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June 25, 2022
Not many things in life are more satisfying than a well-defined chest and boulder shoulders that show you mean serious gym business. Common weight-lifting regimens often group the chest and shoulders with the entire upper body muscle or split the two apart, pairing the chest and tris, and the shoulders with back and bis.
But if you have yet to create a split that groups the duo, it’s time to revamp your routine, and combine the two, stat. Trust us, your muscles will thank you. And happy muscles usually lead to larger ones.
In this post, you’ll learn:
In a workout regimen, the chest and shoulder muscles go together like peanut butter and jelly, far more than less traditional pairings, like this chest and bicep workout, for example. Separate, they’re still good, but when put together, they complement each other perfectly. Think about it: They’re both pushing muscles, meaning you can do very few chest exercises without also activating the shoulder muscles.
The bench press, chest fly, and incline bench are a few of our favorite chest exercises, and none can be done without the shoulders pulling their weight. When pairing muscles together and determining the best split, a good strategy is pairing one large muscle group with 1 to 2 smaller muscle groups.
Putting multiple major muscle groups on the same day can be extremely taxing on your body, and you may not be able to lift as heavy for both. So, putting chest and back together may cause one of those muscle groups to get the weak end of the workout stick when paired together, and when you're dealing with two major muscle groups, that's the last thing you want.
Instead, give the chest, back, and legs separate gym days, pairing them with your remaining smaller muscle groups. Following that logic, a great workout split option is chest and shoulders on one day, back, biceps, and triceps on another, followed by legs and core on a separate day.
Once you understand the muscles that make up the chest and shoulders, pairing the two together will make perfect sense. Many chest movements require moving the arms. And as you’ll quickly find out, many arm movements require rotation, abduction, or flexion of the shoulder joint, which then activates at least one of the shoulder heads - see how it's all connected?
Pectoralis Major: The largest and most superficial of the chest muscles, the pectoralis major is shaped like a fan and located underneath the breast tissue. It has two heads, the clavicular and sternocostal, named after their origin points. The clavicular head attaches to the collarbone, while the sternocostal head attaches to the sternum, or collarbone, and the rib's costal cartilage. They insert into the upper arm bone, called the humerus.
The clavicular head is responsible for adducting your arm, internally rotating the upper arm bone, and raising your arm in a forward motion. When thinking of how to best target this portion of the pectoralis major in your chest workouts, focus on upper chest exercises, such as the incline bench press.
On the other hand, the sternocostal is responsible for arm adduction and internal rotation of the humerus. Lower chest exercises, including decline moves and the standard bench press, target it.
Pectoralis Minor: Thinner and triangle-shaped, the pectoralis minor lies underneath the pectoralis major. Its origin is on the surface of ribs three through five and inserts into the shoulder blade’s coracoid process, a bony structure that provides stability to the shoulder joint.
Its primary functions include stabilizing and protracting the shoulder blades and assisting with scapular protraction and internal rotation. In addition, it depresses, or pulls down, the shoulder blades, making more room for your lungs during inhalation.
Chest exercises such as diamond push-ups, the chest press, and cable crossovers all hit the pec minor. Focus on keeping the shoulder blades pulled down during exercises to activate them further.
Serratus Anterior: We know when you think of the chest, the pec major and minor are what come to mind. And while we won’t spend a lot of time discussing this muscle or the subclavius’ (more on this in a second) roles in each chest and shoulder exercise, please note they’re working in most of them.
Without the serratus anterior, pushing actions, like the bench press, aren’t possible, as it’s responsible for shoulder blade protraction or pulling your shoulder blades forward. It also enables your arms to raise past the 90-degree mark. Other duties of this muscle include scapula flexion and stabilizing the shoulders.
For serratus anterior exercises, think push-ups, bench presses, and boxing. This muscle originates on the sides of the ribs and inserts into the scapula's top, side, and bottom.
Subclavius: Short and triangularly shaped, the subclavius is another muscle that may not technically be a chest muscle but is crucial for most chest movements. It runs underneath the collarbone with its origin on the first rib and its insertion on the collarbone. Its main job is to keep the collarbone stabilized during shoulder girdle movement.
The shoulders, formally known as the deltoids, consist of three shoulder heads: the anterior (front) deltoid, the lateral (side) deltoid, and the posterior (rear) deltoid. The three heads work together to enable the arm to move in almost all major movements, including pushing, pulling, circular motions and lifting.
Anterior Deltoid: The anterior deltoid connects to your collarbone and is the front of the shoulder. Responsible for forward flexion or moving your arm in front of the body, they also help with horizontal adduction, a necessary movement for the bench press. Anterior deltoid exercises include the overhead press, push press, and Arnold press.
