Powerful Exercises To Build A Strong Chest And Upper Body For Beginners

There are lots of exercises available to work on building a strong upper body for beginners.

In my experience, some have just been a little more effective than others.

Obviously when you are just starting out with a workout routine, you want movements that are easy to complete but also deliver the results that allow you to improve over time.

Recently I posted a beginner routine for building upper body strength that covers several muscle groups.

I mentioned that I would also post a deeper dive into certain movements with a more concentrated focus.

For this post, we’ll focus on the chest.

Hopefully I’ve put together a few moves that are not the same old push up routine. These should give you a little more variety and challenge so you don’t get bored.

We’re not going to get too crazy because these are still beginner level routines. But I do think they’re a little more challenging. Especially if you feel like just doing regular push ups isn’t cutting it for you so much anymore.

Try these out.

Related Article: 5 Exercises For a Beginner’s At Home Workout

The Dive Bomber

This is a great exercise to help build upper body strength with particular focus on your chest. There’s even a little help from your shoulders.

The set up is easy.

Get down on the floor as if you were going to begin a push up and get your body up into a completed position with your arms fully extended and legs together so that you are supporting your weight up on your toes and palms.

Now instead of keeping your body in a straight line, press your hips up into the air so your body forms an upside down “V”.

This should result in your shoulders being pulled a bit behind your hands and your head tipped downwards towards the floor.

From this position, come down with your head and shoulders through your hands as you lower your body towards the floor.

As you flatten out, continue to pull your head and shoulders forward and up, pressing your upper body back up into the air.

This movement is effectively the “dive bomb” style push up.

Once you’ve completed the movement forward, repeat the entire sequence in reverse so that you finish in an upright push up position with your hips raised in the air and your body in the inverted “V” shape.

I know it may sound a little convoluted but here’s a great demonstration of the dive bomber from the good folks at bodybuilding.com.

See, not so confusing after all.

Take your time with the movement and resist the urge to ever let gravity pull you down too fast in either direction. You want your muscles to do the work.

Consider one time through and back as a single repetition. Try and do 8 to 10 reps.

This move should start to increase the challenge for you.

Related Article: A Beginner’s Workout You Can Start Today

The Star Plank

I’m sure everywhere you’ve looked when searching for new and interesting workout for beginners you’ve probably found discussions about the plank.

It’s a great core workout and can be altered in a number of different ways to hit different muscle groups depending upon your fitness goals.

Here’s a great variation to target your chest along with your core.

Start off by setting up for the standard plank. That means getting into the fully extended push up position. Your arms almost straight with your legs together and straight out behind you.

But, you don’t drop down to complete a push up, you simply hold the position.

That’s a fully extended plank. There’s another common variation of the standard plank. Basically you do everything the same except instead of being up on your hands, your down on your forearms instead.

Both positions do the trick.

What you’re going to do here is, instead of keeping your arms straight up and down under your shoulders, you allow them to spread out and up slightly while you spread your feet slightly wider than your hips as well.

You should really be feeling this in your chest as well as your core.

Here’s a good demonstration of the star plank for the folks over at High Octane Training and Therapy.

I’m not sure about the music but it’s oddly relaxing.

Try and hold that position for 30 seconds. If it’s too hard at first, narrow your hands and feet.

Work your hands and feet out to a wider stance over time, to make it more challenging.

That’s the star plank. No need to go up and down. Just hold it.

Related Article: Plank Workout Challenge For Beginners

Feet Elevated Push Up

If you are looking for a way to challenge yourself and take a step up from the standard push up, this is it.

Elevating your feet for push up, also know as decline push ups attack the chest from a different angle.

It works the upper part of your chest a little more and without question, is a more challenging exercise than the standard push up.

As far as how to do them, the name says it all.

Set up as if you are going to do a standard push up. But instead of being flat on the floor, find something to elevate your feet.

If you’re just trying this for the first time, a step will probably do the trick or possibly a low stool.

You want to maintain that straight line from your shoulders down your back and legs just like a standard push up. Remember don’t let your hips or shoulders sink.

