Only 3 Chest Exercises You Need 

Simplicity, intensity and consistency is the golden trifecta. Not just for gains, but life

Meanwhile the guys in my gym do 5 different chest exercises in a day

Its international chest day. I'm hitting legs.

Mike always makes me feel like I've been doing everything right after all. Other dudes bring up like 7 exercises for each body part and expect you to incorporate it all somehow.

It's so easy to be motivated at first. You want abs. You want to get buff. You want the girl. Whatever it may be. One day you realize. Rest matters so much more than we know

honestly i started doing this a month ago and have seen crazy results from it. used to do 5 exercises for chest, cut it down to 3 and it’s made a world of a difference

That’s the three things I hit, benchpress, incline db press and peckdec. It has never failed my chest!

I would love to see this video as a formula for a series about each muscle group and its “ angles of attack”.

Jonni shreve punching the air when he heard you say crossing the arms during flys.

I personally do it like this (focusing on my bench) Push day A : 3 sets of flat bench 3 sets of incline db press Push day B : 3 sets of flat bench 3sets of low to high flys

Crazy how many of these I figure out on my own. Stopped doin specific muscle days (Monday- chest, Tuesday- back, etc), and started doing upper/lower split. It is WAY easier to hit all muscles groups multiple times a week, and it’s VERY hard to overtrain when you have so many muscles to hit in one hour

Im so glad I watched this video. Mike is literally changing/ saving my life

I needed to hear this. Thanks Doc. All the best to everyone. Enjoy the process.

This guy literally just described my chest day down to the day of the week.

Horizontal press : Like a benched cambered press Inclined Press : Barbell Bench Press Fly movement : Like Cable Chest fly, or machine pec deck- chest flyes, or maybe a cross body cable thingy (J. N)

Love the simplicity. Actually gives me hope.

Staples for me: Flat Bench (DB, BB) Incline BP ~30°(DB, BB) Dips ( varying the gripwidth periodically) Fly movement (any angle/machine) I would consider machines but the ones at my gym suck ass and these movements never stopped working for me, if they go stale I change some modalities or angles and its good to go.

I do incline dumbbell, Incline Bench, Flys, and weighted Dips top finish

The fact that I already do only 3 movements on chest day and it’s exactly these 3! I need to stop doubting myself. I was thinking it wasn’t enough lol

Amen. I only do flyes to isolate the chest and not burn out my tris and shoulders just to hit my pecs

i just do dips and incline dumbbell press , gets me more gains than doing a fly,press and incline press

Exactly what I have worked it down to over the years: flat bench, incline, & flys. I will change it up between barbell and dumbbell on the presses, and dumbbell and cable on the flys.

By far my favorite fitness influencer. Thank you.

So damn true, I won't ever hit anymore than three chest movements in a single day, and then the rest is for triceps

I mean, I've listened to so much content and tons of Dr. Mike specifically so I'm not surprised I've nailed this one 💪 Incline bench, flat bench, fly. Done. Incline first to warm up is great.

Thank you Dr Mike

Weighted dips Incline dumbell press Chest fly machine Rear delt flies Tricep pushdowns Skull crushers Bike Stretch.

Ring dips are goat

I literally do incline bench, weighted dips and flies 3 sets each enough 🙏🏾

People worry too much about squeezing the pecs, but most hypertrophy comes from loading the muscle in a stretched position and presses do it just as well as flys. If I do a third exercise it will be dips, yeah it is more triceps but pecs still work, and instead of smashing my elbows with more triceps isolation movements I prefer exercises that work both chest and triceps at the same time. If I add close grip presses to the mix then everything else for my chest and triceps will be an overkill. I do need extra biceps work to feel my biceps but the triceps and pecs are hammered from pressing.

So happy hearing this as I’m doing this exact routine

Surprised you don't include dips, a great exercise overall.

All you need if you doing them properly: 1. Weighted ring dips 2. Weighted ring pushups (change up the angle with box/bench to get your feet different heights)

Love this- I’ve been doing incline barbell bench, DB bench, cable flys at my home gym and was wondering if I should add to it- great timing, thanks Dr Mike! 👍🏻💪🏻

I don’t even lift weight’s and this man is interesting to learn from. He is funny, interesting and informative. I don’t know why anyone would listen to anyone else for real results.