Lateral Deltoid: Abducting, or moving your arms out to the side, as well as shoulder flexion, moving them up and down, are all thanks to the lateral delts, which are found on the side of your shoulders and connect to a bony knob on the shoulder blade. This portion of the deltoid is integral in achieving the full, rounded shoulder look we all know and love, and the muscle is so popular it even has its own exercise: the lateral raise. Standing T raise, arm circles, and band face pulls are just a few more examples of lateral deltoid exercises.
Posterior Deltoid: Connecting to the shoulder blade, the posterior delts at the back of the arm allow you to move your arms backward. Bent over dumbbell raises, inclined reverse dumbbell fly, and the reverse machine fly are effective rear delt exercises.
As you can see, the chest and shoulders are a perfect muscle match. The exercises we’re about to discuss are in one of two chest and shoulder workouts we've created for you. Work both routines into your weekly gym regimen, and your muscle tanks will look better than ever.
Both your pectoralis major and minor are activated in the barbell bench press, making it a must for chest and shoulder days. It also activates the anterior deltoids, enabling you to target one of the shoulder heads - no additional exercise required. When it comes to pushing exercises, the bench press is king.
Keep in mind: Whenever you use a flat bench for chest exercises, it targets the lower pectoralis muscles more so than the upper. For a well-rounded strengthening program, targeting the upper head (more on this in a few exercises!) is also important.
How to do the barbell bench press:
The pectoralis major and minor, and to some extent, the anterior deltoid, are all activated in the single-arm dumbbell bench press. And as a unilateral movement, it checks some additional workout boxes, including improving your shoulder stability, identifying and correcting chest or shoulder imbalances on either side of your body, and providing you with a greater range of motion than the barbell bench press.
How to do a single-arm dumbbell bench press:
The upper head of the pectoralis major puts in most of the work on an incline bench, which you should set to 30 degrees. If you have an incline much higher than this, you will take the work out of your chest and put it on your front shoulders instead1.
Don’t worry: Even with the incline bench at 30 degrees, your anterior deltoids are still working.
How to the incline bench press:
Arguably one of the best exercises for creating a well-defined chest, the dumbbell chest fly primarily targets the pectoralis major and the anterior deltoids. And similar to the bench press, switching to an incline tweaks the muscles working.
When you perform this move on a flat bench, the lower head works hardest, while an incline bench targets the upper head. In addition, while dumbbells are great for increasing your range of motion and forcing your muscles to work harder to stabilize, you can also use the chest fly machine instead. Since it provides more stability, you can use a higher weight. Both variations have their benefits.
How to do a chest fly:
Ideally, use a dip station at your gym for to perform dips. It targets both heads of the pectoralis major, but more so the lower portion, the pectoralis minor, and your anterior deltoids. Lean forward when performing this movement to target your chest. Keeping your body upright causes your triceps to do more work - not what we want on chest and shoulder day!
How to do a chest dip:
Another isolation exercise for targeting the pectoralis major and minor, bent-forward cable crossovers is an isolation move that creates an ultra-defined chest. Pro tip: Slightly crossing your hands in front of you will further engage your chest muscles. In addition, you can switch up the angle of your upper body to specifically target the upper, middle, or lower chest.
How to do bent-forward cable crossovers:
The standard push-up does an excellent job of hitting the entire chest, and in the beginning stages of your fitness journey, you may want to start with a classic push-up and work your way up to this move. The clap push-up also does a great job of hitting the pectoralis major and minor (and of course, those front deltoids), but it takes it up another notch by adding a plyometric element into the mix.
The plyo targets your fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are larger and more powerful. When you force your fast-twitch muscle fibers to contract, more muscle fibers become engaged in the movement, resulting in more power in your chest and more muscle growth. There are endless push-up variations that target the chest, so don't be afraid to mix it up with other options as well.
How to do the clap push-up:
When it comes to the close-grip, or diamond, push-up, your first thought may be triceps. But this variation also does an excellent job of targeting the pectoralis minor, a feat many exercises cannot achieve.
If that's not enough to convince you, this may: Research shows that the close-grip push-up activates your pectoralis major more than standard or wide-grip push-ups2. That’s reason enough to include it in your chest and shoulder day!
How to do the close-grip push-up:
You’ll be hard-pressed (no pun intended) to find a shoulder move as effective as this one. The Arnold press hits all three shoulder heads, ensuring no part of the shoulder is left behind.
How to do the Arnold press:
Another excellent shoulder exercise for strengthening the anterior, lateral, and posterior shoulder heads, the efficiency of this move prevents you from including too many shoulder exercises into your weight-lifting routine. The only thing we love more than an efficient gym regimen is massive shoulders.
If you are in the beginning stages of your workout journey or are unfamiliar with the overhead press, we recommend beginning with the seated dumbbell shoulder press. The seated position and the dumbbells create more stability and control as you familiarize yourself with them. You can then progress to the barbell.
