Best Chest and Shoulder Workout for Maximum Mass | Legion

Chest and shoulder routines are a favorite among fitness folk because they hit multiple major muscle groups in one go.

But here’s something many miss: if you’re serious about building chest and shoulder mass, a single weekly workout won’t cut it.

The truth is, cramming all the sets and exercises you need into one session usually leads to lackluster results and burnout. 

The fix?

Split your training into two focused chest and shoulder workouts each week. 

This approach lets you lift heavier, recover better, and train every part of your pecs and delts for balanced, all-around development.

In this article, you’ll find a simple, science-backed routine for maximizing mass and the best chest and shoulder exercises to ensure no part of your pecs or delts gets left behind.

Key Takeaways

• A single weekly chest and shoulder workout isn’t enough to maximize mass—split your training into two focused sessions each week for better results.
• The right amount of volume and intensity and correctly implementing progressive overload are vital for making the most of your chest and shoulder workouts.
• Combining compound and isolation exercises in your chest and shoulder routine helps you build mass and strength while ensuring all parts of your pecs and delts develop evenly.
• Chest and shoulder workouts not only build impressive pec and delt size but also improve posture, boost upper body strength, and enhance athletic performance.

The Best Chest and Shoulder Routine for Mass

To add serious mass to your pecs and delts, you need to do more than one chest and shoulder day each week. I’ll explain exactly why soon, but the TL;DR is that you can’t do enough volume (sets) of chest and shoulder exercises in a single session to maximize growth.

And that’s why all great chest and shoulder workout plans include two weekly workouts. 

This way, you can do enough high-quality sets to maximize growth, and a range of exercises that train all parts of your chest and shoulders, including your upper, mid, and lower pecs, and front, side, and rear delts, to ensure proportional, all-around development.  

Here are the workouts:

Chest and Shoulder Workout #1

Chest and Shoulder Workout #2

About This Chest and Shoulder Workout Routine

Now that you know the routine, let’s break down why it works so well. This section focuses on three key factors—volume, frequency, and intensity—and explains how they combine to maximize your gains.

How Many Sets Should You Do?

To develop a muscle, most research shows you need to train it with 10-to-20 weekly sets. Doing more than 20 might produce better results for some, but growth rapidly diminishes beyond this point, making the extra work rarely worth the effort.

Training with very high volumes has practical downsides, too: it’s time-consuming, and unless your recovery (sleep, diet, etc.) is flawless, it’s hard to sustain.

That’s why 10-to-20 weekly sets is a solid volume target for your chest and shoulder workouts.  

But trying to cram 10-to-20 sets for both your chest and shoulders into a single workout is unrealistic. What’s more, research shows that a muscle can only tolerate around 6-to-10 sets per workout before its performance dips. 

When that happens, you lift less weight, for fewer reps, with worse form—all of which compromises your gains.

A smarter approach is to split your weekly sets into two chest and shoulder workouts. The exact number of sets per workout depends on your experience:

• If you’ve been training for less than a year: Do 12 total weekly sets for each muscle group. The easiest way to do this is to perform 3 sets of each exercise in each of the workouts above.
• If you’ve been training for 1-to-3 years: Do 14 total weekly sets for each muscle group. A simple way to do this is to perform 4 sets of the first 2 exercises and 3 sets of the last 2 exercises in each of the workouts above.
• If you’ve been training for 3+ years: Do 16 total weekly sets per muscle group. Perform 4 sets of each exercise in each of the workouts above.

How Frequently Should You Do the Workouts?

For best results, do each of the chest and shoulder workouts once per week, leaving at least two days between them. This gives your muscles time to recover and ensures you’re fresh for your next session.

For example, you could do Chest and Shoulder Workout #1 on Monday, then Chest and Shoulder Workout #2 on Thursday.

These workouts should also be part of a balanced training routine that includes workouts for your other major muscle groups, such as your legs, back, and arms. Neglecting these can lead to muscle imbalances, which can limit your progress and increase your risk of injury.

For example, a good weekly “split” might look like this:

• Monday: Chest and shoulders
• Tuesday: Back
• Wednesday: Rest
• Thursday: Chest and shoulders
• Friday: Legs
• Saturday: Rest
• Sunday: Rest 

How Hard Should You Train?

To make your chest and shoulder workouts as effective as possible, take most of your sets to within 1-to-2 reps of failure—the point where you can’t perform another rep with proper form.

