The Top 7 Resistance Band Chest Exercises, According to Trainers
Sports & Activity
Want to build a stronger chest just by using resistance bands? Here are the top exercises that trainers recommend.
From bench presses to push-ups, there is no shortage of chest exercises to try. But what about adding resistance bands?
According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine, resistance bands can help build muscular endurance, explosiveness, balance, flexibility and mobility and increase muscle size and strength just as well as free weights or machines do.
“Bands are portable, lightweight, and allow you to up the intensity of an exercise, while still keeping your risk of injury low,” said Noam Tamir, C.S.C.S. “Adding bands to a bodyweight move can also increase the muscle activation, and add both a core and stability challenge, too.”
Resistance bands are one of the most versatile and useful pieces of exercise equipment. In order to see progress (with regard to strength and muscle size), you must add resistance to exercises that you’re performing in order to increase the difficulty.
“Bands also add accommodating resistance, which means you can overload weight on one side of the range of motion versus the other,” said Mathew Forzaglia, NFPT C.P.T. For example, when bench pressing with a band, at the bottom of the movement, the resistance is minimal, while at the top of the motion, the resistance is at its max. “This is a great technique for building strength and explosive power,” Forzaglia said.
Not only can resistance bands do just that, but they’re also easy to transport and can be used with almost any exercise in any setting — sometimes you just have to get a little creative. They can even be utilized pre- and post-workout.
“They’re a great tool for stretching and mobility, so you can utilize them in your warm-up as well,” Forzaglia said. “They allow for more exercise variation, plus they’re really easy to set up.”
Ready to add some chest exercises with resistance bands to your workout regimen? Try the below moves from Tamir and Forzaglia. “We want the most bang for our buck so we’re focusing on exercises that continuously overload the muscle,” Forzaglia said. “These exercises hit all the angles in the chest, plus you don’t have to anchor the band to anything — you can just use your own bodyweight, so the setup is simple.”
Perform all of the moves for a complete resistance band chest workout, or choose a couple to add into a day when you’re working your chest in addition to other areas.
The Best Resistance Band Chest Exercises
1.Banded Push-up
Equipment: Large resistance band
Place your hands through either ends of the resistance bands, wrapping the band around your shoulder blades. Come into a push-up position, with the band around your back, hands on the ground gripping either end of the band. Adjust hands if more or less resistance is needed as you perform a push-up.
“This move is simple to set up, and not only do you work during the concentric portion of this movement or upwards movement, but you can work the eccentric or lowering portion as well, by going slow and controlling the negative,” Forzaglia said.
2.Banded Chest Press
Equipment: Large resistance band
Place your hands through either ends of the resistance bands, wrapping the band around your shoulder blades. Come to the floor and lie down on your back feet planted on the ground, with the band directly under your back, hands gripping either end of the band. Perform a chest press, pressing hands at chest level towards the ceiling.
For an added core challenge: Push through your heels and raise the hips up to the ceiling to perform a glute bridge. Hold this position while you perform the chest press.
“This move is great for shoulder stability,” Tamir said. “And if you perform the presses in a bridge position, you get some core and glute work in as well.”
3.Banded Single-Arm Chest Press
Equipment: Large resistance band
Place your hands through either ends of the resistance bands, wrapping the band around your shoulder blades. Come to the floor and lie on your back, with a band under your back, hands gripping either end of the band. Perform an alternating chest press, pressing one arm at chest level towards the ceiling, lowering, and then doing the same with the other arm.
4.Banded Seesaw Press
Equipment: Large resistance band
Place hands through either ends of the resistance bands, wrapping the band around your shoulder blades. Come to the floor and lie on your back feet on the ground, with the band under your back, hands gripping either end of the band. Perform an alternating chest press, pressing one arm at chest level toward the ceiling, then lowering that arm while simultaneously pressing the other arm towards the ceiling, so the arms are moving in opposite directions at the same side.
“Use this exercise to build both power and speed by increasing the tempo,” Tamir said. “The move itself is a dynamic reciprocating motion, so if you perform it at a fast, explosive tempo, you’ll work on creating power and speed.”
5.Banded Chest Flys
Equipment: Large resistance band
Put your hands through either ends of the resistance bands, wrapping the band around your shoulder blades. Come to the floor and lie down on your back, with the band under your back, and the hands gripping either end of the band. Keeping elbows rounded, start with arms wide, then move the hands towards each other over your chest, as if you’re hugging a barrel.
“Pause at the top of this movement, or in the isometric position, to really work the pec minor muscle,” Tamir said. “By pausing, you’re taking momentum out of the equation, which forces the pec minor to fire.”
6.Banded Single-Arm Chest Flys
Equipment: Large resistance band
Place the hands through either ends of the resistance bands, wrapping the band around your shoulder blades. Come to the floor and lie down on your back feet on the ground, with the band under your back, hands gripping either end of the band. Keeping elbows rounded, start with arms wide, then move one hand inward over the chest, like you’re hugging a barrel, hold, then open it back out wide. Repeat the same movement, but with the opposite arm.
“When you’re working just one side of the body, you must use your core muscles to keep the body balanced, as it naturally wants to rotate to one side based on where the weight is loaded,” Forzaglia said. “Performing single-arm chest flys not only builds the chest, but you have to focus on keeping the core stabilized, which helps with anti-rotation.”
7.Banded Single-Arm Contralateral Split Stance Press
Equipment: Large resistance band
Attach the resistance band to or wrap the band around a secure anchor point. Facing away from the anchor point, come into a split stance, grabbing the resistance band with the arm hand on the same side as the back leg. Bend knees slightly and brace your core as you press the band forward in front of your chest, then slowly bring it back in. Perform all reps on one side, before switching your arms and stance.
“This press variation hits the chest but also focuses on anti-rotation — it works the shoulders and the triceps, and because of the split stance, you’re getting in some stabilizing glute work, too,” Tamir said.
Words by Amy Schlinger, NASM-C.P.T.