Chest and triceps is Monday and Thursday on my split, repeated with different angle emphasis each time, and it's the day that taught me the most about how much small technical details actually matter. I spent my first year benching the same way every session and wondering why my chest stopped growing, before I understood that "more weight" and "more growth" aren't actually the same instruction.
This article covers every exercise that keyword searches actually ask about for this muscle group, not a curated highlight reel. Some of them (bench press, dips) are foundational. Others (specific curl-style triceps isolation work) matter more than people give them credit for once you actually look at the research behind them.
Why Train Chest and Triceps Together
Chest and triceps pair naturally because nearly every pressing movement, from bench press to dips, already recruits the triceps as a secondary mover, making this pairing efficient rather than arbitrary. This is standard programming logic across serious strength routines, not a home-workout compromise or a beginner shortcut.
I train this twice weekly, Monday and Thursday, which research has linked to better hypertrophy outcomes than training once a week, though a more rigorous follow-up review found that once total weekly volume is matched, frequency itself matters less than the split used to achieve it (Schoenfeld, Ogborn & Krieger, 2016; Grgic, Schoenfeld & Latella, 2019). What actually moved my results wasn't just hitting the muscle twice a week, though. It was what I did differently between those two sessions, which is where the real plateau fix in this article comes from.
Chest Exercises: Bench Press, Incline, Decline, Flyes, and Dips
A chest workout built around barbell bench press, incline and decline dumbbell press, cable flyes, and dips trains the entire pectoral muscle from multiple angles, upper, middle, and lower chest, rather than repeating the same horizontal press every session.
Barbell Bench Press
The barbell bench press is the primary compound movement for chest size and strength, loading the pecs, front delts, and triceps simultaneously while allowing the heaviest total load of any chest exercise. An EMG comparison study found the barbell bench press produced significantly higher chest muscle activation than dumbbell flyes in resistance-trained males (J Sports Sci Med, 2020), confirming what most serious lifters already treat as obvious: presses build the base, flyes refine it.
- 4 sets of 6-8 reps, working up to a challenging top set
- Keep your shoulder blades pinned back and down throughout, not just at setup
- Lower the bar to roughly nipple level, not your neck, which keeps the movement in a shoulder-friendly range
Incline and Decline Dumbbell Press
Incline dumbbell press targets the upper chest specifically, while decline dumbbell press shifts emphasis toward the lower chest, and bench angle genuinely changes which portion of the pectoral muscle does the most work. Research on incline pressing has found that keeping the bench angle in the 30 to 45 degree range better isolates the upper chest, since steeper angles progressively shift the exercise from a chest movement toward a shoulder-dominant one (summarized via Bony to Beastly).
- 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps for each variation
- I prefer dumbbells over a barbell for both angles specifically because a barbell lets your stronger side quietly compensate for a weaker one, an imbalance dumbbells force you to correct directly, which reduces injury risk over time by not letting one side carry the other indefinitely
- Let your arms hang fully at the bottom on incline work. The extra stretch is where a meaningful share of the actual growth stimulus comes from
Cable Flyes
Cable flyes isolate the chest with constant tension through the full range of motion, a genuinely different stimulus than a dumbbell fly, where tension drops off near the top of the movement.
- 3 sets of 12-15 reps
- Keep a slight bend in your elbows throughout rather than locking them, which protects the joint and keeps tension on the chest rather than the connective tissue
- Adjusting the cable height, low-to-high, high-to-low, or level, shifts emphasis between upper and lower chest, similar to how bench angle works for pressing
Dips for the Chest
Dips, leaning forward with elbows flaring slightly, emphasize the lower chest and triceps simultaneously, making them one of the more efficient bodyweight-based compound movements available at a gym with parallel bars.
- 3 sets of 8-12 reps, adding weight once bodyweight reps stop being challenging
- A forward torso lean shifts emphasis toward the chest, while staying more upright shifts more work onto the triceps, worth knowing depending on which muscle you're prioritizing that session
Triceps Exercises: Close-Grip Bench, Skull Crushers, Overhead Extensions, and Pushdowns
A triceps workout built around close-grip bench press, EZ-bar skull crushers, overhead cable extensions, and rope pushdowns covers all three triceps heads, lateral, medial, and long, since the long head specifically responds best to overhead positions that most pressing movements never reach.
Close-Grip Bench Press
Close-grip bench press builds triceps strength and mass while still allowing heavier loads than isolation movements, using a grip roughly shoulder-width or slightly narrower than a standard bench press.
- 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps
- Keep your elbows tracking close to your torso throughout, rather than flaring outward, which shifts the emphasis back toward the chest and away from the triceps
EZ Bar Skull Crushers
Skull crushers isolate the triceps through a lying elbow extension, and they're genuinely effective, though the elbow joint is where nearly every issue with this exercise originates.
