Push workouts are a perfect way to target your chest, shoulders, and triceps for growth. In this guide, we will outline three workout routines and ten exercises for the best push day workouts.

In these routines, you’ll find a mix of compound and isolation exercises with different types of equipment. This can be a great way to begin creating a go-to workout plan for push days. It'll be handy whenever you want to train your push muscles.

Routine 1: Push Day Workouts with Barbells

Equipment: Barbell, weight plates, bench

1. Barbell Bench Press

• Set-Up: Lie on a flat bench. Lift your barbell over your chest, holding it with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Press: Lower the bar to your chest, then press it back up and over top of you to the starting position.
• Reps: 4 sets of 8-10 reps.

2. Incline Barbell Bench Press

This move is the same as a regular barbell bench press, only you set your weight bench up on an incline to target your lower pectoral muscles. The incline barbell bench press is one of the best compound chest exercises that can help you work on your shoulders and triceps at the same time.

Set-Up: Set the bench at a 30-45 degree incline. Grip your barbell slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, lower the bar to your upper chest and press it back up.

Is your bench not feeling its best? Read this article to up your weight: How to Bench More.

3. Overhead Barbell Press

• Set-Up: With your feet shoulder-width apart, grab your barbell bringing it up to rack across your shoulders.
• Press: Drive the barbell up and overhead until your arms extend fully.
• Reverse: Hold for a brief moment, then slowly lower your barbell back to the starting position.
• Reps: 4 sets of 8-10 reps

4. Close-Grip Bench Press

This is another barbell bench press variation, which is one of the best medial head triceps exercises you can try. The close-grip bench press is the same as its standard-grip cousin, only you place your hands closer to each other, less than shoulder-width apart.

5. Barbell Skull Crushers

Set-Up: Lie down on a flat bench, holding a loaded barbell with your hands shoulder-width apart. extend your arms straight up, then lower the barbell towards your forehead by bending your elbows, and press back up.

Sets/Reps: 3 sets of 12-15 reps

Routine 2: Dumbbell Push Exercises

If you’d like to skip the barbell, this routine offers a series of exercises for your push day workout that you can do using only dumbbells. All you’ll need otherwise is a weight bench or other comfortable supportive surface.

This version of a push day workout is great to work on at home or in other spaces where your equipment is limited.

Equipment: Dumbbells, bench (or alternative)

6. Dumbbell Bench Press

• Set-Up: Lie on a flat bench, bracing a dumbbell on either side of your chest.
• Press: Press your weights up, fully extending your arms.
• Reverse: Bring them back down to the starting position.
• Reps: 4 sets of 10-12 reps.

7. Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Sets/Reps: 4 sets of 8-10 reps

How to Perform:

• Sit on a bench with back support,
• hold dumbbells at shoulder height,
• press them overhead until arms are fully extended,
• then lower back to shoulder height.

8. Dumbbell Chest Flyes

Known as one of the best dumbbell chest workouts, the dumbbell chest fly is performed as follows:

• Set-Up: Lie on your back, holding your dumbbells up above your chest in the air. Keep a slight bend in your elbows.
• Flye: Lower your dumbbells out to the sides, making an arcing motion. Hold for a moment then bring them back together above your chest.
• Reps: 3 sets of 12-15 reps

9. Dumbbell Tricep Kickbacks

• Set-Up: Stand with your feet hip-width apart and a slight bend in your knees.
• Body Position: Face your dumbbells in toward each other. Hinge forward at the hips. Keep your upper arms plugged in tight to your sides.
• Kickback: Extend your elbows and straighten your arms to bring your dumbbells into a kickback.
• Reverse: Re-bend your elbows to bring your dumbbells back to the starting position/
• Reps: 3 sets of 12-15 reps

Note: If it’s hard for you to do this exercise with both hands, you can try one hand each time. In this case, you should change your standing position and place one foot (the side that is not holding the dumbbell) slightly forward.

