THE BEST CHEST EXERCISES WITH DUMBBELLS

Once again, we want to be your online personal trainer so that you know the exercises. Did you think that the bars were absolutely necessary to strengthen the pectoral? You were wrong! You can build an amazing pec with dumbbell chest exercises. 

Dumbbells have many advantages for training the chest. They allow more lenght and freedom of movement, are more comfortable and favor muscular balance. The dumbbell allows you to stretch the pectoral fibers much more. Try working your chest with dumbbells! 

The most recommended chest exercises with dumbbells

The movements that we have always done and recommended are the following. You can also do these  dumbbell chest exercises at home . However, for most of them, you're going to need an adjustable weight bench. 

Equipment to train chest with dumbbells

Collect the equipment from the list:

• Two dumbbells that you can control to do chest exercises.
• An adjustable bench.
• Optionally, you can get some wristbands. They will give stability to your wrist joint when you start handling heavy weights.

If you already have your training material , we can go to see the exercises. We have listed them in order of importance . They are also valid as  chest exercises with dumbbells for women .

1. Flat dumbbell bench press

1. Lay the bench in a flat position. Sit on one end with the dumbbells resting on your knees.
2. Lie back and drive the dumbbells up until your arms are straight. When you've reached the starting position, slightly turn your hands toward your chest (this will increase the safety and efficiency of your push).
3. Take a lot of air and begin to lower the dumbbells towards your pectorals. Keep your elbows facing your body, not out. 
4. When the dumbbells touch your chest, explosively lift them up so that your arms are straight. Release the air. You will have completed one repetition and you will be able to do the following ones.
5. Keep your hands slightly turned toward your chest throughout the movement.

This exercise works the pectoralis major, the core of the chest and the triceps.

2. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Upper Chest Exercise

1. Place the back of the bench in an inclined position. You don't need to use a lot of incline. Between 15 and 30º will suffice. 
2. Sit on the bench and place the dumbbells on your knees. Lie on the backrest and push the dumbbells up to load them on your shoulders. Push them back up to keep your arms straight. This is the initial position.
3. Press your feet hard against the ground. Turn your hands slightly so that they are facing slightly towards the pectoral. Fill your lungs with air and lower the dumbbells to the top of your pectorals.
4. As you lower your arms, make sure your elbows are facing in (at your body) and not out. When you reach the top of your pectorals, raise the dumbbells back up until your arms are extended. You will have completed one repetition.
5. Keep both hands and elbows slightly turned in toward your chest throughout the movement.

This is one of the dumbbell exercises for the upper chest . 

3. Flat bench dumbbell fly exercise for chest

1. Lay the bench in a flat position. Sit at the end of the bench with the dumbbells gripped and lie back.
2. Start with your feet flat on the ground and your arms extended but slightly bent. The arms will be together and both hands will have to face each other.
3. Take a lot of air and begin to open and lower his arms. Slightly bend your elbows. Never lower the dumbbells with your arms completely straight.
4. When your elbows are at the same height as your body and you feel the stretch in your pectorals, raise the dumbbells back up.
5. Keep your elbows slightly bent as you raise your arms. Bring both dumbbells together at the end of the movement with your palms facing each other. Squeeze the chest at the end and expel all the air. 

This exercise serves to open and separate the pectorals and works the midsection of the chest.

4. Incline bench dumbbell fly exercise for pectorals

1. Incline the back of the bench by about 15 or 30º. Sit on the bench with the dumbbells on your knees and push them up until your arms are extended above your body. Keep the soles of your feet flat on the ground, your elbows slightly bent, and your palms close and facing each other. This is the initial position.
2. Take all the air you can and begin to separate and open your arms. Remember to keep your elbows slightly bent throughout the movement. Lower both arms.
3. When the elbows are lower than the torso and you feel that the chest has stretched, you will have to raise the arms again.
4. Keep your elbows bent during the lift. Bring the palms of the hands together, one in front of the other, and end with the arms extended upwards. Expel the air on the rise and remember to contract the pectoral in the final part of the move. The rep will be complete.

This exercise works the upper pectorals and the insertion between the deltoids and the chest.

These are the four dumbbell chest exercises we consider most important. However, there are some more that we want to explain to you. 

