Chest and Tricep Workout: 3 Routines, Sets and Reps

The best exercises for chest and triceps

Chest and triceps are trained together for a simple reason: every press works both. Your chest moves your arm forward and your triceps straighten your elbow, and a press does both at once. Pairing them has two advantages. Your triceps arrive at their exercises with work already done, so they need fewer direct sets, and both muscles rest together over the next few days.

Bench press. The barbell bench press is the main exercise of the session and works both muscles with the most weight. It is the best one for tracking your progress week to week.
Incline press. The dumbbell incline bench press changes the angle and puts more work on the upper chest.
Cable crossover. The cable crossover fly loads your chest with less help from your triceps, so it does not take energy from what comes next.
Dips. Chest dips, with your torso leaning forward, work both muscles with your own bodyweight. The tricep dip, with your torso more upright, goes more to your triceps.
Overhead extension. The cable overhead tricep extension grew the triceps about 1.4 times more than the same extension with the arm at the side (Maeo et al., 2023). Presses do not take your arm to that position, which is why one is in every session in this guide.
Tricep pushdown. The tricep pushdown is simple and you can do it well even when you are tired, so it works well to finish.

To pick others, see the list of chest exercises and the list of tricep exercises. To see each muscle on its own, check the chest workout and the tricep workout.

Chest and tricep workout at the gym

Start with chest. The press needs rested triceps, and if you tire them first, your chest ends up moving less weight. Also, the exercise done first gains the most strength (Nunes et al., 2021). For building muscle the order matters little, so you can flip it some days if your triceps are the priority.

Full chest and tricep workout: 5 exercises and 16 sets. Each card shows sets × reps and rest.

That is 10 chest sets and 6 tricep sets. If it runs long, cut the cable crossover first, because the two presses and the overhead extension are the base of the session. With your triceps already tired, it is normal to use less weight than you would on an arms-only day.

Dumbbell chest and tricep workout

With dumbbells you do the same session, with the same number of sets. Each arm works on its own, which helps you notice if one side falls behind. You need a bench, and an adjustable one for the incline variations.

On the dumbbell tricep extension, hold a single dumbbell in both hands and lower it slowly behind your head. On the dumbbell skullcrusher, keep your elbows pointing up. When the dumbbells you have stop being enough, add reps or lower more slowly before changing the weight.

Short chest and tricep workout

If you are short on time or just starting, this session keeps the essentials: two presses, which already work both muscles, and an extension for your triceps. Machines are easy to learn and let you focus on each set. You can also build muscle with few sets (Currier et al., 2023).

With dumbbells, swap the presses for the dumbbell bench press and the dumbbell incline bench press, and the extension for the dumbbell tricep extension. When this session feels too short, move to the full one. If you are new to training in general, there are more options in the beginner routines.

How many chest and tricep sets to do per week

To build muscle, what matters most is how many hard sets each muscle does per week (Schoenfeld, Ogborn and Krieger, 2017). The ACSM links the greatest hypertrophy to 10 or more sets per muscle per week and sees gains level off around 18 to 20 (Currier et al., 2026). The table shows what each combination of the sessions above adds up to, counting direct sets only.

Direct sets per week depending on how you combine the sessions
Your week	Chest	Triceps	Who it suits
Short, once	6	3	If you are just starting
Short, twice	12	6	If you are short on time
Full, once	10	6	If you only have one day for this
Full and short	16	9	If you have been training for a while
Full, twice	20	12	Advanced level

Triceps stay below chest on purpose, because they also work on every press. If yours fall behind, add sets: a review saw them grow more with more than 20 weekly sets than with 12 to 20 (Baz-Valle et al., 2022). That was seen in the triceps, and not in quadriceps or biceps, so treat it as something to try and not as a goal.

One session a week can be enough. Training a muscle once or twice a week gives similar hypertrophy when the volume is the same (Schoenfeld, Grgic and Krieger, 2019). For the rest of the week, the usual choice is a back and bicep day and a leg day. A push pull legs routine uses the same idea and adds shoulders to push day, and you will find that work in the shoulder workout.

Common chest and tricep training mistakes

Tiring your triceps before you press. If you do triceps first, the press suffers and your chest gets less work. Leave them for later, unless your triceps are the priority that day.
Doing as many tricep sets as chest sets. Every press already gives them work. Here it is 6 direct sets against 10 for chest, and it is only worth going up if your triceps fall behind.
Doing four nearly identical presses. They add fatigue more than new stimulus, and your triceps reach their exercises exhausted. Choose exercises that change the angle or the movement.
Skipping the overhead extension. Neither presses nor pushdowns take your arm to that position, and in one study it grew the triceps more than the same extension with the arm at the side (Maeo et al., 2023).
Going to failure on every set. Reaching failure does not build more muscle than stopping close to it (Refalo et al., 2023). Leave 1 to 3 reps in reserve on most sets, especially on presses, so you have strength for what comes next.
Resting too little. Resting more than 60 seconds has a small benefit, and beyond 90 it barely changes (Singer et al., 2024). On a heavy press, if you are after strength, more than 2 minutes works better in trained people (Grgic et al., 2018).

How to progress on your chest and tricep workout

Log every set. Weight and reps for each exercise. Without that number you do not know what to beat next session.
Keep the order. Your triceps perform differently depending on what you did before. If you repeat the same order, you can compare your numbers week to week.
Add reps first. When you reach the top of the range on every set, for example 12 reps, raise the weight by the smallest step you can. Adding load and adding reps both worked over 8 weeks in trained people (Plotkin et al., 2022).
Keep your form. If going up means cutting the range short or bouncing the bar, it is not time yet.
Check the big picture. If you stall for several sessions in a row, look at sleep and food before adding sets.

The full rule is in the progressive overload guide, and rest times are in the guide on rest between sets. You can estimate your max on the press with the 1RM calculator.

Questions

Why train chest with triceps?

Because every press works both. Your triceps arrive at their exercises with work already done, and both muscles rest together over the next few days.

Which goes first, chest or triceps?

Chest, because the press needs rested triceps and the exercise done first gains the most strength. For building muscle the order matters little, so you can flip it if you want to prioritize your triceps.

How many chest and tricep exercises should I do per session?

3 to 5 in total: 2 or 3 for chest and 1 or 2 for triceps. With 3 exercises and 3 sets each you already get 9 sets, which is a good starting point.

How many times a week should I train chest and triceps?

Once or twice. With the same weekly volume the results are similar, so choose based on how many days you can train.

Can you do it at home?

Yes. Use the push up and the decline push up for chest, and the diamond push up and the loop band overhead tricep extension for triceps. Each set should end close to failure.

Sources

This guide is for information only and does not replace advice from a health professional.

Chest and tricep workout: exercises, order and sets

Short answer