Chest and Triceps Workout: Gym and Dumbbell Versions

Why chest and triceps share a day

Every press is also a triceps exercise. On a bench press the chest drives the arms forward and the triceps straighten the elbows to finish the rep, so by the time you reach the arm work the triceps have already done several hard sets. Training them together means they recover together too, and the days in between are left for back, legs or rest.

The drawback comes from the same fact: tired triceps make a weak press. That fixes the order. All the chest pressing comes first, then the fly, and the triceps exercises last. Reverse it and your heaviest chest sets are limited by your arms rather than your chest. The chest training guide covers bench angles and how much chest work a week suits you; this page is the session to do.

How often, and what to pair it with

Once a week works when the rest of your week trains everything else. Twice a week, three or four days apart, suits anyone who wants more chest and arm work and recovers well. Pair it with a pulling day: the back and biceps workout is written as its partner.

A common four-day week built on this pairing. The 4-day gym workout plan compares this body-part split with upper and lower days.

Day	Session
Day 1	Chest and triceps
Day 2	Back and biceps
Day 3	Rest
Day 4	Legs
Day 5	Shoulders, or a lighter chest and triceps day
Days 6 and 7	Rest

Every single session and weekly plan in the library is listed on the workout plans page.

Gym version: barbell, dumbbells and cables

For a full gym floor. Warm up with light sets of the bench press, adding weight each set until you reach your first working weight. Rest fully between the heavy presses; the cable and triceps work can move faster.

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest	Notes
Bench press	4	6–8	2–3 min	Main press
Incline dumbbell press	3	8–10	2 min	Needs a bench that inclines (ask); otherwise a flat dumbbell press
Cable crossover	3	12–15	60 sec	The fly, in place of a pec deck
Dips	3	6–10	90 sec	No dip station in RPM's photos: close-grip bench press
Overhead tricep extension	2	10–12	60 sec	Rope on the cable, facing away
Tricep pushdown	2	12–15	45 sec	Straight bar or V-handle

Ten chest sets and seven triceps sets, with the three sets of dips working both. If your elbows ache on dips or extensions, stop that exercise and have the elbow checked by a doctor or physiotherapist.

Dumbbell-only version

For a crowded floor, a home set-up, or a gym with dumbbells, a flat bench and little else. With no bench, press on the floor instead: lie on your back and lower the dumbbells until your upper arms touch the floor.

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest	Notes
Dumbbell bench press	4	8–10	2 min	Main press
Dumbbell fly	3	10–12	90 sec	Light pair; open only to a gentle stretch
Push-ups	2	Stop 2 short of failure	60 sec	Hands on a bench to make them easier
Skull crusher	3	10–12	90 sec	Dumbbells, palms facing each other
Overhead tricep extension	2	12–15	60 sec	Both hands on one dumbbell
Tricep kickback	2	15	45 sec	Upper arm stays still

Dumbbells cap how heavy you can press. Once the heaviest pair you can control feels easy for ten reps, slow the lowering to three seconds before you look for more weight. The dumbbell chest exercises page has more movements to rotate in.

Sets and reps for beginners and intermediates

How many sets is a judgement, not a formula. In a meta-analysis by Schoenfeld and colleagues, more weekly sets per muscle tended to bring more growth, up to a point, so read the figures below as starting points and build up only while you recover and keep getting stronger.

What changes	Beginner	Intermediate
Sessions a week	One	One or two, three or four days apart
Exercises	The first four of either version, two sets each	All six, sets as written
Main press	2–3 sets of 8–10 with a weight you control	4 sets of 6–8; in a second weekly session, 3 sets of 10–12
Effort	Three reps left	One or two reps left
Chest sets a week	Around 6 to 8	Around 10 to 20 across two sessions

Add reps first, then weight: when all sets reach the top of the range, take the next step up and rebuild the reps. The American College of Sports Medicine describes the same way of adding load for healthy adults.

Mistakes that waste a chest and triceps day

Mistake	What happens	Better
Triceps first, to warm up the arms	The bench press is limited by tired arms	Presses first; one light pushdown set is enough as a warm-up
Three flat presses in a row	More strain on shoulders and elbows, little extra for the chest	One flat press, one at another angle or with dumbbells, then a fly
Elbows flared wide on every press	The front of the shoulder takes more of the load	Elbows angled slightly towards your sides
Bouncing the bar off the chest	Momentum does the work at the hardest point	Touch lightly and press; pause on the last set
Pressing to failure alone under a bar	A failed rep can pin the bar on your chest	Set the rack's catch arms, ask for a spotter, or use dumbbells
Extensions so heavy that the elbows hurt	Sore elbows that limit next week's pressing	A lighter weight, full lockout, and stop if it is painful

Women, machines and push day

Chest and triceps workout for women

The same session. Women train chest and triceps for the same reasons men do, pressing strength and stronger arms, and the only adjustment is the starting weight. If floor push-ups are not there yet, do them with your hands on a bench and work through the push-up progression.

Chest and triceps workout on machines

Swap the bench press for a chest press machine and the cable crossover for a pec deck, and keep the cable triceps work. Neither machine is in RPM's photos, so at RPM follow the gym version, which is built on cables and free weights. The bench press vs chest press machine comparison weighs up the two.

Chest, shoulders and triceps together

That is a push day. Add a lateral raise or a dumbbell shoulder press after the fly, and drop one triceps exercise to keep the session under an hour. The push pull legs calculator builds the rest of that week.

This session at RPM

With the swaps named in the rows, both versions run on what RPM's floor photos show: squat racks with barbells, flat benches, the dumbbell rack and the cable towers. A dip station, a bench that inclines, a pec deck and a chest press machine do not appear in those photos, so ask on the free guided tour what is on the floor in the Mixed section and in the women-only Ladies section. A personal training session is a quick way to get your bench set-up checked.

Sources

// Frequently Asked

Questions, answered.

Should I train chest and triceps together or on separate days?

Together suits most people, because the triceps already work in every press and recover on the same schedule. Training them on separate days means they are worked hard twice in close succession, once on chest day and again on arm day, which can leave the elbows sore.

How many exercises should a chest and triceps workout have?

Five or six: two presses, a fly and two or three triceps exercises. Beyond that, the extra sets tend to be done tired and add little.

Can I do chest and triceps twice a week?

Yes, with three or four days between the sessions. Make one heavier, with the main press at 6 to 8 reps, and the other lighter at 10 to 12, or do the gym version once and the dumbbell version once.

What should I train the day after chest and triceps?

Back and biceps, or legs. Avoid a hard shoulder session the next day, because the front of the shoulder has just done all the pressing.

Do I need triceps exercises if I bench press?

Pressing trains them a lot, so a beginner can start with one triceps exercise. Adding an overhead extension works the triceps in a stretched position that presses do not reach; the triceps exercises hub explains why.

Chest and triceps day: presses first, arms after