We Tested 16 Chest Exercises, These Are Best For Growth

Here's Betty: a $12,000 EMG machine who is going to help us determine what the best chest exercises for growth (from upper chest to middle chest to lower chest exercises) ACTUALLY are. EMG stands for electromyography, and it’s a way of measuring the electrical activity produced by muscles when they contract. To make sure I run this experiment evaluating my list of chest exercises as best as possible so that we, and you, could actually trust the data (i.e., that these are the best exercises for a bigger chest), I called up a few colleagues and they led me to John, a Master’s student specializing in EMG.

Vote on the shoulders exercises you think will come out on top (winners get a FREE Built With Science program and ALL entries get a discount code):

Take a deeper look into the data here:

Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:

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It was time to prep the experiment to find out what the best chest exercises for growth really are—and think about all the variables we had to control. First variable: subjects. Everyone’s bodies are slightly different, and the more subjects in study, the more reliable the data. So, I wanted at least 3 subjects in total. Luckily we had Alex and Raza. Raza is more of a beginner so I thought it’d be interesting to see how his results compare to mine and Alex’s. Next, weight. we had to figure out how much weight we’d be using on each chest exercise to ensure that they were equally as challenging. A week before the test date, we all spent a whole day in our gym and figured out our estimated “1 rep max” for each exercise. On test day, we’d use 70% of this weight for each of the exercises.

Plus, we came up with a wager. Before we conducted the experiment to find out what the best exercises for a bigger chest are, the three of us wrote down on a piece of paper what exercises we think will end up being the top 2 for each area of the chest. Once we got the results, we’ll compare them to each of our lists and the person who gets the least exercises correct will be dunked into a human body sized Canadian Tundra Death Trap!

Here are all the chest exercises we tested:

Push-ups
Banded push-ups
Standing cable fly
High to low cable fly
Seated cable fly
Chest dips
Barbell bench press
Incline barbell bench press
Flat dumbbell press
Incline machine press
15 degree incline dumbbell press
30 degree incline dumbbell press
45 degree incline dumbbell press
Decline dumbbell press
Pinch press
Pec deck machine

Note: with several variables and just 3 subjects, it’s hard to detect any statistical differences. That said, I did average the data and found some really interesting findings that align with a lot of other research. So, let’s start with the best upper chest exercises. The top two exercises were both incline dumbbell presses, just at different bench angles. We tested 15 degrees, 30 degrees, and 45 degrees. The lower inclines of 15 degrees and 30 degrees came out on top.

Next, middle chest exercises. The first winner is the decline dumbbell press, but not the typical version you see at the gym. We used just a very slight elevation by placing a weight plate underneath the front of the bench. Usually this helps emphasize the lower chest the most. But to my surprise, it did an excellent job of activating the mid chest for all 3 of us. The other winner was the seated cable fly. In this case we put the cable handles at chest height.

Finally, the lower chest exercises. Here I expected high to low cable flyes to win, because tension from the cable aligns well with the lower chest fibers. While it did end up scoring well, seated cable flyes came out on top. This might be because it’s a more stable setup, with the tension from the cable still aligning quite well with the lower chest. The other winner was once again the decline dumbbell press, suggesting that the very slight decline aligns the press very well with both the middle and the lower fibers of the chest.

Who got dunked? Watch the video! That said, I got really emotional during the ice plunge. After hitting 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, I founded Built With Science which stemmed from a bigger vision I always had in mind: to build a legacy that would bring a more scientific and research-backed approach to the fitness industry and weed out the BS and “bro-science” that plagues the industry. This little science experiment was a big step towards realizing that. I’m excited for where this leads and I appreciate you joining me on this journey.

[shreyashbasarge]

•Top 3 exercises for each chest muscles•
Upper Chest:
01: 15° Incline Dumbbell Press
02: 30° Incline Dumbbell Press
03: Barbell Bench Press

Middle Chest:
01: Seated Cable Fly
02: Decline Dumbbell Press
03: 15° Incline Dumbbell Press

Lower Chest:
01: Seated Cable Fly
02: Slight Decline Dumbbell Press
03: Flat Dumbbell Press

Thanks Jeremy 🤞🏼

[ugarz]

This is one of the greatest videos you have made so far, thank you for sharing this with us. I hope you had a ton of fun doing it as I had watching it!
This is the wright direction, I love this.

[elalexsantos]

it’s so surreal to see jeremy’s evolution over the years as far as content and energy goes.