Here come the hex pressers saying it helps with their inner pecs 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

i have 2 SLAP tears preventing me from doing flys but I have noticed a decrease in size without flys. its frustrating

This dude just made me ftrel great about my chest routine. Incline barbell bench, flat machine bench, pec flies. Sweet

Doc Mike, You are freakin' amazing! Seriously, Thanks so much for the clear, concise, and very important Instruction.

That’s exactly what my chest day is! In that order. I’m glad I’m doing something right!

What about a decline movement for lower chest?

I do BB Bench, Incline DB Press and Unilateral cable crossover from top to low on Push day 1 and Incline Press, Flat Flys and Dips on Push day 2

I needed this!! Thank you!!

I do a slight decline the way John meadows did... that works my chest more than the traditional flat bench

this is literally what i do, flat barbell bench 5-8 rep range, incline dumbell bench 8-12 rep range and finish with calbe fly 10-20 rep range i keep telling my friends you dont need to do 5 exercises in 1 session for chest to grow but they wont listen

Thank you. Love this. Is it the same for delts?

I’ve been doing incline dumbbell press, flat press and cable dips for two years with fantastic results.

I disagree. I used to do incline, flat, and flies and had a bad lower chest section and thought it was just genetics. Adding decline bench really developed the lower pec part. I think decline is just as vital as the others.

My chest seems to be lagging in the inner, top/middle region. According to science my new chest day will be 8 sets of cable crossovers & 0 sets of pressing til it fills in

Dips, flat bench, incline dumbbell press, flys. Bottom, mid, upper, stretch. Works great for me.

If you want to keep it simple and 1 exercise, dips is the best single chest exercise that hits all parts of chest. Studies have shown that it hits upper chest as well as incline press

The pecs didnt evolve from "flyes" movements in nature, they evolved from pressing movements. Flyes are not needed. They are more of a substitute exercise that mimics bringing the upper arm from the slight rear to the front that the chest press does. Only flat or decline presses and incline presses are needed. Flyes can be substituted for flat/decline presses.

Thank you… you just made my training split easier 🙏🏾💯✅💪🏾

3 effective mind muscle connection exercises. Form, intensity, technique and connect to the muscle! It works better than ever for me. Reps /sets hit them ALL consistently. Add reps or sets to progress each week. Rep tempos are key also

Incline dumbell Weighted dips Cable fly Decline machine sometimes Thats it. Its that easy.

I've been doing flat bench and then 3 inclines at various angles (4 reps 8-12). Used to be all over the place varying what I did. Keeping it simple and getting results. After this I'll put some flys on the end of the routine. I've been seeing alot of youe videos and I like them all. Keep up the great work.

I'm building a workout program and am doing a 4x a week upper body lower body splits. This is great for chest thanks!

For most people, myself included, it's difficult to develop the clavicular head. For that reason, I prioritize incline bench every chest day. That actually fully engages the sternal head as well. Sometimes I'll do one set to failure on flat bench to prove to myself that it's already spent after incline press. Most of the time I don't, because there's no need. I then move on to one fly movement that targets the abdominal head, which would otherwise have been neglected. Dips at the right angles can work for this as well, but flies help to better target the area. If I do a 3rd exercise at all, it's dips, only a couple of sets.

I've been doing 4 exercises. For a horizontal press focused day, 2 horizontal compound presses, 1 vertical compound press and an isolation. Maybe 12 sets total. I'll switch the horizontal and vertical volume around for a different focus. Only doing PPL 3 days a week right now though, so I try to blow the shit out.

i like dips/weighted dips, decline pushups for the upper chest, dumbbell chest press & cable flies 💪🏼 (not all in the same workout, those are just the exercises i do for my chest)

This man is golden. Even if I knew these valuable facts but not doing because of obviois reasons, he convinced me to the right things.

What's the doctor's stance on throwing Flys as a super set on top of a flat or inclined press? Just dropping the press dumbbells and grabbing some half the weight and going straight into super slow and deep Flys to increase tension (I ask as I have been doing this because Jeff from athlean said there are fibers in the pec that aren't directly able to be targeted unless you have enough time under tension as they are basically just connected to other muscle fibers and not the breast plate itself. Maybe I'm just dumb and misunderstood jeff.) Chest days all start with bosu pushups then deficit pushups Chest day A) flat bench Db press Ss flat db flys, dips Chest day B) A but incline, switching dips for cable crossovers.

I’ve been training chest like this for the past few months after having been out of the gym for literal years due to various circumstances, and I’ve been adding weight to my max bench just about biweekly

I do all those and then usually finish with 5 sets to failure of push-ups performed on dumbbells on the floor so that I can stretch the pecs by going to the floor with my chest.