To gauge whether you’re reaching this point, ask yourself at the end of each set: “If I had to, how many more reps could I have done with good form?” 

If the answer is more than two, increase the weight or reps on your next set to make it more challenging.

Training this way ensures you’re pushing your muscles hard enough to stimulate growth, but it’s only part of the equation. To keep building muscle and getting stronger, you also need to focus on progressive overload—gradually lifting heavier weights over time. 

Here’s how to do it:

If your workout calls for 4-to-6 reps of the bench press and you complete 6 reps in a set, increase the weight by 10 pounds for your next set.

If you do 3 reps or fewer in subsequent sets, reduce the load by 5 pounds to stay in the 4-to-6 rep range.

Apply this approach to every exercise in your chest and shoulder workouts, aiming to add either weight or reps every session.

By combining the right intensity (training close enough to failure) with progressive overload, you’ll consistently challenge your muscles, making each workout as effective as possible.

The Exercises in Your Chest and Shoulder Workout Routine

The workouts above include the best chest and shoulder exercises for developing every part of your pecs and delts. Let’s break down the anatomy of these muscles to understand how and why these exercises work.

Chest Anatomy

The primary chest muscle is the pectoralis major, or “pec major.” Here’s what it looks like:

As you can see, it has two sections or “heads:” the sternocostal head (“mid” and “lower chest”) and clavicular head (“upper chest”).

To fully develop both heads, you need to do exercises that involve pushing away from your body at different angles relative to your torso. Here’s how the pressing exercises in the chest and shoulder workouts target each head:

• The barbell bench press trains your entire pec from top to bottom.
• The incline dumbbell bench press focuses on your upper chest while still developing the entire pec.
• The dip trains your entire pec while emphasizing the mid and lower portions.

The pectoralis minor—a smaller muscle beneath the pec major—works indirectly during these exercises, so you don’t need to include movements to train it specifically.

Shoulder Anatomy

The deltoid muscles—or “delts”—cover your shoulder joints and allow your upper arms to move forward, upward, and backward.

Each deltoid has three heads: the anterior deltoid (“front delt”), the lateral deltoid (“side delt”), and the posterior deltoid (“rear delt”). 

Here’s how they look:

To fully develop all three heads, you need to do exercises that move your upper arms out to your sides in different directions. Here’s how the exercises in the chest and shoulder workouts target each head:

• Pressing exercises like the overhead press and Arnold press train all three delt heads, with extra focus on the front delts.
• Cable side lateral raises isolate the side delts to build shoulder width.
• Machine reverse flys round out the rear delts.

Together, these exercises effectively train all parts of your delts, so you don’t need to add extra shoulder movements to your chest and shoulder routine.

Chest and Shoulder Exercises: Compound vs. Isolation

The chest and shoulder routine above focuses heavily on compound exercises—and for good reason.

Compound chest and shoulder exercises allow you to lift heavy weights and apply progressive overload, which makes them the best exercises for building mass and strength.

That said, relying solely on compound exercises isn’t ideal.

While these movements will deliver the lion’s share of your results, they don’t develop all parts of your pecs and delts equally. To fill the gaps, you need carefully selected isolation exercises that target the areas compound lifts miss.

That’s why each workout in this routine starts with heavy pressing to train the largest portions of your chest and shoulders, then finishes with isolation exercises to ensure all-around growth.

Chest and Shoulder Workout #1: Exercises

1. Barbell Bench Press

Why: The barbell bench press is an essential chest and shoulder day exercise because it develops the upper, mid, and lower chest and the front delts. It also allows you to train with heavy weights and progress regularly, which is why all great chest and shoulder workouts begin with the bench press. 

How to:

1. Lie on a flat bench with your feet flat on the floor.
2. Pull your shoulder blades together and down and arch your back slightly while keeping your butt and shoulders on the bench.
3. Grab the bar with a grip slightly wider than shoulder-width and unrack it.
4. Lower the bar to your chest, keeping your elbows 8-to- your sides.
5. Press the bar back up to the starting position.

Alternatives: 

2. Arnold Press

Why: The Arnold press emphasizes your side delts more than other overhead pressing variations, so it’s an excellent addition to a chest and shoulder routine aimed at building delt width and mass. 

