Thought you needed weights and fancy machines to build 3D pecs? You don’t. In a recent YouTube video, top Strength Coach and Physical Therapist, Jeff Cavaliere, has shared a five-move workout that will actually add muscle to your chest and, even better, it can be done anywhere.
The workout is centred around different variations of the push-up – the best bodyweight exercise for growing your chest – to target the upper, middle and lower pecs. “Push-ups can build a bigger chest if you know the right variations to do and you know the right way to sequence them,” says Cavaliere. Don’t worry if you haven’t mastered a regular push-up yet, Cavaliere has shared a beginner, advanced and intermediate version of this workout, so you can grow your chest no matter where you're at with your training (in this article, we’re focusing on the beginner version).
Instead of aiming for a set number of reps, you’re going to take every exercise to failure. “Any rep-based push-up workout is likely to leave you a little frustrated with the results you see because it’s not taking you to a point of change or challenge,” says Cavaliere. “You need to take each set of this workout all the way to failure, no matter what that number might be for you.” Instead of resting between each exercise, you’ll do a hollow hold till failure – so you get a nice ab workout too. After finishing the entire circuit, rest for three to five minutes, then repeat one or two more times. If you’re new to any of the moves, check out the video above. Here’s the workout:
Beginner version
Perform as many reps as you can for each exercise, with a hollow hold after each one until failure:
- Kneeling push-away
- Kneeling push-up
- Incline push-up (use a box or stairs if you’re at home)
- Twisting knee push-away
- Lateral knee plyo push-up
If that looks too easy, then make sure you watch the video to check out Cavaliere's intermediate and advanced versions of the workout. Want to turn this into a complete 'push day' workout? Here's a speedy tricep workout you can add on to the end. Again, requiring nothing more than your bodyweight.
