Resistance bands are amazing pieces of equipment. So versatile and easy to use. Try these seven exercises in your next resistance band chest workout!
Why use resistance bands?
If you’re unable to access a gym for whatever reason, resistance bands provide an affordable, effective, and easy solution for people looking to building muscle. Resistance bands not only allow for the all-important ‘progressive overload’, but they’re also portable so you can take them with you on work trips, holidays, school field trips and for any other reason you may be away from your home. For active gym goers, resistance bands can be used when you cannot access the gym!
Most resistance band bundles come with 5+ different bands, all with different levels of resistance along with handles and an anchor which can be used on a door to prop the band up at any direction desired. Now we know why resistance bands are such a good piece of equipment, let’s learn some chest exercises to be used in your next resistance band chest workout!
Anatomy of the Chest
Before we get into the exercises, it’s worth understanding the muscle group that’s being trained. Having the knowledge prepares us to have a better workout so we can know what to expect during the movements. As with other muscle groups, the chest is split into different portions. Each part of the chest works together during the exercises but we can isolate the individual parts more to ensure not one part of the chest is overdeveloped compared to another.
Firstly, the chest has two main portions, the two pectoralis majors (pectorals/pecs). You have a pectoral muscle on each side of your chest. Then we have the three parts of each pectoral: these are the upper chest, mid chest and lower chest – very easy to remember!
These muscles are responsible for the mobility of your shoulders and help pull your arm across the front of your body and also push your arms out in front of you.
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Upper chest – The upper portion of the chest will be greater activated when your arms are positioned higher up or if your torso is positioned at a slight incline. You should feel the upper chest being engaged better when your arms go from a start position of lower down and end higher up. It’s important to develop this muscle well in order to gain the look of a full chest, and to fill out those t-shirts!
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Mid chest – The middle part of the chest is best activated when the arms are in a more neutral position. Bring your arms out directly to your side and bring them in to feel the mid chest more. The flat bench press is a movement that hits the mid chest well.
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Lower chest – Finally, the lower part of the chest will give the chest that 3d look when developed well! It’s engaged when moving the arms down from a high position towards the abdominal region. It’s also well activated when the body is at a slight decline position, on a bench for example.
Resistance Band Chest Training
As mentioned, when it comes to training the chest, there are three parts to it. You need to train the mid chest, the upper chest and the lower chest to build those well-rounded and aesthetic pectoral muscles. This is where resistance bands are very useful as, without a gym, there are little exercises you can do at home with the exception of the push up. So, in this list are seven of the best exercises you can do with resistance bands to make serious chest gains.
At the bottom of the list, you will find help on incorporating these exercises into two different types of workouts. One for using these exercises effectively in a chest-only workout, and another for adding these exercises into a push workout using resistance bands.
The Resistance Band Push Up
The resistance band push up is just as it sounds. It incorporates a resistance band into a normal push up, adding extra resistance. For someone who can already do a high number of pushups, it can be just as tough mentally as it is physically to get yourself to do 40-50+ pushups to go to the all-important failure. So, adding extra resistance to bring the number of reps down without compromising muscle growth potential is perfect. Quick tip: add a slight incline on the push up to provide greater upper chest activation or a slight decline to engage the lower chest better!
To perform:
- Grab each end of the resistance band and bring it behind your back, across the shoulder blades
- Move into the push up position, keeping the band tight to your back
- Perform the push up for desired reps, always looking to go as close to failure as possible to maximize the muscle growth potential.
The Resistance Band Bench Press
The resistance band bench press is like the resistance band push up but this time you’re lying on a hard surface, such as the floor, ideally with a yoga mat below you, and pressing the weight of the resistance band up towards the sky. This movement is a great alternative for someone who may struggle with the push up or find the push up a straining movement on other parts of the body.
To perform:
- Grab each end of the resistance band (use handles if they’re available) and bring it behind your back, across the shoulder blades
- Lower yourself down and lay on your back facing the sky
- Push the weight up to complete a rep and perform desired reps, always looking to go as close to failure as possible to maximize the muscle growth potential.
The Chest Fly
The resistance band chest fly is a fantastic movement for growing your chest. It takes the same principles of a cable chest fly you may perform in the gym but performed with resistance bands. This movement will require a place you can secure the middle of the resistance band safely, i.e. a door anchor – (If using a door anchor, always set it up so the door cannot swing open towards you). This movement also engages the core muscles due to you having to stabilize yourself when performing the exercise.
