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Chest · At home · 33 exercises

Chest workouts at home, no equipment

Two chest workouts you can do at home with no equipment: a push-up progression for beginners and a harder ladder once regular push-ups are easy.

A good chest workout pairs a heavy press for strength with lighter presses and flyes for volume. Flat pressing trains the whole pec; an incline of 15 to 30 degrees shifts more of the work to the upper chest, and flyes load the muscle at a long stretch, which presses can’t.

With no equipment, you make exercises harder by changing leverage instead of adding weight: raising your feet, using one limb at a time, slowing down, or pausing at the hardest point. Everything here needs only your body and, at most, a sturdy chair, a table or a doorframe.

Beginner chest workout at home

Start where you can do 8 clean reps and move down the list as you get stronger.

  1. Push-up (Wall)
    Sets
    3
    Reps
    12–20
    Rest
    60 s
  2. Incline Push-upHands on a table or the edge of a couch.
    Sets
    3
    Reps
    10–15
    Rest
    60 s
  3. Kneeling Push-up
    Sets
    3
    Reps
    8–15
    Rest
    60 s
  4. Push-up
    Sets
    2
    Reps
    As many as you can
    Rest
    90 s

Advanced bodyweight chest workout

Raised feet and wider hands make the push-up much harder.

  1. Decline Push-upFeet on a chair or bed.
    Sets
    4
    Reps
    8–15
    Rest
    90 s
  2. Wide Hand Push Up
    Sets
    3
    Reps
    10–20
    Rest
    90 s
  3. Archer Push Up
    Sets
    3
    Reps
    5–8 each side
    Rest
    90 s
  4. Push-up
    Sets
    2
    Reps
    To 1–2 short of failure
    Rest
    60 s

Can’t do one of these?

Machine taken or training somewhere else? Each of these has substitutes that work the same muscles.

Tips

  • Set your shoulder blades back and down before you unrack, and keep them there. It protects the shoulders and gives the chest a stable base to press from.
  • Lower the weight under control to the bottom of the range. Most chest growth comes from the stretched position, so half reps leave a lot behind.
  • Ten to twenty hard sets a week is the range most lifters grow on. Start near ten and add sets only while you keep recovering.
  • When you can do more than 20 good reps, move to a harder variation instead of adding more reps.

Run this workout in SPLYT

Every exercise here is in SPLYT’s library. Save the workout as a template, log your sets on iPhone or Apple Watch, and next time your weights are already filled in from what you lifted.

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33 chest exercises you can do at home

Every one links to step-by-step instructions and a demonstration. Swap any of them into the workouts above.

All chest exercises →

Questions

How many chest exercises can you do at home with no equipment?

SPLYT’s exercise library has 33 chest exercises you can do at home with no equipment, including Push-up, Chest Dip and Archer Push Up. Each one links to step-by-step instructions and a demonstration.

How often should I train chest?

Twice a week suits most people: it lets you split ten to twenty weekly sets across two sessions so each one stays productive. Once a week works too if the session is big enough.

Should I do incline or flat bench first?

Start with whichever press you most want to get stronger at, since the first lift of the day gets your freshest effort. If your upper chest lags, lead with the incline.

Can you build muscle at home without equipment?

Yes, if each set ends close to failure. Bodyweight training builds muscle as long as you keep moving to harder variations as you get stronger.

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