Routine 3: Machine Push Day Exercises

Equipment: Chest press machine, shoulder press machine, pec deck, cable pulley machine

10. Chest Press Machine

• Set-Up and How-To: Sit on the machine, loading on a comfortable weight. Grip the side handles and press forward until your arms are fully extended, holding for a moment. Then, return to the starting position.
• Reps: 4 sets of 10-12 reps

11. Pec Deck Machine Flyes

• Set-Up and How-To: Sit on your loaded pec deck machine with your back planted against the back pad. Grab the support handles, keeping a slight bend in your elbows. Squeeze your chest muscles to bring the handles together in front of you.
• Reverse: Slowly release and return to your starting position.
• Reps: 4 sets of 12-15 reps

12. Cable Tricep Pushdowns

• Set-Up: Stand facing toward your cable machine. Grab the bar attachment with your palms facing down. Use a straight bar handle or EZ bar for this lift.
• Body Position: Keep your elbows close to the sides of your body and your wrists engaged.
• Pushdown: Extend your arms downward until your elbows are straight.
• Reverse: Hold for a moment at the bottom, then resist your weight to return to the starting position.
• Reps: 4 sets of 12-15 reps

What Are the “Push” Muscles?

During a push day workout, you’ll do a series of exercises that target three main muscles.

Triceps

These muscles at the backs of your arms help you extend your elbows.

Chest

The pectoral muscles, aka your chest, help you move your arms across your body and up and down. These muscles, which include the pectoralis major, pectoralis minor, serratus anterior and subclavius also help with shoulder movement.

Shoulder

The shoulder muscles like your front delts, rear and side deltoids and trapezius muscles help produce all the movements your scapulae (shoulder blades) make along the shoulder girdle. This includes things like rotation, abduction (moving the arms away from the body), adduction (moving the arms toward the body) and separating your shoulder blades (protraction).

Push Day Workout Tips

Follow these tips to prevent injuries during your push day and get the best result.

1. Warm Up

A short, 5-10 minute warm-up with light cardio moves and dynamic stretching will help you improve blood flow to your push muscles. This helps prepare them for a tough push day workout.

Learn more about what kind of warm-ups you can use for push day in this article: The Best Chest Day Warm-Ups.

2. Compound Movements

Focus on compound exercises like the bench press, shoulder press, and tricep dips. These are powerful for engaging multiple muscle groups at the same time. You’ll likely get more overall muscle development and strength gains if you prioritize your compound movements.

You typically want to go heavier on lifts like a bench press. Aim to do them first, since they’ll require the most of your strength. That way, you won’t exhaust yourself or crave a nap after a workout.

3. Progressive Overload

Up your load each time you lift. This could mean more weight, reps, or sets over time to keep challenging your muscles. Track your progress to stay consistent.

Apps like Flex are a good way to see your progress. Flex apps can also be a great alternative to personal trainers and help you stay fit more economically.

4. Lift With Control

Don’t use too much momentum. Swinging your weights around defeats the purpose of these exercises and doesn’t allow your muscles to get proper time under tension. Do each rep with control, focusing on both the concentric (“the up”) and eccentric (“the down”) phases of the exercise.

Learn more by reading Concentric and Eccentric: Muscle Contraction or Exercise?

Note: Don't lift weights heavier than you can handle just to surpass your previous personal records (PR). It's more crucial to have proper control during your exercises than to focus solely on the amount of weight you're lifting.

5. Try Supersets or Drop Sets

Once you start to build up your confidence and technique, you might want to think about supersets (two exercises back-to-back with no rest) and drop sets (lowering your weight during a set and continuing the set to failure). This can help make your workouts more intense and muscle fatigue to help with gains.

6. Rest Between Sets

Make sure you get enough rest between sets. Usually 1-2 minutes is good for most people to recover and keep up a solid performance in their next sets. Adjust rest periods based on your goals (strength vs. hypertrophy).

7. Food + Hydration

Drink water throughout your day and your workout to stay hydrated. Make sure to eat a meal or snack that includes protein and carbs 1-2 hours after you work out to refuel.

If you want to take protein powder, it’s better to learn more about how protein powder is made and whether it’s a good idea to eat creatine and protein powder in the same day.

The Takeaway

So now you’ve got a huge range of exercises to PULL from when you want to PUSH.

Try an equipment-focused workout or feel free to mix and match if you’ve got all the resources at your fingertips.

Want to learn how to work your push muscles with just your body weight? For more information on how to get the most out of your push day workouts, these articles will steer you in the right direction:

• Ultimate Upper Body Dip: Dips vs. Push-ups
• Bodyweight Dips: Beginner to Advanced Progressions

References

Padulo, J., Laffaye, G., Chamari, K., & Concu, A. (2013). Concentric and eccentric: muscle contraction or exercise?. Sports health, 5(4), 306. https://doi.org/10.1177/1941738113491386