[KM-hktc]

Congrats Jeremy - you are easily my go-to for all things muscle. You don’t reek of “influencer”, you haven’t gone down the path of “now I’m going to show you my lifestyle” like others have, and you just seem to be so authentic.

Keep it up!

[florianbarras]

I hope you've enjoyed creating it as much as I watching as I hope you'll keep creating this kind of video in the future!

[wissembenammar]

Hey Jeremy, it would be interesting if you do the same for the different variations of the Deadlift exercice, like conventional, sumo, RDL, ... and see what muscle activation will look like for each, I'm very curious about this

[crivyeller]

Exercises Ranked:
9:11 Upper Chest List
10:58 Middle Chest List
12:10 Lower Chest List

[monstro]

every aspect of body building, every question we ask ourselves, every interrogation we have on how to perform and maximise our efforts are answered on this youtube channel
by far the most useful youtube channel you can get on this topic
thank you so much Jeremy, and all this is free content, free knowledge, truly documented
Thank you again
going to the workout has changed my life, beyond every aspiration i had
i love it beyond words, hard to explain, it gave me ...something i've never had
i have done many things to my body over the years
going to the workout is by far the best decision of my life
it cures almost all of my addiction, many of my fears
i was addict to opioids for years (heroin), i'm still on methadone treatment
i was stuck on 30 mg for years without decreasing, it was just impossible
since 4 months now i go to the workout, i am at 15 mg of methadone now and for the first time, i can see hope, and i'm starting to believe that i can make it
Thanks for all this help man
sorry for my english, i wish you the best

[konnor]

Are you gonna make a series testing different muscles each episode? And then combine them all into the best exercises for the entire body?

[rufuufeb]

This is one of your best videos so far. The story, the scientific process, the result, they were all wrapped together in one solid video. Amazing job!

[gr]

Amazing job, Jeremy! As a physician, I love your evidence-based approach to fitness. Your channel and Jeff Nippard’s are the best out there. Interesting to note how the barbell bench press ranked low compared to other movements, but it’s nice to know that it pretty much activates all regions equally. I hope you are publishing a paper!

[atahanselekoglu_]

much love jeremy. been watching you for a long time and that ending got me a little emotional. your success is so deserved and hoping more comes your way! 💞

[instrong]

Jeremy became like a big brother for 4.8m people. Amazing motivation and a nice example how to live life. Started watching by accidant and you really changed my life not only by creating all these cool videos but even by motivating me to start the workout channel on YT to help people like you helped me to change my life. Best wishes from Ukraine you are great bro

[eddiekudo]

The amount of work and knowledge you are providing is so surreal, love your videos thanks man

[nigelmurgatroyd]

Hi Jeremy, just like to say thanks very informative and so inspirational, I'm 60 next birthday and didn't touch a weight until 5 months ago, I got covid and it knocked me for 6, out of breath and fatigue, just wanted something to get me back on my feet while confined to the house so found a pulley wheel in the shed and with a bucket of water and a length of rope started exercising and found it helped and adding water to the bucket as I got stronger, now 5 months on I built my own lats machine have a bench, bellbar and alsorts, my two sons also join me too. Sorry to waffle on, have been following you since my journey started, you've been great help in guidance and information, so many thanks again for all your help, best regards

[buffmordecai]

Came here from the shoulder exercise with the same concept as this one that you posted a couple days ago. Please continue making videos with this concept as I think they are extremely helpful!💯

[directcontact]

Excellent video, you are always raising the quality standards. Just a clarification, the machine shown there is a Fly Machine, not the Pec Deck Machine (where the arms are at 90 degrees), the Pec Deck Machine takes the use of the arms and shoulders out of the equation and allows you to maximize chest activation, according to a study (which I don't remember right now) the real Pec Deck Machine is the best of the best. A video where you compare the Barbell Bench Press, Pec Deck Machine and Fly Machine would be great.

[bassert]

My guess:
Upper chest: 45 degree incline dumbell press + Incline machine press
Middle chest: Barbell Bench + Flat Dumbell press
Lower chest: Seated + standing Cable Fly

Edit:
I'm surprised that the Barbell Bench press scores so low on everything. Very cool to see all the results!

[theNorth]

Dude I haven't watched your videos in a while, seeing your growth in this video is inspiring as hell. You're doing something truly special man. Always have fun and keep going. Thank you for everything.

[rajinbin]

Dude you are becoming the leader in all things fitness now, with the science and the research behind you. You have all our trust keep up the hard work bro.