How to do the barbell overhead press:
As you can see from our chest exercises above, the front deltoids unintentionally get a lot of love. Unfortunately, the rear delts aren’t as lucky, so targeting them is crucial for achieving a rounded and defined shoulder. A good strategy for isolating your posterior deltoids is avoiding overly heavy weights. Too much weight forces other muscles to step in to help, defeating this exercise's intended purpose.
How to do dumbbell rear delt flyes:
We like a mix of dumbbells and machines in our workouts as they both have advantages. Compared to the dumbbell version, the fly machine provides more stability, enabling you to use more weight than the dumbbell variation. It's one of the best isolation exercises for your rear deltoids.
The machine version also requires less control than dumbbells, meaning you can still do them just as effectively toward the end of your workout when you’re tired. Pay attention to your hand position as it can make or break your rear delt activation. Research shows that using a neutral grip with your palms facing each other increases your posterior shoulder activation compared to a pronated grip3.
How to do the rear delt fly machine:
The lateral should raise does a great job of working one specific portion of the deltoid. Any guesses as to which one? If you guessed the lateral deltoids, you are correct! Lateral shoulder raises play an incremental role in achieving large deltoids and is beneficial for improving shoulder mobility - something everyone benefits from.
How to do a lateral shoulder raise:
The upright row targets the anterior, lateral, and posterior deltoids, making it an effective and efficient exercise for shoulder days. We selected the barbell variation as it allows you to use higher weights, but you can also dumbbells for this exercise. Just be prepared to move down in weights with dumbbells so you can perform this move safely, as a lot of people experience shoulder pain with upright rows.
How to do an upright barbell row:
A well-rounded routine should include a mix of training for muscle hypertrophy and strength. To fatigue your muscles, 8 to 12 reps are the sweet spot, while between 5 and 8 allow you to lift heavier and improve your strength. Two workouts are included here, and we suggest using both each week. Perform one earlier in the week, give your chest and shoulders at least 48 hours to rest, and then use the second routine.
Optimal muscle gains occur with 10 to 20 sets per muscle group per week. Beginner lifters should aim closer to 10, whereas experienced lifters can aim for 16 to 20. These routines place the heaviest lifts at the beginning when you have the most energy. From there, rotate between chest and shoulder moves, so one body part gets extra rest while the other puts in work.
For muscle hypertrophy, progressive overload is the name of the game, and there are multiple ways you can continue progressing with this workout. Increase your sets (no more than five per exercise), your reps (stick with your suggested rep range), or your weight. For example, if in week one you can perform four sets of 5 reps of the barbell bench press, an easy way to progress the following week is to try to complete six reps instead.
Once you reach your max sets and reps for an exercise, increase the weight. So, if you’re benching 200 pounds and able to complete five sets of 8 reps each, increase your weight, keeping in mind not to increase it so much that you can't finish at least four sets of 5 reps.
We’ve included two workouts here for your weight-lifting pleasure. For best results, complete them both each week (spreading the sessions out so your muscles can repair). The variety of moves in both workouts ensures you hit the recommended weekly sets for your chest and shoulder muscles.
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
Rest |
Barbell Bench Press |
4-5 |
5-8 |
3 minutes |
Barbell Overhead Press |
3-4 |
6-8 |
3 minutes |
Incline Bench Press |
3-4 |
8-12 |
2 minutes |
Dumbbell Rear Delt Fly |
3-4 |
8-12 |
2 minutes |
Chest Dips |
3-4 |
8-12 |
2 minutes |
Lateral Shoulder Raise |
3-4 |
10-12 |
2 minutes |
Close Grip Push-Up |
3-4 |
8-12 |
2 minutes |
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
Rest |
Single-Arm Dumbbell Bench Press |
4-5 |
5-8 |
3 minutes |
Clap Push-Up |
3-4 |
5-8 |
3 minutes |
Arnold Press |
3-4 |
6-8 |
3 minutes |
Dumbbell Chest Fly |
3-4 |
10-12 |
2 minutes |
Upright Barbell Row |
3-4 |
8-10 |
2 minutes |
Bent-Over Cable Crossovers |
3-4 |
8-12 |
2 minutes |
Rear Delt Machine Fly |
3-4 |
10-12 |
2 minutes |
You now have a solid understanding of the chest and shoulder muscles, and more importantly, two muscle-building workouts designed for serious gains. It’s now up to you to get to the gym and give every exercise, set, and rep nothing but your best. And when you've completed 12 weeks of this and are looking to switch things up, consider including this shoulders and arms workout in your routine to continue building a strong upper body.
One parting thought: Don’t let your dietary habits sabotage your gym progress. Effort in the kitchen is just as crucial as the work you put in at the gym. Hit your protein goals to build muscle, practice mindful eating, and educate yourself on the best supplements and nutritional guidelines to optimize your gym efforts.
Check out some of our other ULTIMATE workouts:
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
References:
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