To perform:
- Secure the middle of the resistance band at about chest height
- Grab each end of the resistance band with your hands (use handles if they’re available) and turn your back on the anchor point
- Press the weight out in front of your body to complete a rep – focus on engaging the chest muscles
The Single Arm Chest Cross Over
The single arm chest cross over uses the same basic principles of the chest fly but focuses on each side of the chest individually. Having the arm cross over the midpoint of the chest better stimulates the inner portion of the chest, meaning the chest will grow more effectively and become more aesthetic. For this movement you will also require an anchor point for the resistance band to be setup on, such as a door anchor. Again, always be careful and set it up so the door cannot swing open towards you.
To perform:
- Secure the middle of the resistance band at about chest height
- Grab one of the resistance band, or both ends with one hand if possible, depending on the amount of resistance of the particular band (use handles if they’re available)
- Stand side on/have your back slightly to the anchor point and bring your arm across your body and back to complete a rep
- You should feel a great contraction during the movement, especially in the mid chest
The Push Up To Chest Cross Over
The push up to chest cross over incorporates a push up with a crossover of the chest. As stated in the previous movement a cross over allows the mid chest to be activated to greater effect, helping to build a more aesthetic and well-rounded chest. We already know about how great the pushup is! This exercise also requires great core stability and balance and is therefore great for developing the core. This movement requires an anchor point at ground level; a door anchor can again be used here. Quick tip: add a slight incline on the push up to provide greater upper chest activation or a slight decline to engage the lower chest better!
To perform:
- Set the resistance band up at ground level and at a point so you can grab the end of the band with one hand so that you can still perform a pushup
- Hold the band while getting into a pushup position and then perform a pushup
- Once one pushup has been completed and your arms are extended, bring the arm holding the band across your body and then back to the start position to complete a rep
The High To Low Chest Fly
The high to low chest fly is very similar to the chest fly already mentioned in this list but this exercise focuses on putting extra stress and tension on the lower chest. As explained earlier, the chest has three parts, the upper, mid and lower chest and developing all three is crucial to building an aesthetic looking chest. The reason this exercise puts greater emphasis on the lower chest is because the arms are having to push the resistance down towards the core which requires the lower chest to do most of the work.
To perform:
- Secure the middle of the resistance band at head height or slightly higher
- Grab each end of the resistance band with your hands (use handles if they’re available) and face away from the anchor point
- Press the resistance down towards the ground and out, away from your body and bring back up to complete a rep – you should feel a great contraction in the lower portion of the chest
The Low To High Chest Fly
The low to high chest fly is again very similar to the chest fly already mentioned in this list but this time, this exercise focuses on the upper region of the chest. This is due to the anchor point of the resistance band being set at around knee height or lower and the pressing of the weight up towards to sky emphasizes the upper chest over the other parts.
To perform:
- Secure the middle of the resistance band at knee height or slightly lower
- Grab each end of the resistance band with your hands (use handles if they’re available) and face away from the anchor point
- Press the resistance up towards to sky and out, away from your body and bring back down to complete a rep – you should feel a great contraction in the upper portion of the chest
Workouts With The Exercises
Of course, all of these exercises are for the chest, but it’s unreasonable for all of them to be used in a single workout. We need to utilize them in an effective way to get the best results out of the workouts. If you are going to do a workout solely focusing on the chest, the volume of seven exercises will be too much and will end up affecting you more negatively than positively. Here is what we’d recommend for a resistance band chest-only workout:
Begin with the resistance band push-up. This should be a staple in your chest workout as it’s the best one for overall chest activation and development. Following this, move onto an upper chest and then a lower chest movement. This could be both iterations of the chest fly or the push up to cross over altered for upper/lower activation. Then move back to a mid-chest exercise to finish. You can then finish here or for slightly more volume, complete another upper or lower exercise. If you do two upper exercises, the next workout, do two lower exercises.
If you are going to be using these chest exercises as part of a push workout routine, then less of them will be used to allow for the inclusion of exercises focusing on other parts of the upper body, the shoulders and triceps.
As with the chest-only session, start with the resistance band push-up. This is the best option for activating the mid-chest along with the upper and lower portions too. Following this, move onto an exercise that engages another muscle group in your push workout, the shoulders for example. Following this, go to an upper chest exercise, this could be one of the fly movements. Again, alternate to a different muscle before going to an exercise for the lower chest. Three chest exercises will be plenty along with the shoulder and triceps exercises a push workout should also include.
We’d recommend completing 3-4 sets per exercise in the repetition range of 8-12 for both workouts.
Conclusion
So that brings the article to a close, hopefully you have learned some new exercises which you can use to develop your chest using resistance bands. Ensure you focus on each region of the chest to develop that well-rounded chest!