The higher you elevate your feet, the greater the challenge.

You’ll be feeling a little more weight on your upper body in this position. It’s important to maintain good form to get the most out of the movement.

Keep your shoulders back and chest out. Resist the urge to come down quickly. Press up and come down slowly and evenly. Inhaling as you come down and exhaling as you push up.

Do your best to keep your core engaged as well.

Here’s a good demonstration and discussion of the decline push up by Corey Beasley for eHowFitness.

This is an amazing exercise again for your chest and shoulders with added benefits for your core.

You will be feeling this much more across the chest and shoulders than you do with the standard push up.

Try and complete a set of 8 to 10 repetitions.

Related Article: Best Bodyweight Exercises To Strengthen and Tone Your Physique

Put It Together

Let’s put it together and see what this beginner power chest workout looks like:

• Dive Bomber 8 – 10 Reps
• Star Plank 30 Seconds
• Feet Elevated Push Ups 8 – 10 Reps

Not bad. This is a great concentration workout for your chest using just your bodyweight.

For a beginner, work your way through these exercises, giving yourself about a 1 minute break in between each one.

Try and complete 3 rounds of the entire routine. You should really be feeling this across your upper body with particular emphasis on your chest.

I think this workout on its own will make a great upper body routine for anybody starting out or returning to regular workouts.

If it feels more like a warm up, you may be in better shape than you thought.

In which case you can try to…

Make It Metabolic!

Whoa! Wait! What?

This routine can be turned into a great metabolic workout for beginners.

If you haven’t heard of a metabolic workout before and want to know what it is, here’s a general breakdown for you.

A metabolic workout tends to involve compound exercises. Compound exercises utilize multiple joints and multiple muscle groups at the same time.

So for example the dive bomber push up in this routine is a great compound exercise incorporating the pectorals, deltoids, triceps and core. As you can imagine, it works multiple joints for these muscle groups to work together.

A good metabolic workout will have you boost your metabolism with a good calorie burn. Your metabolism is generally measured by how many calories you burn while at rest.

The faster your metabolism the more calories you burn. The more calories you burn the better your chances of burning fat and losing some weight.

Metabolic training tends to incorporate large muscle groups in the body. Though it can be done with smaller muscle groups as well. It utilizes high intensity and you’ll definitely feel the burn in the muscles you are working.

The high intensity also means you’re able to workout for a shorter period of time to achieve the same results.

The benefits of a solid metabolic workout routine for beginners include improved cardiovascular performance and strength training. There also tends to be a boost in fat loss as a result of increased calorie burns.

Some studies indicated that following a good metabolic workout routine, a percentage of the increased levels of calorie burns continue while at rest. This has been referred to as the “afterburn effect”.

Also known as the excess post exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC. It’s really just a fancy way of describing the increased number of calories burned after exercise.

Related Article: At Home High Intensity Interval Training Made Easy

So How Do We Make This Workout Routine Metabolic?

Glad you asked.

If you’re looking to turn this into a metabolic workout routine for beginners the best place to start is with your rest period in between exercises.

This is one way to boost the intensity. So instead of resting for a minute in between exercises, take the rest out completely and go straight through from one movement to the next.

Save the rest for after completing all three exercises.

And whatever you do, don’t slow down. You want to maintain your pace throughout the routine.

By boosting the intensity in this fashion you’ll reap the benefits of this bodyweight strength training routine in less time and effectively turned it into a great metabolic workout with a particular focus on your chest.

Related Article: Full Body Workout In Minutes

The Wrap Up

So there you have it. A great bodyweight strength training workout for beginners to build a strong upper body with emphasis on your chest.

If you’re able to jump right to the metabolic workout, I’d imagine you’re not quite a beginner and may be ready soon to take this workout to the next level by adding weight, other exercises and additional sets.

If you are a beginner, this routine should get you on track to building your upper body strength and toning your physique. Try and do it at least a couple times a week until it gets considerably easier.

At that point you won’t be such a beginner anymore. You’ll be on your way to the next level. Way to go!