumbbell fly floor or bench.
But the limitation here comes in the same thing
that we dealt with the Standing Cable Press.
I believe the Cable Crossover is an exercise that
we can load up much heavier than we traditionally
do. But as we do, we can see we have the same
stability demands and the demands placed on
the core to keep us in this upright position
that might limit the amount of weight that we can
use. If we limit the amount of weight we limit,
the amount of overload, and by limiting
the amount of overload, we limit the amount
of growth. For that reason, guys, the Cable
Crossover is my induction exercise of choice,
at least for now when we're talking about the
Better Still exercises. More on that to come.
Next up, the Better Still Category is another
variation of a bench press, it s actually one of
my favorites when your goal is mostly hypertrophy
and a little bit less than a focus on strength.
It s the Lying Cable Bench Press.
And what this does is it provides
you with a better strength curve, with more
resistance throughout the entire strength curve
on the bench press because of the use of
the cables. If I set the cables out wide,
the line of resistance is the cable itself. So,
you can see that it maintains its perpendicularity
throughout a greater range of motion than,
let's say, on a typical bench press. So,
at the top of the exercise, when I've reached my
peak contraction in my chest, I actually still
have a lot of tension here that I wouldn't
have with a typical barbell or dumbbell.
That being said, the difficulty still lies in
the fact that I have to get this into position
to do a heavy weight. But again, when it
comes to placing tension on the chest,
this is one of the best. I'm going to place
it here in this category for that reason.
And concluded or Better Still Category is one of
those chest exercises that people sometimes don't
even realize works the chest and it's the Dumbbell
Upper Chest Pullover. And I'm careful to add the
designation of upper chest to make sure people
understand that there's a way to perform this
to favor the upper chest rather than the
lats. We know the typical dumbbell pull
over works the last because we're driving it
with our elbows in this flare position.
However, if you do the opposite of that, you
bring your elbows as tight together as possible.
You can quickly shift the focus to the upper chest
because it's got all the components of a great
upper chest contraction. Our arms are elevated up
over our head, remembering that we go from this
low to high position to get those upper chest
fibrous activated. And we have the squeezing,
the abduction of the elbows as close together
that really lights us up. Throw a dumbbell on
our hand. We get the overload we're looking
for and that's the reason why I don't want
you to overlook this exercise any longer.
And so, some tough contenders left on the board.
We move into our Almost Best Category, and I get
to break out my green marker and we start right
here with the Dip. And for me, the dip is the best
version of a pushup. If you think about it, the
dip is essentially a suspended pushup, especially
if you angle your body more forward to favor the
chest rather than staying upright in favor of
your triceps. That being said, the opportunity
here to load this exercise is going to be much
easier than we have in a pushup. I could strap
a weight around my waist and do a weighted dip and
continue to provide the progressive overload.
We need to drive both the strength and the
size gains that this exercise provides.
Not to mention I could do a couple of other
unique things, like adding a small twist,
which would be similar to the twisting pushup
to get just that little bit of extra adduction,
which will bring that rep count down for the
effectiveness of the exercise up. For all these
reasons, the dip is going to get my first in the
Almost Best Category, and it belongs there.
So, if you haven't caught on by now, you know
that I like adduction and we want to try to
get into the chest exercises we perform if we
want to see the best gains from it. And that's
why I got to go back to it once again with my best
option here and this is the Heavy 1-Arm Crossover.
And how is this different from the crossover?
Well, in a very important way. Number one,
much more stability. Instead of having to move
both arms at one time, which let's say you have
80 pounds in each hand, you're not going to
be able to stabilize the total 160 as well
as you can't the 80 one arm at a time. Which is
going to eliminate those balance limitations and
allow your core to take a back seat to the
muscle you're actually trying to build.
And what I like to do here, as I mentioned, is go
heavy because you have the opportunity to do that.
Stop doing this exercise as a 30 rep burn out
at the end of your chest workout. Instead,
prioritize it as one of those great ways
to get adduction. Not just adduction,
but full adduction across midline better than in
any other exercise we performed so far. This is
going to be my adduction exercise of choice for
those reasons, it is going to belong firmly up
here at the top and my Almost Best Category.
And concluding now our Almost Best Category and
giving those that are still hyperventilating
after looking at the thumbnail a reason to
breathe easy. We have the Incline Bench
Press up here at the top. The reason, though,
is we're putting it at that 30-to-45-degree angle,
not the steeper angle that we talked about before,
Because as I said, the angle matters. It's been
found that the perfect angle to engage the upper
chest without over activating the front delts
is going to be this 30-to-45-degree angle. Now,
whether or not your bench goes to the
specific degree doesn't really matter.
Just try to go on the shallower side versus
steeper, when the upper chest fibers you're
looking to really engage is the chest that you're
trying to grow rather than your shoulders. This
is my choice right here firmly at the top.
And so, then with any list ranking, the best chest
exercises from worst to first, there can only be
one first. There can only be one best and it s
the one that s been staring at you the whole
time, right here dead smack in the middle,
The Barbell or the Dumbbell Bench Press. And I'm
giving you the option. Why? Because I just want to
make sure that you're doing one of them. And the
reason why we put this at the top of this list
is because it gives us the best opportunity to do
the one thing that we know can continue to drive
both strength and hypertrophy and that is overload
his movement. The Barbell or the Dumbbell Bench,
it's something you can easily continue to
up the weight on, which is going to continue
to progressively keep those gains coming.
Now, look, the choice between the two exercises is
going to be up to you. Some may find the dumbbells
are going to give you a little bit more adduction
at the top because you can move your hands closer
towards each other. And others are going to find
that's a little bit easier on the shoulders to do
the dumbbells versus the barbells. Others who are
looking to just prioritize strength are likely
going to choose the barbell variation because it
gives you that extra 20% bump in your total. The
fact is this gets the top spot when we re looking
at the best chest exercises for strength, size
and growth of your chest. Or wait, maybe not.
And so, since the goal of this video is to
give you the best possible information I
could. You're going to have to allow you to
bend the rules just a little bit. You see,
because the best chess exercise is actually not
chess exercise at all. It's a combination of
exercises from the Bench Press down into that
Heavy 1-Arm Crossover. Realizing that you're
going to get that all important adduction, the
only missing element from the back bench press
to create the perfect complement and take the best
exercise and make it the greatest of all time.
And so with that, guys, hopefully you now know
which of the chess exercises you should be doing
and which of the chess exercises maybe you want
to ditch. The key is understanding why we pick
what we pick, because the size of the selection
matters. As always, we put the science into all
we do here. All of our programs available over at
Athleanx.com. If you found the video helpful, make
sure that your comments and the thumbs up below.
Tell me what other things you want me to cover
in the ranked series, and I'll do that for you in
the future videos. And speaking of future videos,
if you haven't already done so, make sure you
click subscribe and turn on your notifications,
so you never miss one when I point out.
All right guys, I ll see you soon.
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