Dumbbell Bench Press Workout

Muscles Worked: Pectorals – A great workout for building mass, strength & power in the Chest Muscles.

Spotter Required: Yes, when you begin lifting heavy weights its best to have a spotter pass the weight to you.

Minimum Equipment required: Standard bench press with standard dumbbells

The Best Equipment to Use: An Olympic bench press with dumbbells

Warming up: To warm-up, perform 3-4 sets, each time increase the weight slightly and decrease the number of repetitions, for example on the first warm-up set do 12 reps with 25% of the weight you lift with, then on the last warm-up set do 2 reps with 80-95% of the weight you lift with.

How often should I perform this exercise: Dumbbell bench press is a great exercise for working the chest muscles, and also good because you have to use stability to control the dumbbells, i recommend dumbbell bench press with every chest workout and i usually perform them after the barbell bench press.

When should I perform this exercise: You should perform this exercise quite early on in your chest workout, I personally do dumbbell bench press after barbell bench press.

How to do the exercise: Before you lay on the bench press you must remember to keep the same movement as with barbell bench, stick your chest out and keep the middle of your back off the bench.

Lying on a flat bench press holding the dumbbells over your head with your arms locked, palms facing towards your feet. Begin to lower the dumbbells with the exact same movement as with a barbell bench press, bringing the dumbbells down to your lower/mid chest. When the dumbbells reach the bottom of the movement push them back up to the start position without locking your elbows.

Variations

Incline Bench: Inclining the bench to almost 45 degrees will allow you to target the upper part of your chest, however bear in mind you will probably not be able to lift the same weight as with flat dumbbell bench.

Decline Bench: To target the lower portion of your chest you can decline the bench press, but again you will probably not be able to bench the same weight as flat dumbbell bench.

Mentality: I find the hardest part of dumbbell bench press is stabilizing myself on the bench, if this happens to you take a second at the top of the movement and lock your arms out, then sort your body position out, make sure you are comfortable and continue. If you are constantly fighting to stabilize your body try reducing the weight and see if this helps or get a partner to asses your technique.

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