Effective At Home Chest Shoulder Triceps Workout for Strength and Muscle Growth

Your chest, shoulders, and triceps are muscle groups that work together in order to perform their responsibilities. Exercises that target the chest will work your shoulders and triceps to an extent. Therefore, training these muscles individually on different days will force them to overwork and reduce your gains from the strength training sessions. 

Consequently, in its Guidelines for Resistance Training, the National Strength and Conditioning Association recommends split programs for body workouts. These programs engage synergistic muscles like shoulders, chest and triceps in the same workout session.

One of the key benefits of home workouts is that they allow you to train these muscle groups efficiently without needing a gym, making it easier to stay consistent with your routine.

As you develop your synergistic muscles, your opposing muscles like the back and biceps will rest. Doing things this way will promote balanced training and reduce the risk of overusing your muscles during your home workout. In this article, you’ll learn 6 effective at home chest shoulder tricep workouts and how to combine these in a practical workout routine. 

Combo 1: Decline Push-up + Shoulder Press + Side-lying Tricep Push-up 

Decline Push-up 

Due to the decline angle, this exercise primarily targets the lower, not the upper chest. The front part of the shoulder (not the shoulder blades) and your core muscles are engaged as stabilizers, while your triceps assist in pushing your body up. Since your chest muscles are primarily engaged in this workout, they get fatigued earlier while your shoulders and triceps are warmed up. 

Step-by-step Guide 

1. Place the balls of your feet on the edge of an elevated surface, such as a low chair, table, couch, a bottom stair, or a pavement. 
2. Balance the rest of your body by placing your palms on the floor. The space between them should be slightly wider than your shoulder width in order for your pectoralis major to participate more in the exercise. 
3. Slowly lower your body to the floor, positioning your elbows at a 45° angle relative to your torso. Don’t flare your elbows at a 90° angle to avoid injury. Also, avoid collapsing your wrists inward or outward. 
4. Push your body upwards till your arms are fully extended. 

Shoulder Press

This is a shoulder isolation exercise. In other words, your shoulders are the primary movers in the shoulder press. Your chest is already pre-fatigued, and your triceps act as stabilizers and extenders. 

Step-by-step Guide 

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. 
2. Hold one dumbbell in each hand with a pronated grip or your palms facing outward.
3. Hold the dumbbells at shoulder height, with your elbows bent at about a 30° to 45° angle relative to your torso. 
4. Press one dumbbell overhead in a slow, controlled movement. 
5. Lower the dumbbell back to the starting position in step (c).
6. Repeat steps (d) and (e) with the other dumbbell. 

In the following video, the decline push-up gets underway at 8:40 while the shoulder press begins at 18:18.

Side-lying Tricep Push-up

By the time you move to this triceps exercise, your triceps have been sufficiently warmed up and are now ready to labor.  

Step-by-step Guide 

1. Lie on your side. 
2. Stack your legs on top of each other.
3. Place your right palm on your left shoulder.
4. Place your left hand flat on the floor just in front of your chest. Your fingers should point forward, and the palm should be directly under your left shoulder.
5. Bend your left elbow at a 90° angle, keeping it close to your torso. 
6. Straighten your left elbow and push your upper body off the floor, squeezing your triceps. The rest of your body, from your waist downwards should remain on the floor. 
7. Exhale and bend your elbow as you lower your upper body back to the starting position. 

Combo 2: Free Dumbbell Chest Press + 45° Press + Overhead Tricep Extension

Free Dumbbell Chest Press

If you don’t have a barbell, the dumbbell chest press is a perfect alternative to the barbell bench press. This is because research comparing chest press exercises has shown that there’s no difference between the extent to which dumbbell and barbell chest presses affect the pectoral or chest muscles. You can see the free chest press starting at 1:48 in the video above.

Step-by-step Guide 

1. Lie on a bench.
2. Slightly arch your lower back, creating space between your lumbar region and the bench. This slight arch allows your chest to be better positioned to press the dumbbells efficiently, providing more leverage and preventing over-reliance on your shoulders.
3. Place your feet flat on the floor. They should be shoulder-width apart or slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. 
4. Grasp the dumbbells with an overhand grip.
5. Incline your upper arms at a 45° angle to your torso while positioning your forearms perpendicular to the floor. 
6. Press the dumbbells straight upwards until you’ve fully extended your arms. Keep your chest elevated throughout the movement. Squeeze your chest as you lift. At the top of the movement, the weights should be in line with your shoulders.
7. Lower your arms to their position in step (e).

45° Press 

You may adjust your bench at an angle greater than 45° but not exceeding 60°. A study on the effects of bench inclinations on shoulder muscle activation confirmed that bench inclinations between 45° and 60 assist with a greater activation of the anterior deltoids (shoulder muscles). 

Step-by-step Guide

1. Adjust your workout bench to an inclination of 45° 
2. Sit on the bench, resting your back on the back part and planting your feet on the floor wider than shoulder-width apart. 
3. Grasp one dumbbell in each hand with a pronated grip. 
4. Position your upper arms at a 45° angle to your body. Don’t flare them out at 90° (which can strain your shoulders), and don’t tuck them in too close to your torso like in a close-grip press.
5. Raise your forearms such that they’re perpendicular to the floor. 
6.  Press the dumbbells upwards. As you do so, keep your forearms vertical. Throughout the pressing movement, the dumbbells should be directly above your elbows. 
7. At the top of the movement, incline the dumbbells towards each other. They should almost touch each other. 
8. Lower the dumbbells back to the starting position in step (e). 

Overhead Tricep Extension 

This triceps workout at home will make you extend your elbows overhead, stretching your triceps through a full range of motion. In a small study of 21 persons using a cable machine to perform triceps extensions, it was discovered that extending the elbows overhead increases the hypertrophy or growth of the triceps. 

Unlike other types of tricep extensions, which target the medial and lateral heads of your triceps, the overhead extension particularly activates the long head, which plays the most important role in tricep hypertrophy or growth. In the video provided above, the workout kicks off at 16:56. 

Step-by-step Guide 

1. Kneel down and rest your butt on your heels. Space your knees shoulder-width apart. 
2. Position both palms under one weight of the dumbbell and clasp the dumbbell by the shaft or inner part.
3. Holding the dumbbell as described above, raise it above your head.
4. Bend your elbows slightly so that one weight of the dumbbell is facing downward while the weight under which your hands are positioned is facing upward.
5. Lower the dumbbell behind you until your forearms are parallel to the floor. 
6. Return it to your position in step (d).

Conclusion 

One of the most efficient ways to increase upper body strength without fatiguing your upper body muscles is to combine chest, shoulders, and tricep exercises. If you want some variety in your workout routine, substitute the dumbbell bench press with the standing chest fly and do a dumbbell lateral raise on days when you don’t feel like repeating a 45° press. 

Since most of the best exercises for training your chest, shoulders, and triceps are push workouts, don’t repeat them every day. For best results, alternate between push and pull workouts. Do push exercises one day and pull exercises the next.

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