5. Pull-over, one of the dumbbell exercises for chest and back

1. Lie on a flat bench with your feet on the floor and holding a dumbbell in your hands. Pass the handle of the dumbbell between your hands. Both palms of your hands should touch the bottom of the dumbbell plate. 
2. Raise the dumbbell up and stay with your arms extended. This is the starting position.
3. Fill your lungs with air and begin to extend your arms back until the dumbbell is behind your head.
4. Stretch the chest and back well. Then bring your arms back to the starting position; the dumbbell should be above the chest. Squeeze your chest at the end of the movement and exhale.
5. Keep your arms slightly bent throughout the movement so you don't get injured.

This is a dumbbell exercise for chest and back interchangeably. 

6. Decline dumbbell press, an exercise for the lower pectoral

1. You'll need a weight bench that can be set up in decline (with the backrest pointing down). It is done like the other  exercises with weights for the chest (flat and incline). 
2. Sit on the edge of the decline bench with the dumbbells on your knees. Lie on the bench and drive the dumbbells until your arms are straight. Some benches have a support to place the legs. If your bench doesn't have support, keep your feet flat and stable on the ground.
3. Turn your hands slightly so that they point towards your chest and take a breath. Begin to lower the weights with his elbows in.
4. When the dumbbells touch the pectoral, raise them explosively until your arms are fully extended. Expel the air at the end of the movement. Do more repetitions.

This dumbbell exercise is for the lower pectoral fibers. 

7. Decline Bench Dumbbell Flyes

1. Use a bench with a slight decline. Position yourself on the edge of the bench with the dumbbells on your knees. Lie on the bench and raise the dumbbells until your arms are extended. The palms of the hands will be close to each other and will face each other. Some decline benches have a leg holder. If yours doesn't have it, keep your feet firmly on the ground.
2. You already have the starting position. This exercise with dumbbells for chest will be done like the other flye movements. Take a breath and start spreading your arms.
3. Lower your arms until your elbows are past your trunk. 
4. When you feel the stretch in your pectorals, bring your arms back up to bring your hands together in the final position. Expel all the air.
5. Keep a slight bend in your elbows throughout the exercise to avoid damaging your joints.

Include it in your dumbbell chest routine to stretch the fibers in the lower pectoral area .

8. Close dumbbell bench press

1. It's a bench press, but in this case, you'll keep the dumbbells pressed against each other with a neutral grip (palms facing each other). 
2. You will want to push the dumbbells up and back down while keeping them pressed together. The movement will describe a vertical line.
3. Take the air when the dumbbells are up and expel it when you push them from the pectoral.
4. Squeeze the chest well to feel the exercise.

This movement activates the external, internal and upper chest area . It can also be done on an incline bench.

9. Flat Bench Dumbbell U Fly

1. Begin as the normal dumbbell chest fly exercise. Lie on the bench with your feet in contact with the ground and holding the dumbbells with your arms extended. The palms of the hands will be facing each other.
2. Take a breath. This time, when you start to spread your arms apart, you won't let them fall to either side of your body. The movement will describe a "U" and you will bring your arms back until both are in line with your trunk and the dumbbells are above your head.
3. Do the same move in the reverse direction to return to the starting position. You'll end up with your arms extended above your chest and your palms facing each other. Release the air and contract the chest.
4. Maintain a slight elbow flexion throughout the entire stroke.
5. For this movement, you will have to use less weight than in a normal fly exercise.

This exercise stretches the pectoral fibers and promotes shoulder mobility.

10. Incline Bench Dumbbell U Fly

1. It is done the same as the previous exercise, but with the bench inclined. Place the back of the bench at an angle of about 15-30º. Begin with your arms extended above your body, keeping your feet flat on the ground. Your elbows will be slightly bent and the palms of your hands close together and facing each other.
2. Take a breath. Do not drop your arms to either side of your body. In this exercise, you will do a "U" shape with the dumbbells, bringing your arms back. Bring your arms back until they are in line with your core and the dumbbells end above your head.
3. Perform the same movement in the reverse direction to end with your arms extended over your chest. Bring your palms together, which will be facing each other. Squeeze the chest at the end and exhale.
4. Keep your elbows slightly bent throughout the entire move.
5. You will have to use less weight than in the normal incline bench fly exercise.

11. Dumbbell Around the World Incline Bench

1. Incline the bench and sit with the dumbbells on either side. Place them close to your thighs. The palms of your hands will face up and your elbows will be slightly bent.
2. Once you have the starting position, swing your arms up.
3. When the dumbbells are over your head and almost together, contract your pectorals. 
4. Bring the dumbbells back to the starting position. You will have performed a repetition.