- 3 sets of 10-12 reps
- Avoid locking out completely under heavy load at the top. This is the most common spot for elbow strain to develop, and it costs nothing to leave a slight bend at lockout
- An EZ bar's angled grip is noticeably more forgiving on the wrists than a straight bar for this specific movement
Overhead Cable Extensions
Overhead cable extensions specifically target the long head of the triceps by placing it in a fully stretched position, and the research behind this exercise is more precise than most triceps content acknowledges. A 12-week controlled study directly comparing overhead cable extensions to standard pushdowns found the overhead version produced significantly greater long head hypertrophy, a 28.5% increase in muscle volume compared to 19.6% for pushdowns, and even produced somewhat greater growth in the lateral and medial heads as well (Maeo et al., 2023, European Journal of Sport Science). If your triceps routine is built entirely around pushdowns, this is genuinely the single most useful addition you could make to it.
- 3 sets of 10-12 reps
- Keep your upper arms stationary next to your ears throughout, letting only your forearms move
- This exercise can't be loaded as heavily as a compound press, which is exactly why it works best placed after your heavier pressing work, not before it
Rope Pushdowns and the Pushdown Machine
Rope pushdowns and machine pushdowns both isolate the triceps through cable tension, with the rope allowing your hands to separate at the bottom for a slightly different lateral head emphasis than a fixed bar attachment.
- 3 sets of 12-15 reps
- Keep your elbows pinned at your sides throughout. Letting them drift forward turns this into more of a shoulder movement than a triceps one
- Split your hands apart at the bottom of the rope version and briefly squeeze, which is where a meaningful share of the actual triceps contraction happens
The Full Chest and Triceps Gym Workout
Here's the complete session, structured with the plateau-fix logic built in, fly-focused on one training day, press-focused on the other, rather than repeating the identical session twice a week:
| Day | Chest Focus | Exercise | Sets x Reps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday (Fly-Focused) | Flat, Incline, Decline Flyes | Cable Flyes + Incline/Decline Dumbbell Flyes | 3 x 12-15 each |
| Thursday (Press-Focused) | Flat, Incline, Decline Press | Barbell Bench Press, Incline/Decline DB Press | 3-4 x 8-10 each |
| Both days | Triceps | Close-Grip Bench Press | 3-4 x 8-10 |
| Both days | Triceps | Overhead Cable Extensions | 3 x 10-12 |
| Both days | Triceps | Rope Pushdowns | 3 x 12-15 |
This is the exact fix that broke my own chest plateau. Instead of adding more weight to the same flat bench press week after week, I split the emphasis, one day built around flyes at multiple angles, the other around presses at multiple angles, hitting the same muscle from genuinely different stimuli rather than just doing more of the same thing harder.
If you're training this session at home instead, I've written the equipment-free version here: Chest and Triceps at Home. This is one part of a full twice-weekly split, and the other training days are covered in Back and Biceps (Gym) and Legs and Shoulders (Gym). Since nutrition drives most of the actual outcome behind any of these sessions, my High Protein Diet Plan covers exactly what I eat to support this training.
Common Mistakes in a Chest and Triceps Workout
Most of what goes wrong here comes from chasing load at the expense of position.
- Repeating the same bench angle every session. This was my exact mistake for a full year, and it's the single most fixable issue in this entire article.
- Locking out elbows hard on skull crushers. This transfers strain to the joint rather than the muscle, and it's an easy habit to build without noticing.
- Flaring elbows on pushdowns and extensions. This shifts work toward the shoulders and away from the triceps, quietly reducing the effectiveness of the exercise without feeling any less difficult.
- Skipping overhead extensions entirely in favor of only pushdowns. Given how much more the research favors the overhead position for long head growth specifically, this is leaving real muscle on the table for no good reason.
- Not adjusting weight as fatigue builds through the session. Your elbow tendons and grip are working overtime by the last few exercises, and forcing the same load you started with often means your form quietly deteriorates before you notice it.
FAQs
Should I train chest or triceps first?
Chest first is generally the better order, since triceps get pre-fatigued as a secondary mover during chest pressing, and training them first would compromise how much weight you can safely and effectively press afterward.
Is close-grip bench press better than skull crushers for triceps?
Neither is definitively better. Close-grip bench press moves more total weight and builds pressing strength alongside triceps size, while skull crushers isolate the triceps more directly, and a well-rounded routine benefits from including both rather than choosing one exclusively.
How many chest exercises should I do per workout?
Three to four exercises covering a compound press, at least one incline or decline variation, and one isolation movement like cable flyes is generally enough for a complete session without excessive volume that compromises recovery.
Do overhead triceps extensions really build more muscle than pushdowns?
Yes, based on a controlled 12-week study, overhead cable extensions produced meaningfully greater triceps hypertrophy than pushdowns, particularly in the long head, though pushdowns still have a place in a well-rounded routine rather than being replaced entirely.
Can I build a strong chest with only dumbbells and no barbell?
Yes, dumbbell presses at multiple angles combined with dumbbell flyes can build genuine chest size and strength without a barbell, though a barbell allows heavier total loading over time, which is why many programs include both rather than relying on just one.