The pectoralis major and pectoralis minor muscles run laterally across your chest area and help with arm flexion, adduction and rotation. Whether you work out at home or at the gym, a range of exercises can target your pecs using a variety of equipment. To work your entire chest, perform at least one exercise at an incline to hit your upper chest, one at a decline to target your lower chest and one on a flat surface to work your middle chest.
Push-Ups
Push-ups can be performed any where and use the weight of your body to provide resistance. The simple exercise works your chest, triceps and shoulders at the same time. Start by lying face down on the floor, with your palms against the ground beneath your shoulders and your legs extended behind you. Raise yourself up onto your hands and toes, keeping your back and legs straight and aligned. Bend your elbows to lower your torso until your chest touches the floor. Push up through the heel and outside portion of each hand as you return to the starting position. The Bodybuilding website suggests performing push-ups from your knees if a full push-up is too intense.
Bench Press
You can adapt the basic bench-press exercise in a number of ways by performing it at different angles, on a fitness ball, or with dumbbells instead of a barbell. The traditional flat, barbell bench press works your chest, shoulders and triceps, explains the American Council on Exercise. Lie on your back on a flat bench, with your feet planted on the floor to either side. Grip the bar with your palms facing forward and your hands just wider than shoulder-width, and lift the bar from the rack. Slowly lower the weight until it touches the middle of your chest before pushing it back to the starting position. Always perform the bench press with a spotter to help if the weight becomes too heavy.
Pullovers
Pullovers using dumbbells or plates isolate your pecs while engaging your upper back and triceps as stabilizers. Lie on a flat bench with your feet planted on the floor, and hold a dumbbell with both hands directly above your face. Carefully lower the dumbbell behind your head, bending your elbows as you go. Return to the starting position. Keep your elbows close together throughout the exercise to keep the resistance targeted on your chest muscles.
Flyes
Flies, another basic pectoral exercise, can be performed with dumbbells or a cable machine on a flat, incline or decline bench. The exercise works your chest, triceps and shoulders. Lie on a flat bench with your feet planted on the floor and a dumbbell in each hand. Start with your arms extended above you, with your palms facing each other. Maintain a slight bend in your elbows as you lower the weights to either side until they're level with your shoulders. Bring the weights back to the starting position, squeezing your chest muscles as you bring them together.
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