There are lots of chest exercises available, but choosing the right pair of exercises is very important in order to have a well-developed chest, we have come up with the 10 best chest exercises with dumbbells, choosing from these chest exercises (any 5) you can make your own chest workouts.
Doing chest exercises with dumbbells is a smart way of maximizing your chest growth without having any injury and that’s the reason why, pro-bodybuilders whose livelihood is based on how they look, prefer dumbbells exercises over barbells when it comes to training chest.
Training with a dumbbell has a lot of advantages especially while training the chest because taking your pectoral muscles through their entire range of motion places a lot of tension on your shoulders, and when done with a barbell, it might cause some long term shoulder issues to ‘some people’ which hinders their chest training.
Here is a list of 10 best chest exercises with dumbbell (Ranked)
1. Chest Exercises: Flat Dumbbell Press
When it comes to dumbbell exercises for the chest, the flat dumbbell press is the king of all the dumbbell exercises:
- Trains your entire chest (upper, lower, middle).
- Allows for lifting heavier weights (good for muscle and strength gains).
- Easy to do progressive overload (ensures long-term muscle gains).
- Allows better ROM as compared to Barbell (better stretch and better contraction).
- Good loading profile (difficult at the bottom and easier at the top).
- Easy on your shoulder joints (good for long-term shoulder health).
- Easy on your elbow Joints (good for long-term elbow health).
- Safer exercise as compared to a barbell (fewer chances of injury).
- Customizable for every individual (fits to every structure).
2. Chest Exercises: 30°Incline Dumbbell press
30° Incline dumbbell press is a slight incline, and this is our second choice because:
- Allows our shoulders to slightly externally rotate (safer position for your shoulders).
- Even better ROM (more ROM=more time under tension).
- Better at training (biasing) upper chest (great for individuals with weak upper chest)
- Allows for lifting heavier weights (good for muscle and strength gains).
- Easy to do progressive overload (ensures long-term muscle gains).
- Allows better ROM as compared to Barbell (better stretch and better contraction).
- Good loading profile (difficult at the bottom and easier at the top).
- Easy on your shoulder joints (good for long-term shoulder health).
- Easy on your elbow Joints (good for long-term elbow health).
- Safer exercise as compared to a barbell (fewer chances of injury).
- Customizable for every individual (fits to every structure).
3. Chest Exercises: 30°Decline dumbbell press
Just like 30° Incline, 30°decline is also a slight decline and the reasons why this is on our 3rd ranking:
- Great for individuals who have a hard time feeling their chest while training (builds mind-muscle connection)
- Better at training (biasing) lower pec fibers (great for individuals with weak lower chest)
- Good for people with smaller rib cage or lower sternum angle (as they have a hard time feeling their chest).
- Allows for lifting heavier weights (good for muscle and strength gains).
- Easy to do progressive overload (ensures long-term muscle gains).
- Allows better ROM as compared to Barbell (better stretch and better contraction).
- Good loading profile (difficult at the bottom and easier at the top).
- Easy on your shoulder joints (good for long-term shoulder health).
- Easy on your elbow Joints (good for long-term elbow health).
- Safer exercise as compared to a barbell (fewer chances of injury).
- Customizable for every individual (fits to every structure).
4. Chest Exercises: Dumbbell Guillotine Press
Number 4th on our list is the guillotine press done with a dumbbell, you can also do this exercise with a barbell. It is the best exercise for training your chest but the reason why it is on no.4 is because of its risk of injury, people with average or less than average shoulder mobility has a slightly higher risk of injury while performing this exercise, a safer alternative would be smith machine guillotine press.
Other benefits of this exercise:
- Great for individuals who have a hard time feeling their chest while training (builds mind-muscle connection)
- Allows for more stimulus with lighter weights (gives less fatigue as compared to other exercises).
- Good for upper chest development.
- Easier on recovery as you are using lighter weights.
- