ATHLEAN-X founder Jeff Cavaliere is back to help out slow responders inside the gym. On August 12, 2025, via YouTube, he laid out his guide for transforming flat pecs into a chiseled chest, sharing how to execute six exercises that will accelerate growth.
“If you’ve got pancake pecs and want to turn them into a chiseled chest or tig old bitties, you got to do the right exercises, and guys, you got to do them the right way.”
Cavaliere runs one of the most influential fitness YouTube channels in the world. With over 14.1 million subscribers, he helps lifters, one workout at a time, build their dream physiques. He doesn’t just tell you what to do, but rather how and why his strategies are most effective for results.
Jeff Cavaliere’s Blueprint for Turning Flat Pecs into a Chiseled Chest
These are the six exercises Cavaliere dissected in his recent YouTube video:
Level Up Your Fitness: Join our 💪 strong community in Fitness Volt Newsletter. Get daily inspiration, expert-backed workouts, nutrition tips, the latest in strength sports, and the support you need to reach your goals. Subscribe for free!
- Dumbbell Bench Press
- Cable Incline Bench Press
- Dips
- Cable Y Pullover
- Cable Crossover
- 3-D Crossover
Dumbbell Bench Press
The dumbbell bench press is a bread-and-butter exercise for most gym-goers, which is why Cavaliere started with it. He believes many lifters take their chest out of the movement due to their head position when lowering the dumbbells.
“Yeah, I assume you’re doing a lot of dumbbell bench pressing right now, but your chest is still flat. Likely because you’re de-prioritizing your chest and making your shoulders do more of the work.”
“First, the speed of the repetition that you’re performing on the bench press, and second is the position of your head as you lower the dumbbells. First of all, when it comes to the position of your head, you’re going to allow yourself just to lift one or two inches off the bench as you lower the dumbbells down.”
He adds that raising the neck by an inch or two puts the pecs in position to bear the load.
“What’s most important is putting the chest and the pecs out in that prime position as the main drivers of the movement. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not lifting to the point where I’m straining my neck; we’re talking about a simple one or two inches.”
In addition, Cavaliere said that reps should be as explosive as possible and slowly controlled on the way down.
“You need to try to become as explosive as possible, even if you’re using heavier weights. You want to try to move the weight as fast as possible on the way up and, of course, control it slowly on the way down.”
Cable Incline Bench Press
If you can’t feel your pecs during dumbbell bench presses, he broke down his “detox exercise,” the cable incline bench press.
“It’s my mind-muscle rehab, and it comes in the form of a cable incline bench press. The cables are the game-changer here. It’s worth the setup if you have access to this.
What you’ll find is that by setting the cables out wide and having to actively adduct them just to get them in position to press, you’re almost pre-engaging the pecs and setting the stage once again for them to do more of the work.”
Dips
With dips, Cavaliere emphasized that you don’t want your shoulders to shrug at any point during this exercise because then the front delts and triceps take over.
“What you need to do is develop this area mostly with a dip. It’s the classic exercise, but you have to do it the right way.
Here, I want you to make sure you’re not allowing your shoulders to shrug at any point during the exercise. If you allow your shoulders to rise up and shrug up, then that chest is going to get hollowed out, and when you press, most of the pressing is going to come through the front delt and triceps.”
Cable Y Pullover
Next, he detailed the cable Y pullover, a tried-and-true movement he’s used to build a complete chest.
“You want your bench far enough away from the cables that you can get your arms up overhead into this Y position. You pull your hands together at the same time that you drive your arms forward like you would with a traditional pullover.”
Cable Crossover
High to low on crossovers works the lower chest line, but going from low to high and up and across your body allows for better upper pec activation, explained Cavaliere.
“You can perform this in one of three different planes of motion: either straight out here in front of your body, anchoring from a low position and raising your arm up and across your body, or anchoring in a high position and lowering your arm down and across your body.”
3-D Crossover
Lastly, Cavaliere elaborated on how to perform the 3-D crossover variation:
“Pull the weight in just a little bit to start, and then drive your arm across your body, keeping it nice and close. The further it gets out away from your body, the more susceptible you might become to that anterior shoulder pain,” he said.
Cavaliere acknowledges that mastering mind-muscle connection goes a long way when building a powerful chest. He believes these six exercises, when performed properly with precision, can help even the most stubborn bodies grow.
RELATED: How Jeff Cavaliere Made Lean Eating Sustainable for Over 30 Years
Watch the full video from the ATHLEAN-X YouTube channel below:
You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and
YouTube for even more content.
