15 best bodyweight chest exercises for strength gains

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Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

• 15 bodyweight exercises to target the chest

• Intense AMRAP workouts for the time-constrained

• Why does your weight change so much?

Exercise Selection

Treasured Chest

Despite evidence presented by such diverse crowds as collegiate wrestlers, gymnasts, and those incarcerated in federal penitentiaries, bodyweight training is often overlooked in the quest for a bigger chest.

Face it: if you can’t complete these 15 bodyweight exercises at a high level, your bench press isn’t as big as it could be. It might be time to lay off the chest machines and start challenging yourself with the weight your momma gave you.

There have been plenty of advances in bodyweight training in the past few decades. We’re talking countless push-up variations, dips, and planks that promise a world of gains. Don’t believe us? Check out the article below.

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Training

Ramp It Up

An acronym standing for “as many reps as possible,” AMRAP workouts force you to throw off your concept of rep and set ranges and bust through as much work as your body can possibly do in a short period of time.

AMRAPS can be as simple as doing one set of push-ups to failure, or it can be as interesting as trying to work through as many full-body circuits in 30 minutes. Because of the intense fatigue associated with these types of workouts, you might opt to use less technique-intense pieces of equipment, like sleds or battle ropes. 

If you are more confident in yourself, throwing in complexes that involve barbell and dumbbell workouts will tax your muscles, lungs, and mind like nothing else. After all, with no prescribed end to the workout, except for the sound of the timer going off, the only limits are the ones you impose on yourself. Try these workouts and see how you measure up.

Weight Loss

Scales of Justice

It’s a known fact that your weight can and will fluctuate daily. Why does this happen, and how much variance is normal, abnormal, dangerous, or just flat-out frustrating? BarBend’s experts get into the scientific weeds of your body’s weight fluctuation in this article.

Losing and gaining the same weight habitually may mean your diet really isn’t working out for you (or it’s just not sustainable). All the usual suspects make an appearance when it comes to factors that influence your body’s daily weight: diet, stress, alcohol, hormones, etc. These all contribute to the number staring back at you from the scale.

Find out what those changes (might) mean, and gain a little peace of mind.

Everything Else

Master the Pull-Up

• Part warm-up, part mobility, part technique improvement tool, the drop snatch is a Swiss Army knife of functionality in your weightlifting training.

• The pull-up is one of the best upper-body exercises around. If you want to incorporate this move into your everyday life, these at-home pull-up bar options will get you there.

• Either in an attempt to streamline or manufacture new world records, the IWF has shaken up the weight class categories for both male and female competitors and dropped the overall number of classifications from 10 to eight.