8 Best Exercises To Build A Chest And Leg Workout

Training chest and legs on the same day is doable, especially on full-body workout splits. By training your legs and chest on the same day, you can get a higher training stimulus, cater to your personal goals, and have flexibility in your workout dynamics. 

Here are the best exercises for chest and leg workouts:

1. Dumbbell Bench Press 
2. Chest Press Machine 
3. Barbell Squats 
4. Leg Press 
5. Cable Chest Fly 
6. Glute Bridge 
7. Push-ups 
8. Bulgarian Split Squats

Don’t miss out on how to do each exercise to reach your goals while avoiding injury. 

When I have been short on time or wanted to switch up my routine, combining chest and legs in the same workout has saved me. I was not sore the following days, even though I still hit the workout hard. 

Below, I’ll share how I would build the right workout for my clients and how you can do the same. 

Here’s what you’ll learn to do each exercise, including tips, the best chest and leg workouts, and things to consider when building your workout. 

1. Dumbbell Bench Press

DB Bench Press is my favorite chest exercise because there are so many variations, like adjusting the angle of the bench or changing the grip. 

One major benefit to using dumbbells is that they are safer on the shoulders than a barbell bench press. 

The primary muscles worked are the pecs, triceps, and anterior deltoids.

How To

1. Turn your wrists/hands to 45° with your knuckles facing the ceiling
2. Focus on driving your feet into the floor and squeeze your shoulder blades together
3. Press the DB’s to the top, making sure to keep your shoulders pinned to the bench 
4. Keep your elbows at the same 45° angle as your hands as you lower the weight down
5. Your hands should reach your chest area to know you have good depth

Pro Tip: The higher the angle, the more upper chest you will target. A 45° angle bench will best strengthen the upper chest.

Can you work your back and legs the same day? Here’s how you can build a back and legs workout. 

2. Chest Press Machine

A chest press machine removes the stabilization aspect of the upper back secondary muscles that dumbbells require. That way, you know you are targeting the pecs, triceps, and delts.

How To

1. Engage your wrists and forearms with the handles so your knuckles face forward
2. “Bend” the handles so your elbows stay tight towards your body as you press
3. Lower the weight to the starting position

Pro Tip: Adjust the seat height so the handles are level with your mid-chest.

Wondering what else you can do on a push day? Check out our article on the Best Push Day Workouts for Strength and Size

3. Barbell Squats

Barbell squats will target all major muscle groups in the legs, some upper body muscles, and the core. This is often referred to as the gold standard lower body lift. 

The lower body muscles involved in a squat are the quads, hamstrings, and glutes. 

How To

1. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Screw your knees out to the side and your feet into the floor. Squeeze the bar tight on your upper back
2. Begin the movement by hinging at the top, then begin to squat down
3. Lower your hips until they are below knee level
4. Drive your feet into the floor to stand up

Pro Tip: Drive your hips and chest up simultaneously while bracing your core to avoid back pain during squats.

For more, here is my list of the best compound leg exercises that should be in every program.

4. Leg Press

The leg press is great for beginners to learn techniques and expert lifters to push more weight. This exercise isolates the legs with back support, making it a bit safer than other exercises. 

The quads are the main muscles in a leg press, but adductors, hamstrings, and glutes also work.

How To

1. Screw your knees to the side with your feet a tiny bit narrower than shoulder-width on the middle of the platform
2. Make sure your knees are to the side of your torso at the bottom position
3. Drive to the top, making sure not to lock out your knees completely

Pro Tip: To target more quads, keep your feet closer together. To target more glutes, keep your feet wider apart. 

5. Cable Chest Fly

Chest flys with a cable machine will keep constant tension on the muscle during all parts of the movement. That is why I like doing flys with cables instead of dumbbells. 

The pecs are the main muscles that are worked in this exercise.

