Chest · Barbell · 12 exercises

Chest workouts with a barbell

A barbell chest workout built on the bench press, with incline and decline work to cover the whole chest.

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.

A barbell lets you lift the most weight and add it in small, measurable jumps, which makes it the easiest tool for getting stronger over time. Most of these lifts need a rack, and pressing needs a bench and, ideally, safety pins.

Barbell chest workout

One heavy bench day you can run for months by adding weight in small jumps.

Barbell Bench Press
Sets
5
Reps
5
Rest
3 min
Barbell Incline Bench Press
Sets
3
Reps
6–8
Rest
2–3 min
Barbell Decline Bench Press
Sets
3
Reps
8–10
Rest
2 min
Barbell Wide Bench Press
Sets
2
Reps
10–12
Rest
90 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.
Use the plate calculator and add the smallest jump your gym allows. Small, regular increases beat big jumps you can’t hold.

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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12 chest exercises with a barbell

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 with barbell?

SPLYT’s exercise library has 12 chest exercises you can do with barbell, including Barbell Bench Press, Barbell Wide Bench Press and Barbell Decline Bench Press. 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.

Do I need a squat rack for barbell workouts?

For squats and pressing, yes: a rack with safety pins lets you train close to failure safely. Deadlifts, rows, curls and Romanian deadlifts start from the floor and don’t need one.