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The Best Dumbbell Chest Workout (SYMMETRICAL PECS)

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Rating: 4.5; Vote: 2

Here s a dumbbell chest workout you can do with just a weight bench and some dumbbells to carve out your own classic, symmetrical chest - top to bottom - side to side - without ever stepping foot on muscle beach. When we think of the Golden Era and its approach to chest training we often think about training with barbells under heavy loads. However, these icons relied heavily on a wide range of dumbbell exercises like the dumbbell floor press, the dumbbell fly, dumbbell pullover and the incline dumbbell chest press just name a few Don t think because all you have is a pair of dumbbells or even an adjustable dumbbell you can t get the job done. With this approach to chest training, dumbbells offer: improved range of motion, increased core stability, can reveal a muscle imbalance, and are often easier on the shoulder joints. Just because we re using a pair of dumbbells doesn t mean we can t use heavy loads and still train the entire chest. At the end of the day guys it s all about stimulating the muscle fiber, your body doesn t know the difference. We start the chest workout by grabbing a pair of dumbbells and heading to the adjustable bench, this time keeping it flat, as we perform the staple pressing movement for mass - the dumbbell bench press. Here, the focus should be on pressing heavy weights and letting tension overload be the main driver of your chest gains. I grab a pair of dumbbells that I can use for a dumbbell push-up. The dumbbells allow greater range of motion on every rep, letting me sink my body lower than usual and prolonging that stretch to ensure increasing time under tension that you don t find with a regular pushup. And this time, we target the lower pecs with the definitive mass building lower chest exercise - the dip. I take the opportunity to drive growth through tension overload and the addition of weight to the exercise - in the form of a dumbbell held between my feet. I recommend you perform a set with a weight that will cause failure around 6-8 repetitions, making sure that you keep your shoulder blades back and down to prevent issues that could come from doing this with rounded shoulders. Reaching failure, I drop the dumbbell and rep out once again with just my body weight. Again, you should continue to be thinking about tucking those shoulder blades into your back pocket and keeping them there to ensure shoulder safety even when muscle fatigue on the back end of this drop set sets in. One of the best ways to hit the upper chest, the clavicular fibers is to prop the bench up to about a 30 degree angle and perform another chest exercise combo that utilizes only one dumbbell. This is the crush grip dumbbell press, a variation of the bench press performed from the incline position. The goal here is to grab a dumbbell weight that is a little heavier than what you would normally use on a traditional two handed incline dumbbell chest press, as a single dumbbell held with both hands. We can continue to hit the fibers of the upper pecs with yet another body weight chest exercise: the decline push-up. The downward angle of my body here creates an arm travel from low and away to up and in - the same exact angle that is required to maximize recruitment of the upper chest fibers. Next up, we have a variation of one of the most iconic chest exercises, but done on the floor instead; the floor fly. The safety net of the floor that prevents excessive stress on the anterior shoulder capsule at the bottom of the rep. Use heavier weights than what's typically used on this movement. That is another dumbbell chest exercise that people often confuse as JUST a back exercise. We're talking about the dumbbell upper chest pullover. The golden era bodybuilders knew very well the benefits of hammering the pec minor. Allowing the elbows to flare or drift outside the plane of the shoulders will shift the focus to the lats and minimize the contribution of the pectoralis minor. If you think about squeezing your biceps together throughout the exercise and turning the backs of your hands towards each other as you raise the weight up, you'll activate the right muscle. Tension is greatest on the pecs when the dumbbell stops at about a 45-degree angle from my body at the end of the rep. Lighter weights are advised here since the pec minor doesn't require as much of a heavier load as it does good activation and focused engagement. Here is the dumbbell chest workout: Flat Dumbbell Bench Press x 5-6 reps to failure into Dumbbell Push-Ups x failure (3 Sets) Weighted Pause Dips x 6-8 reps to failure into BW Dips x failure (3 Sets) Incline Crush Grip Dumbbell Press x 8-10 reps to failure into Decline Push-Ups x failure (3 Sets) Dumbbell Floor Flys x 8-10 reps to failure into Phelps Press (Eccentric Floor Fly) x failure (3 Sets) Dumbbell Upper Chest Pullovers x 10-12 Reps (2-3 Sets)
Date: 2023-06-05

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Comments and reviews: 13

daemoneko
I've had shoulder dislocations and got a bankart repair surgery
After a lot of PT, I've gotten back to lifting, and use dumbell exercises a lot for chest and shoulder
my PT suggested to avoid dips, as they can put my shoulder in a compromised position, due to my past injuries and surgery
any tips on best alternatives or ways to modify the dip to handle this?
reply

Shamanbear
Its nice to hear a trainer say, Yeah, yeah, they did supplements but that doesn't negate the workouts they did that we can incorporate into our routines. Its also nice for a physical therapist to say, Hey, you, old man, Arnold was in his 20's when he did those flies so you should get on the floor and do something more appropriate.
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Pete
My buddy preached to me the usefulness of dumbbells. Right this moment, I am about to do chest and I have a set of dumbbells every 5 pounds from 5 to 50 and a set of 60 and 70 pounders. In every workout, I probably use close to or more than half my dumbbell set. It has been a great investment 25 years ago.
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irma
Could you please make some videos specially for WOMEN?
I follow your videos and exercises -pick few of them adding to my exercise routine.
But it would be nice if you make one just for us especially for the waist and love handles (I saw you made few of them -can we do the same exercises)
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sport
I crushed my chest going beyond failure but i feel im still sore on my next chest day. Do i train anyway? Do i still make gains dropping from two sessions per week (that are just shy of failure) so i can have one session that rips me up (beyond failure?
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Alex
You're great and I've been following you for a while, but please put subtitles on your videos so I can follow you better. PS: Normally in other videos there are subtitles, unfortunately in this video they are not available.
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Lily
Unsure of what is correct position of dumbbells as you do drop set after floor Flys
Please clarify if dumbbells are vertical to torso or at 45 degree angles, same as pressing up. Thanks so much!
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Moe
The problem with a lot of these videos, is that when you only have 45 minutes to an hour for a workout you only have a limited time and excercises you can do. Who can wait 2 - 3 minutes between reps?
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Mitch
I will try to incorporate more of these into my workouts! I always use my dumbells for the classic uses, but you've redefined what the classic uses could be. Great video as always!
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nelsonn
. oh lord facepulls, about that skeleton? Your Sense of humor is out of control, about the chest? You are to us the milk out of the Stone, I'll be back! You prefer Stallone.
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ComedyWeb
Push Ups, only. Gave me huuuge chest. I like weights too. But just got used to workout with my own body weight. To each their own (genetic playing a big role)
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Graeme
Would it be best to do all this in 1 session or split between 2 sessions if you are doing for example a PPL split x2 a week?
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Jay
I was just watching you in another work out, and I m always watching repeats, at this point I feel like you ve moved in with me
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