How to:

1. Sit on an upright bench and hold a dumbbell in each hand, resting them on your thighs.
2. Hoist the dumbbells up so you’re holding them just in front of your shoulders with your palms facing you.
3. Press the dumbbells overhead while rotating your wrists until your arms are straight and your palms are facing away from you.
4. Reverse the movement and return to the starting position.

Alternatives:

3. Dip

Why: The dip trains your pecs through a large range of motion and while stretched, which makes it ideal for building mass. It also likely trains the lower pecs slightly better than other chest exercises, so it’s useful for rounding out pec development. 

How to:

1. If you’re using a dip belt, wrap the chain around your waist, add the desired amount of weight to the chain, and fasten the carabiner.
2. Grab both handles of a dip station, then press yourself up by straightening your arms and gently jumping off the ground so your arms are straight and supporting your entire body weight. 
3. Slightly bend your knees to keep your feet from touching the ground, then lower your body by bending your elbows until your upper arms are roughly parallel to the floor.
4. Reverse the movement and return to the starting position.

Alternatives:

4. Cable Side Lateral Raise

Why: The cable side lateral raise isolates the side delts, which is crucial for building wide, proportional shoulders. Using a cable also provides a different stimulus to free-weights, which is beneficial because varying your training likely maximizes growth. 

How to: 

1. Set the pulley on a cable machine to the lowest setting and attach a single-handle attachment.
2. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, parallel to the handle, and your right foot closer to the handle than your left. 
3. Grab the handle with your right hand and hold it in front of your right thigh, then step away from the machine until the cable is taut.
4. Raise your right hand out to the side until your upper arm is parallel to the floor. 
5. Reverse the movement and return to the starting position. 
6. Once you’ve completed the desired number of reps, switch sides and repeat the process with your right arm.

Alternatives:

Chest and Shoulder Workout #2: Exercises

1. Overhead Press

Why: The overhead press is a full shoulder workout in a single exercise—it trains your front, rear, and side delts, traps, and even your upper chest. It also allows you to handle heavy weights safely and progress regularly, so it’s an outstanding exercise for overall shoulder mass and strength.

How to:

1. Set a barbell in a rack at the same height as your upper chest. 
2. Grip the bar with a shoulder-width grip and your palms facing away from you.
3. Unrack the barbell, step backward, and plant your feet just outside of shoulder width.
4. Push the bar toward the ceiling until your arms are straight.
5. Reverse the movement and return to the starting position.

Alternatives:

2. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

Why: The incline dumbbell bench press is a chest exercise that’s especially effective for developing the upper pecs. Because of the bench’s angle, it also trains the front delts hard, making it an excellent exercise for gaining well-rounded chest and shoulder mass. 

How to:

1. While lying on a bench angled at 30-to-45 degrees, hold a dumbbell in each hand and rest them on your thighs. 
2. Lie back and use your thighs to help lift the dumbbells, positioning them on either side of your chest.
3. Press the dumbbells over your upper chest until your arms are straight and your elbows are locked.
4. Lower the dumbbells to the starting position.

Alternatives:

3. Machine Reverse Fly

Why: The machine reverse fly is exceptionally effective at targeting the rear delts, a muscle group often undertrained by pressing exercises. Incorporating it into your routine helps ensure balanced shoulder development and proportional mass.

How to:

1. Sit down facing the machine and grab the handles with your palms facing down.
2. While maintaining a slight bend in your elbows, move the weight back in an arc until your arms are directly out to your sides (or slightly behind your body).
3. Reverse the movement and return to the starting position.

Alternatives:

4. High-to-Low Cable Fly

Why: The high-to-low cable fly is a useful exercise for finishing a chest and shoulder workout because it allows you to train the pecs with the volume they need to grow without other muscle groups becoming the limiting factor. Like the dip, it may also emphasize the lower pecs, which is important for balanced growth.

How to:

1. Adjust both pulleys on a dual cable machine to the highest setting and attach the single-handle attachments. 
2. Grab a handle in each hand and stand centrally between the pulleys so that the cables pull your arms out to your sides. 
3. Maintaining a slight bend in your elbows, take 1-to-2 steps forward so your arms are a little behind your torso with your palms facing forward.
4. Keeping your elbows slightly bent, bring your hands toward each other in an arc until they meet in front of your thighs.
5. Reverse the movement and return to the starting position.

