Most people overtrain their upper chest and completely neglect the lower pecs—leading to an imbalanced, underdeveloped look. But if you want a full, defined, and powerful chest, your lower pecs need just as much attention.
In this guide, you’ll learn the anatomy of the lower chest, how to train it effectively, and get access to 6 of the best lower chest exercises for serious gains.

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Key Takeaways: Lower Chest Training
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Training the lower chest gives your chest a fuller, more defined look.
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You can’t fully isolate the lower chest, but you can emphasize it with the right training variables.
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Target it by bringing your arm downward and across the body—think decline angles or leaned-forward dips.
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Train chest 2x per week, using a mix of strength and hypertrophy rep ranges for best results.
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Top lower chest exercises include:
✅ Decline Bench Press
✅ Chest Dips (leaning forward)
✅ Jackhammer Pushdowns
✅ Straight Bar Dips
✅ High-to-Low Cable Flies
✅ Decline Dumbbell Flyes
Anatomy of the Chest
If you don't need a brief anatomy lesson on your pectoral muscles, skip to the next section, which gets right into the best lower chest exercises.
It’s always a smart idea to understand the basics of the muscle you’re training; this includes its anatomy and function.
Your “chest” is actually composed of two muscles;
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Pectoralis Major: Large superficial muscle, located on the front of your ribcage.
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Pectoralis Minor: Small superficial muscle, also located on the front of the ribcage, underneath the pec major.
Of these, we’re mostly concerned with Pectoralis Major. Your pec major actually has two heads;
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Clavicular head: which makes up the upper chest
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Sternocostal head: which makes up the middle and lower chest).
The sternocostal head is significantly larger than the upper chest, making up to 70-80% of your pec major.
Function Of The Lower Chest
The chest’s primary function is shoulder horizontal adduction – bringing the arm across the body. This is seen with cable flies.
However, the muscle fibers at the bottom of the chest run upward and out at an angle.
Therefore, to really target the lower chest, we should choose exercises that bring the arm down and across the chest.
6 Best Lower Chest Exercises To Blow Up Your Pecs
By simply changing the angle at which you press at or perform a fly, you can better target your lower chest (which is an often neglected area) for size and strength, which we're about to show you how to do.
1. Decline Bench Press
The decline bench press is a forgotten exercise not seen nearly as often as before, and it’s a shame.
Although the regular bench press trains the lower chest, the decline bench press variation really hones in on the lower chest because of the change of angle and pressing path.
Training Tip: To really target your lower chest, bring your elbow out wider!
How to do the decline bench press:
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Assume a face-up position on a decline bench and secure your feet.
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Get your eyes underneath the bar and take a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip.
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Position your shoulder blades together and keep puffing your chest out.
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Slowly lower the barbell to your lower chest/sternum with your elbows underneath the barbell.
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Pause in the bottom position and press the barbell back up to lockout and reset and repeat.
Note: If you’re training at home, or don’t have a decline bench press, you can use an incline push-up instead. An incline bench press mimics the decline bench press biomechanically and can build an awesome lower chest.
2. Chest Dips
Dips are often referred to as squats for the upper body. Due to the biomechanics of the movement, the lower chest is heavily involved in pushing the entire weight of your body up.
In addition, the large ROM puts a greater stretch on the lower chest and triceps for greater muscle-building potential.
To really target the lower chest, lean forward during the dip. Doing this puts more emphasis on the lower chest but it puts a strain on the anterior shoulders, so be careful.
These are sometimes referred to as Gironda dips, named after Vince Gironda, one of the pioneers of bodybuilding. He’s famous for coaching Arnold, who performed these Gironda dips and credits for building his massive chest.
Check out these other dip variations to build your pecs and triceps as well!
How to do chest dips:
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Get up on the bars with your arms fully extended.
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Look down and touch your chin to your chest.
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Slightly round your back.
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Keep your feet together and bring them out in front of you, staring at your toes.
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Descend as low as possible to achieve a full stretch.
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Maintain strict control throughout the movement.
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Keep elbows flared out wide to reduce triceps involvement and emphasize the chest.
Note: The range of motion and movement can be advanced for newer lifters. Be sure you have a good base before you perform these ultra deep.
