A massive, hard, cut chest is high on the list of most body builders, both professional}} and amateur. Unfortunately, there is so much bad information out there when it comes to properly stimulating the pectorals}} that chests like I just described are becoming a thing of the past.

The first key to building the pecs you need is to choose movements that powefully stimulate the chest muscles. The first movement that comes to mind for most body builders when they think of pec exercises is the bench press. But the bench press is not a great chest builder unless you happen to have the optimal leverage for it. On top of that, most people do the bench press incorrectly. If you put together bad leverages and bad technique it is no surprise why you feel the bench more in your delts and triceps than in your pecs!

I am going to show you three of the best chest exercises. It is important to keep in mind that if these are done with bad technique you are cutting your muscle growth short and may be setting yourself up for injury. To prevent this from occurring make sure to get some technique tips from an expert so that you can build the chest you want without getting injured.

Pause Bench Press

I know I just got finished saying that the bench press is not the best chest building exercise, however there are particular variations that do hit the pecs rather well, provided you perform them properly. The paused bench press is one such variation. By pausing the bar at the chest for 1 to ten seconds before pressing it back to lockout you eliminate the stretch reflex and lose any stored elastic energy you created during the eccentric. This makes pressing the weight back up much harder, but it will also require your pecs to produce a massive amount of force in order to launch the weight from your chest back to the starting point.

Standing High-to-Low Cable Crossovers

While variations of the bench press are all well and good, to really focus on the pectorals you need to work on the flying motion. This can be done with a variety of exercises, but I really prefer the standing cable crossover here because of the consistent tension the cable gives you throughout the entire exercise. The key here is to focus on a good stretch at the start and keeping constant tension on the pectorals throughout the whole set. This is a fantastic finishing movement to any chest training session.

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

One of the most common complaints of body builders is not just their overall chest size, but their upper chest size in particular. Incline chest exercises are a great solution to this because they emphasize the upper portion of the chest, which gives the appearance of a more full chest, without giving you droopy pecs. The use of dumbbells is a good addition here as they will allow you to get a deeper stretch at the bottom of the movement. This deep stretch stimulates a lot of underused motor units in the upper pecs which can spur new muscle growth.

Remember that while these exercises are great for building a muscular chest, they must be done with the correct technique in order to get the most from them.