The "Dumbbell Around the World" exercise for chest is not so well known, but it is very good. Works the chest and shoulders. Due to the gesture, you need to have healthy shoulders to execute it. The version shown is for the upper chest area, but you can also do this exercise with a flat bench.

Other variants

Press movements also have the following one-arm variants:

• Single-arm dumbbell flat bench press.

• Incline Bench Single Arm Dumbbell Press.

Chest exercises with dumbbells without a bench

Some people simply don't have an adjustable weight bench to train with. No problem. Did you know that we also have some dumbbell chest exercises without a bench ? Stay to learn them.

12. Standing Supine Raise to Strengthen Chest

1. Grasp a dumbbell in each hand in a supine position and start with your arms straight and keep the dumbbells close to your thighs.
2. Take a breath, then raise the dumbbells up to your head. Squeeze your chest hard at the end. Release the air.
3. Lower the dumbbells under control to the starting position.
4. Don't come up with your arms completely straight; keep your arms slightly bent.

It is one of the best standing dumbbell chest exercises. It is used to raise the chest. Works the upper pectoral and deltoid insertion.

13. Dumbbell push-ups 

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and drop to the floor in a plank position with your arms straight. The dumbbells should be against the ground. The starting position is like a normal push-up. The feet will be close together and the arms will be a little more than shoulder width apart.
2. Take a breath and flex your arms to bring your body as close to the ground as you can.
3. Breathe out and, with an explosive movement, push your body back up to the starting position with your arms straight.

The advantage of dumbbells is that they increase the length of the move, which favors a greater stretch of the pectorals and more work.

14. Dumbbell Chest Press on the Floor

1. In English, this exercise is called "Floor Press". It is done the same as the version with bench. Lie on the floor grabbing two dumbbells and with your arms extended. Slightly rotate the arms so that they face your body. Bend your knees and keep the soles of your feet on the ground for comfort.
2. Take a breath and lower the dumbbells to your chest with your elbows pointing in toward your body. 
3. When you reach chest, raise the dumbbells explosively until you finish with your arms extended. Expel the air.

This exercise works the chest and triceps. The best thing is that you don't need a weight bench to do it.

15. Floor Dumbbell Pectoral Flyes

1. Lie on the floor gripping the dumbbells and with your arms straight. The palms of the hands will be close and facing each other. Bend your knees and keep your feet in contact with the ground.
2. Take a breath and spread your arms. Lower the dumbbells until the pectoral is stretched. Keep a slight bend in your elbows throughout the movement.
3. Bring the dumbbells back up to bring your arms together and contract your pectorals. Breathe out at the end.

Stretch your chest without needing a weight bench.

16. Svend press to work the pecs with dumbbells standing

1. Grab a dumbbell by the handle and squeeze it against your chest while standing. Take a breath.
2. Press the dumbbell forward until your arms are extended horizontally. Expel the air.
3. Bring the dumbbell back up to your sternum. Contract your chest.

This dumbbell exercise is very good for pumping the chest . However, it requires you to concentrate very well to locate the work on the pectoral. The mind-muscle connection is essential in this movement. It is one of the lesser known exercises to train the pectorals with dumbbells (but very effective). It is also called the horizontal dumbbell press .

Do these exercises serve to increase the breast in women?

Yes. The proposed dumbbell exercises are not just for men. Girls can greatly benefit from doing them. Why? Because below the mammary glands, there is the pectoral muscle. If the pectoral is strengthened and enlarged, the breasts are pushed out and appear larger. For this reason, no woman should be afraid of strengthening her pectoral muscles. She will not lose her breasts, quite the contrary. They will look bigger

Exercises to strengthen the chest in women

Among the exercises that we have explained, we recommend the following to strengthen the breasts in a woman.

• Flat bench dumbbell press.
• Close dumbbell bench press.
• Flyes with dumbbells on a flat bench.
• Push-ups on the floor (can be done with bent knees, if you are unable to keep your legs tense).

Floor versions of these exercises are also valid.

Can I do exercises to raise the breast in women?

Yes. The movements that raise the chest are those that focus the work on the upper part of the muscle. Try a routine with the following  exercises to lift the chest in women. Before, we explain them all:

• Incline dumbbell bench press.
• Flyes with dumbbells on an incline bench.
• Pull-over.
• Standing supine raise.