3. Jackhammer Pushdown
This is not your regular triceps pushdown.
This is because the jackhammer position with your elbows out wide and the slight forward lean isolates the lower chest and takes the focus off the triceps. It allows a larger range of motion as well, making it an effective muscle-building exercise for the lower chest.
It’s similar to a straight bart dip, the upper part of a muscle-up.
How to do jackhammer pushdowns:
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Standing in front of the cable machine, use the same handle for your regular triceps pushdown.
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Standing close to the cable machine with the cable over one of your shoulders, lean the torso forward and take a wide grip of the handle.
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Bring the handle up towards your chest and let your elbows flare out at the top of the movement.
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Push down to extend the elbows and squeeze the chest muscles together.
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Slowly return to the starting position by bringing the elbows out and up.
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Reset and repeat for reps.
4. Straight Bar Dip
Speaking of the straight bar dip, it’s a variation of the dip not seen often as it’s extremely challenging.
If you’ve ever seen a muscle-up, the straight bar dip is the second part of the movement that is isolated. You basically have a straight bar in front of you that you perform the dip on.
The straight bar dip is easily the most challenging exercise on this list, however, it will also cause your lower chest to blow up.
Training Tip: Use a Smith Machine to perform these as it allows different heights!
How to do the straight bar dips:
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Set up a barbell with heavy weights on a rack or bench press station.
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Set the bar high enough for you to dip with your feet lifted off the ground.
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Grab the bar with a shoulder-width grip.
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Lean forward over the bar and press up.
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Slowly lower the body as far down as you can go.
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Repeat the movement.
Note: You may need to start with partial reps when you begin this movement. If you need assistance, you can set the bar lower so you can touch the ground with your feet for assistance.
5. Cable Crossover Fly (High Position)
The cable crossover fly is a slight variation of the fly that’s adjusted to target the lower chest.
By setting the pulleys to the high position it changes the angle to target the lower chest.
Being in the high position, this variation of the cable fly stretches the chest from the start and takes you through a large ROM for better hypertrophy potential.
Training Tip: Maintain a slight forward lean to emphasize the lower chest muscles further
How to do cable crossover flys (high position):
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Set each handle of the cable machine at the highest level.
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Stand in the center with one foot behind the other and take a grip on both handles.
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Lean your torso forward keeping your spine straight and with a slight bend of the elbows too.
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Engaging your anterior core, pull both handles down and across your body, and squeeze the lower chest muscles at lockout.
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Slowly reverse to the starting position, keeping the bend in your elbows.
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Reset and repeat.
6. Decline Dumbbell Fly
This is simply the free weight version of the cable fly. All you need to do is perform a dumbbell fly on a decline bench to get similar mechanics and activation.
This exercise takes less stress off the shoulders while isolating the lower chest. This decline fly decreases the strain on the shoulders compared to the incline and flat variation.
How to do decline dumbbell flys:
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Lie face up on the decline bench holding a pair of dumbbells with a neutral grip.
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Secure your feet and extend your elbows until the dumbbells are together above your chest.
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Lower the weights laterally, maintaining a slight bend at your elbows to avoid elbow strain.
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Make sure you feel a stretch in your chest muscle when the dumbbells are at chest level.
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Squeeze your chest muscles and bring the dumbbells back to the starting position.
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Reset and repeat.
For more creative exercises like this one, check out our article on the Best Dumbbell Chest Exercises Without a Bench!
Can You Actually Isolate the Lower Chest?
No, you can not isolate the lower chest, just like you can't isolate your upper chest or inner chest. Any time you do a pressing or fly motion you are going to be activating your entire pec major, along with other muscles like your delts and triceps.
That said, you can emphasize the lower chest by altering training variables, such as the angle you press at, which is what the exercises listed above excel at. By doing this, you can really hone in on the development of the lower area of your pec major.
The Benefits of Targeting the Lower Chest
Besides the eye-popping benefits of a defined lower chest, there are a few important benefits of specifically targeting your lower pecs.
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Full Chest Development: The chest is composed of several muscles. In order to fully develop your entire chest, you must train it from all angles. This includes specific-training for your lower chest.
