Dumbbell Bench Press

Chest · Dumbbell · ×2 dumbbells

You hold two: the weight you log is ONE dumbbell's, and volume counts both.

How to do it

Sit with the dumbbells on your thighs and lie back using your knees to swing them up. Blades pinched, chest high. Lower until your hands are at chest level or a touch below, deeper than a bar would allow: that extra range is the whole reason to use dumbbells. Press up bringing the hands slightly together without clanking them. You should feel the chest stretch at the bottom, never a pinch in the front of the shoulder. The classic mistake is letting them drift out into a fly: that is an opening with far too much weight.

Variants

The drawing shows one way of doing it, and the technique above describes that one. Almost every exercise has variants — standing or seated, the grip, the bench angle — and is still the same exercise: if you do it another way, write it in the exercise note and you will have it every time you train it.

Also works: Triceps, Shoulders

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