How To

1. Keep a slight bend through your elbows during all parts of this movement
2. As you bring your hands together at the top of the movement, think of squeezing an apple between your chest muscles
3. Lower to the starting position with your hands parallel to your torso 

Pro Tip: Protect your shoulders when you lower to the starting position. Don’t let your hands travel behind your torso

Our article What Else Should I Do On Chest Day? Breaks down 4 examples of what to add on chest day

6. Glute Bridge

Glute bridges can improve your squat and other lower body lifts by strengthening your posterior chain. The glutes are the main muscles that are worked during this lift.

How To

1. Keep your heels flat on the platform for the entire movement
2. Keep your chin tucked as you lower your hips
3. Push through your glutes to the top position, ending with your torso and legs parallel

Pro Tip: If you don’t have a glute drive machine, use a barbell, dumbbell, or band across your waist for resistance. 

7. Push-Ups

Push-ups are among the best chest exercises because they work your pecs, triceps, delts, and core. Push-ups can be modified to be easier or more difficult, depending on somebody’s fitness level.

How To

1. Screw your hands into the floor so your elbows stay tight to your body
2. Lower yourself so your chest is hovering above the floor
3. Keep your elbows tight to your torso as you push yourself to the starting position

Pro Tip: For better form, my favorite cue for my athletes is to “push the floor away from you.”

8. Bulgarian Split Squats

Bulgarian Split Squats are the best unilateral leg exercises to build muscle and improve balance. The primary muscles worked are the quads, glutes, and hamstrings.

How To

1. Screw your foot into the floor and knee to the outside
2. Squat down so your back knee hovers just above the floor
3. Keep a slight forward lean so your front knee remains over top of your front foot
4. Push the front foot into the floor to stand up to the starting position

Pro Tip: I like to use a barbell for my athletes with legs stronger than their grip. That way, they can still lift a heavy load, which is not sacrificed by limited grip strength.

Chest And Leg Workouts For Specific Goals

Compound movements are best for strength because you use multiple muscle groups with each lift. With just these lifts, you can get an upper-body and lower-body lift in one by hitting all the major muscle groups of the chest and legs. 

Strength Workout

• Dumbbell Bench Press: 4 sets x 6 reps
• Chest Press Machine: 4 sets x 8 reps
• Barbell Squats: 4 sets x 6 reps
• Leg Press: 4 sets x 6 reps

If you want an increased size, you can use more isolation movements focusing on one muscle group for maximum growth, such as chest and leg press. But you’ll still use compound exercises like push-ups.  

Size Workout

• Chest Press Machine: 3 sets x 12 reps
• Leg Press: 3 sets x 12 reps
• Cable Chest Fly: 3 sets x 12 reps
• Glute Bridge: 3 sets x 10 reps
• Push-ups: 3 sets x 10 reps
• Bulgarian Split Squats: 3 sets x 10 reps

I incorporate these movements to put on size because most isolate one muscle. However, they will all promote endocritic responses to build size when done with 10-12 reps. 

You can also lift back and chest on the same day, so check out the article to learn how!

What to Consider When Working Out Chest and Legs

Focusing on your weaknesses, how much time you have in your workout, and the frequency of your training are all important factors to consider when training your chest and legs. Not having a solid plan going into a workout can delay progress. 

• Your Weaknesses: If your chest or legs are weaker or need more work than the other, you may want to prioritize that. You can train that muscle first or do more sets and reps.
• How Much Time You Have To Train: If you have lots of time, you can do compound and isolated movements with ample rest between sets. If you run short on time, you can still rely on compound movements like the squat and bench press to train as many muscles as possible. Combining these lifts into supersets can also help if you are short on time.
• Your Training Frequency: If you’ve got the time to train more often, ensure you’re training each body part twice a week. If you can’t train as often as you like, plan to maximize the time you can spend in the gym by focusing on compound lifts, short rest, and supersets to make your workout as effective as possible. 

Frequently Asked Questions

More Workout Splits

Check out my articles discussing other workout splits: 

About The Author

Adam Gardner is a proud resident of Utah, where he lives with his wife and two kids. He has been competing in powerlifting since 2016 in both the USPA and the APF. For the past three years, he and his wife, Merrili, have coached beginning lifters to learn the fundamentals of powerlifting and compete in their first powerlifting competitions.