Benefits of training the pectorals with dumbbells

It is true that the bars allow us to carry more weight. However, pectoral exercises with dumbbells have a number of benefits over bars and machines.

Dumbbells promote a greater range of motion. They allow you to lower beyond the chest to fully stretch the chest and activate more fibers. With dumbbells, the movement is freer. You will achieve greater stretch and contraction. They also work the stabilizer muscles, since you will have to control the dumbbells so that they do not separate.

They improve muscle balance . We all have one side of our body stronger than the other, even if we are not aware of it. When we use the bar, the strong side tends to compensate for the weaker one. With dumbbells, each arm works with its own weight separately. For this reason, chest exercises with dumbbells serve to seek muscular balance.

The joints suffer less. Since dumbbells are more versatile, you will be able to move your arms freely without compromising your joints. Dumbbells allow you to do things that you can't do with bars. For example, rotate your wrists and move your elbows to make the posture comfortable. The joints suffer less stress.

They strengthen your stabilizing muscles . Since you grip each weight separately in each hand, you enhance stability. You will train the small stabilizing muscles, which are the rotator cuff, the serratus anterior, the rhomboids or the pectoralis minor. You will really improve the stability of your shoulders and scapulae.

Did you know that some bodybuilders only prefer to train the chest with dumbbells?

Dumbbell chest workout

Let's see a basic training to progress. Do these chest exercises at home or at the gym.

• Flat bench dumbbell press :

- Choose a weight and do 1 set x the maximum repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

• Incline bench dumbbell press :

- Choose a weight and do 1 set x the maximum repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

•  Flyes with dumbbells on a flat bench :

- Choose a weight and do 1 set x the maximum repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

•  Flyes with dumbbells on an incline bench :

- Choose a weight and do 1 set x the maximum repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

•  Dumbbell pull-over :

- Choose a weight and do 1 set x the maximum repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

How to progress?

As you have seen, each exercise has a first set where you will have to achieve maximum repetitions. For example, you can start with dumbbells that allow you to do between 40 and 50 repetitions. Do them quickly and explosively. Try not to reach muscle failure in all workouts. Do multiple workouts with the same weight until you are unable to get any more reps. In the next training session, pick up dumbbells that are about 2 kg heavier. Try to break a rep record with that new weight. The day you get to move dumbbells that do not allow you to do more than 6 or 8 repetitions, you will have to return to the weight of the first training (with which you did between 40 and 50). From there, you will try to break the records you had with each weight. For example, if you reached 44 repetitions with one weight, now try to do 46. If you reached 33 repetitions with another weight, now try to reach 35 or 36. This would be the work for the first set of an exercise.

The next two sets, where you do between 8 and 20 repetitions, are extra hypertrophy work. Here it doesn't matter much how much weight you can move. Let yourself be carried away by your sensations, depending on how you feel that day. This is effective dumbbell strength and hypertrophy workout. It has 15 sets in total.

How many times a week do you do this workout?  Do it once or twice a week. If you are going to do the routine twice a week, allow at least two consecutive days of rest between each workout. Rest about 3 minutes between each set.

Chest exercises for women at home 

Now, we will look at another version of dumbbell training. Actually, the following workout can be performed interchangeably by men and women. We have recommended it to girls because many readers are looking for exercises to increase breasts at home for women. As a priority, include dumbbell upper chest exercises and other dumbbell chest lifting exercises.

•  Incline bench dumbbell press :

- Choose a weight and do 1 set x the maximum repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

•  Flyes with dumbbells on a flat bench :

- Choose a weight and do 1 set x the maximum repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

• Standing Supine Raise with Dumbbells :

- Choose a weight and do 1 set x the maximum repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

• Svend press :

- Choose a weight and do 1 set x the maximum repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

- 1 set between 8 and 20 repetitions.

• Push-ups (optional) :

If you feel strong, finish with a couple of sets of push-ups. Bring the reps close to muscle failure.

As you can see, they are exercises that we have already explained. Follow the same progression and frequency that we indicated for the first routine. If you don't have a bench, you can do the press and fly exercises on the floor.

Here are 16 fantastic dumbbell chest exercises and the benefits of doing them. There is an excellent variety to fully train the pectoral. At Depor Trainer , we always know the best routines. By the way, the material is so basic that you can buy it to keep at home! There are even options without a weight bench! Do you resist any exercise?