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Correct Muscle Imbalances: Moreover, it's going to help you avoid any muscle imbalances between your pecs and the anterior (front) and posterior (back) sides.¹
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Improve Performance: Your pecs size and strength will help you perform better in the sporting arena, including everything from tackling or fending off opponents, to hitting a tennis ball, to throwing a football and baseball powerfully.
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Better Breathing: The chest muscles which are attached to the ribcage support breathing through the contraction of the ribcage. Therefore, the strengthening and lengthening of the chest muscles support deeper breathing by allowing the ribcage to do its job.
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Improve “Man Boobs”: Technically known as gynecomastia, this is the excessive development of breasts in men. Now, this term is sometimes thrown around to describe true gynecomastia while in other cases it’s just excess fat. In either scenario, strengthening and building the lower chest can mitigate the appearance.
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Full Lower Chest Workout
This workout is challenging but we promise, it’s worth it!
This workout is for someone who really wants to add growth to their lower chest by choosing exercises that target it. It will still include a minimal amount of exercises for your chest as a whole but heavily favor your lower chest.
We’ll actually give you two lower pec workouts, assuming you’ll train chest twice a week. Research shows that this tends to be the ideal frequency for building muscle.²
Lower Chest Workout #1
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Decline Bench Press: 1X8, 1X6, 1X4, 1X6, 1X8
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Incline Dumbbell Press: 3X8-10
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Chest Dips: 3XRPE8
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Sitting Shoulder Press: 3X10-12
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Jackhammer: 3X10-12
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Triceps Pushdown: 2X12-15
Lower Chest Workout #2
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Straight Bar Dip: 4XRPE8
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Military Press: 4X6-8
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Decline Dumbbell Fly: 3X8-10 + 1 Dropset
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Push-up/Incline Push-Up: 3XFailure (Both)
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Cable Fly (high-to-low): 3X10-12
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Lateral Raise: 3X10-12
How to Warm-up Your Lower Chest Before Training
Strolling up to the bar and slapping a pair of 45-pound plates is not the best way to warm up for lower chest workouts (or any workout, for that matter).
Instead, it's smart to start with a few light sets or ramp-up sets before jumping into chest workouts. This will help groove better technique, move important flow to the area, lubricate the joints, and help you decide your working weight for the day.
Here’s an example of a ramp-up set for Decline Bench Press:
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10 reps with an empty barbell
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8 reps with 95 pounds
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6 reps with 135 pounds
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5 reps with 155 pounds
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4 reps with 175 pounds
The same can be done with dumbbells or a cable machine (start light and work your way up). You can even do fewer reps if you don't want to burn out before your working sets. The extra volume here is helpful for your muscle-building goals and to prevent injury.
Also, make sure to check out these chest stretches for before and after your workout.
Final Chest-Building Tips & Takeaways
Remember, there's no reason to follow or put together an entire workout dedicated to your lower chest. Instead, include some of the moves we just went over in your chest day routine, along with exercises that target the upper, inner, and outer chest, and you'll have a well-rounded program that will add serious muscle mass to your pecs.
Here are a few great tips for building your lower chest:
- Always warm up. The worst thing you can do is get to the gym and immediately start lifting heavy.
- Maintain muscular balance with your entire upper body. This means you should address all angles of your pec muscles, and give equal attention to your back to avoid imbalances.
- Fatigue your pecs to build muscle. For strength gains, stay in the 5-7 rep range. For hypertrophy, stick with 8-12, and for muscular endurance, aim for 12+. A well-defined program should address all of these rep ranges in some capacity.
- Hit your chest twice a week. And, make sure to leave plenty of time in between sessions for recovery.
Interested in more chest-building moves? Check out our articles on the Best Upper Chest Exercises, Best Inner Chest Exercises, and Best Outer Chest Exercises!

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:
- Kamalden TFT, Gasibat Q, Samsudin S, Joseph JA. Occurrence of Muscle Imbalance and Risk of Injuries in Athletes using Overhead Movements: A Systematic Review. Sport Mont. http://www.sportmont.ucg.ac.me/?sekcija=abstract&artid=1852
- Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2016). Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine, 46(11), 1689–1697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8
Sam Coleman
Author