Alternatives:

Warming Up for Your Chest and Shoulder Workouts

A proper warm-up is crucial for optimizing performance and preventing injury when lifting heavy weights.

When training multiple muscle groups in a single session, you often need to warm up each one separately, which can be time-consuming.

However, one perk of training chest and shoulders together is that many chest exercises also work your shoulders and vice versa. This means you only need to warm up for one muscle group, and you’ll be primed to train both.

According to research, warming up with heavy weights is the best way to prime your body for pressing. 

Here’s the protocol I recommend:

1. Estimate the weight you’ll use for your first hard set of your first exercise.
2. Do 6 reps with about 50% of that weight and rest for 1 minute.
3. Do 4 reps with about 70% of that weight and rest for 1 minute.

After this, you’re ready to tackle your hard sets for your first exercise and the rest of your workout.

Benefits of Chest and Shoulder Workouts

Upper Body Muscle Growth

Chest and shoulder workouts are excellent for building pec and deltoid size and strength. What many people don’t realize, though, is that compound chest and shoulder exercises also engage other key upper body muscles, such as the traps, rhomboids, lats, triceps, and core.

As a result, these workouts not only enhance your pecs and delts but also contribute to overall upper body mass.

Enhanced Athletic Performance

Pressing exercises are exceptionally important for gaining upper body strength and power, making them ideal for athletes who need to throw, punch, jostle, or quickly get up off the ground in their sport.

What’s more, chest and shoulder exercises like the overhead press and dip are closed-kinetic-chain exercises—movements where you fix your hands or feet on a stationary object (e.g., the floor or dip bars).

This is significant because closed-kinetic-chain exercises help boost athletic performance in three ways:

1. They improve balance and stability by engaging multiple muscle groups simultaneously.
2. They mimic the movements used in sports, where you generate force with your entire body while your feet or hands remain planted and unsupported by equipment like benches or machines.
3. They activate more stabilizer muscles, helping you build greater full-body strength and coordination.

Improved Posture

Many people with poor posture have weak shoulder and upper back muscles. Strengthening these muscles, with exercises like overhead press variations, helps you keep your shoulders pulled back and prevents excessive upper back rounding. 

Moreover, tight pecs can cause your shoulders to round and your upper back to hunch. Doing chest exercises that deeply stretch your pecs helps loosen these muscles, which can reduce tightness and help you maintain a more upright posture.

FAQ #1: Can you do a chest and shoulder workout with dumbbells only?

Yes, if you want to do chest and shoulder exercises at home or while traveling and only have access to dumbbells, you still have plenty of options to choose from.

Here’s how I’d recommend you alter the workouts above so that they only involve dumbbell exercises:

Chest and Shoulders Workout with Dumbbells #1

• Dumbbell Bench Press: 3-to-4 sets | 4-to-6 reps | 3-to-5 min rest
• Arnold Press: 3-to-4 sets | 4-to-6 reps | 3-to-5 min rest
• Dumbbell Pullover: 3-to-4 sets | 6-to-8 reps | 2-to-3 min rest
• Dumbbell Side Lateral Raise: 3-to-4 sets | 8-to-10 reps | 2-to-3 min rest

Chest and Shoulders Workout with Dumbbells #2

• Shoulder Press: 3-to-4 sets | 4-to-6 reps | 3-to-5 min rest
• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 3-to-4 sets | 4-to-6 reps | 3-to-5 min rest
• Dumbbell Rear Lateral Raise: 3-to-4 sets | 8-to-10 reps | 2-to-3 min rest
• Dumbbell Fly: 3-to-4 sets | 8-to-10 reps | 2-to-3 min rest

FAQ #2: Should you train shoulders on chest day?

If you want to combine chest and shoulder training, adding shoulder exercises to your chest day usually isn’t sensible. That’s because many chest exercises already train your shoulders, especially the front delts, so adding extra shoulder exercises can be overkill.

A better approach is to follow a routine with dedicated chest and shoulder workouts. This helps you balance training volume across the week, so you maximize growth without overtraining or undertraining either muscle group.

FAQ #3: Can I combine my chest and shoulder workout with a back workout?

Combining a chest and shoulder workout with a back workout probably isn’t a good idea because it would be exceptionally long and fatiguing. That said, you can train your chest, shoulders, and back in a single session, provided you plan it correctly. 

Check out this article to learn how:

The Best Upper Body Dumbbell Workout for Size and Strength