So I don't go to the gym, but do go to a private spot out in the hills to exercise. I do about 240 push ups and curls and extensions with a 40 lb dumbbell along with planks on a pilates ball, stirring the pot. I love the way I feel at 54. Videos like yours give me ideas for new exercises with the limited equipment I have.

Incline bench 4 sets of 6 to 8 Pecdec 4 sets of 12 to 15 Flat bench 3 stes of 6 to 8 Done

Excellent video and well explained! 🙏

I would like to firmly add that pullovers are probably the best finishing exercises on chest day next to push ups/dips

Thank you!! 👍

I train chest for strength so I include many exercises, all of which are barbell bench focused. Flat bench, incline, pin press, incline pin press, dead press, close grip bench, close grip incline bench, wide grip incline bench, all those exercises paused etc. Occasionally I'll do some fly's or dips. I regularly do standing OHP too which does slightly work the upper pecs. So really I'm only doing 2 exercise movements, just different tempos and grip width's. My chest is big but my inner pecs feel nearly undeveloped

Nice video straight to the point 👍

I'd wager most people don't really know how to do flyes effectively. They go through the movements in 1-2 fashion and walk away with about 5 decent reps' worth of work. In my mind, you need a little more concentration for flyes than most movements. Everyone's different, but for me, the "cone of tension" is broadened considerably (on a flye machine) if, rather than holding the verticle handles, I rotate my hands 90 degrees out so my palms are facing the ceiling, then I press against those handles with the sides of my hands. To see if this will help you, just do it as you sit now. Extend one arm all the way out, feel that pec area with your other hand, then see how far in you bring that arm before the flye actually engages the muscle. Then do it palm up. There's a reason he mentions crossing hands. At least for ME, using the vertical grip means you don't even engage the pec until your arms are almost stretched out in front of you. Regardless, I do eight full reps, then squeeze another eight at the end of that, pumping that finish position.

Thank you, will do that for bench day tomorrow.

3 workouts for chest and back, 1 or 2 for biceps and triceps, and 4 for legs. Vary the sets and reps based on goals and recovery.

All rounder for strength and hypertrophy, flat bench, incline dumbbell, cable flye, job done.

Love this guy... Making my gains huge 💪

Also Dips, and that bench overhead pull

This makes me feel better. At first that’s what I was doing was to much. Now I do just enough and I’m still growing/ getting stronger and not burning out as much as I did back when I started.

If you understand the work, he is giving some facts. This guy is legit.

Would a pec minor oriented excercise like dips be beneficial? In my understanding a bigger pec minor is what builds the shelf. My current exercises are: Incline press, fly variation, dips.

Thanks you for that !

Thank you so much

4 exercises. Flat, incline, fly, dips. Dumbbells or barbells for the first two

That squeeze at the end of a fly is killer

I dont train, I dont bodybuild, but I love this guy.

Flat bench, incline, and cable fly. These are the 3 I do on a push day. Nothing more

I’m NEVER not happy when I make the decision to search the specific muscle group on RP’s RU-vid shorts, RIGHT before I hit the gym. A little insurance policy that keeps my split as productive as it can be 😎💪🏼

I struggled with finding a good balance for my chest workout. I was researching exercises and what not and eventually ended up with 3 exercises that I have been doing for years now on my chest day. These are benchpress, incline dumbbell press, and cable crossover. Essentially they are what he just described in the clip and they are definitely all you need for a very satisfying chest workout with good results.

Barbell Bench Incline dumbbells Weighted dips...that's it for me

Flat db bench, incline bb bench, machine pec fly, dips. 4 exercises but solid, then 2 exercise for shoulder, a lateral raise and a press, 2 for tris. Over head press and a push down and boom push day

Based on this i do flat bench, incline dumbbell and cable mid chest fly.

We do an incline, flat, then decline, flys then done

Flat bench superset with dumbell flys my favorite!!

Such fact this has been my go to for years

Thank you!

Thanks bro

Man that is literally the only three exercises that I do. Used to do a lot more and my shoulder was messed up because of it. Ever since I simplified things and started using dumbells for the pressing movements and a fly machine it’s been really beneficial for both gains and shoulder health.

Do decline or dips as well.

Incline dumbbell press. Incline fly. 4-5 sets each. Done.

I agree, occasionally I hit some dips or pullovers too