The bench is one of the most crucial pieces of equipment for weight training. While it can be used for the back (chest supported row), biceps (incline curls), and even legs (Bulgarian split squat), its primary use is for chest workouts. Both dumbbell and barbell presses are done using the bench. The decline pushup might also need a bench in case there’s no other platform for the feet, and so does the chest pullover. It’s very rare for a gym to not have a bench, but in case they’re being used or are out of order, then it doesn’t mean that chest day has been wasted. In fact, it might be a good idea to give your chest muscles a different kind of stimulus which isn’t over reliant on the availability of a bench.
It also comes down to designing the right kind of workout. When it comes to chest day, there are certain non-negotiables. The pectoralis majors and the pectoralis minor must both be targeted. The pecs major is divided into the upper, middle, and lower while the pecs minor is just located under the large muscle group to provide support and drive the pressing movement. Then there are the other muscles supporting these moves: the deltoids, the triceps and the back and shoulders. Even though it sounds simple, a lot of people don’t use the full range of chest exercises, something which can ironically be attributed to the bench limiting creativity.
“If you look at the four main exercises that people do in their chest workouts you will see incline bench press, barbell bench press, dips and pushups. Take a closer look into each of these basic chest exercises and you will see one thing in common. That is, each of these exercises is lacking a full adduction of the shoulder within the exercise. In order to grow fuller pecs you are going to have to train with this in mind and be sure to include chest exercises that take your arm through different planes of motion,” writes Athlean-X founder Jeff Cavaliere in his YouTube video titled The 100 Chest Workout.
I wrote a detailed piece about how helpful floor presses can be, especially because you can lift more weight in a safe position using this exercise. These certainly have to be part of the routine along with push-ups. But apart from the floor, there are few other things which can come to your rescue. The first is the cable machine. One of the things that is exclusive to the cable machine is the allowance to do single-arm chest exercises. A lot of athletes ignore training the chest unilaterally but doing single-arm cable flys and presses is an excellent addition irrespective of whether you have a bench available or not.
One of the best ones is the single-arm chest press done across the body. So instead of pressing up and ahead, the hand needs to stay close to the chest and press across it for the complete contraction of the pec muscles. “The hand, the elbow and the cable are pretty much in the same line,” says a video by Seriously Strong Training explaining the exercise. The trainer in the video explains that this exercise will make the bench press better, with a far longer lasting effect than chest flys.
The pec deck is another good machine to use if the bench is not available. I’ve been using Charles Glass’s method, pushing the chest forward every time the arms travel back for the maximum stretch, before straightening and contracting the chest when the arms are coming back together. Another really good variation of this which can be done without even the cable machine is the upper chest fly. This is a unique movement where the hands hold the weights on the side of the hips, but slightly away. Then you push them upwards together while making sure that the upper chest is the main driver of the motion. This is also called the low-to-high cable fly.
“The standing low to high cable fly can be tough to overload as it requires a great deal of core stability, so it is probably best used as an accessory movement for those looking to increase their chest muscle mass,” says an article titled Standing Low to High Cable Fly Video Exercise Guide published on the website muscleandstrength.com.
For the lower chest, adding elevated decline pushups, with the feet on a chair, a stool or a platform easily does the trick. Training on the dip machine is another great way to add size and strength to the chest without using the bench. So the next time there’s no bench available and you have to workout the chest, then all is not lost. In fact, you might just end up learning a lot more about developing it.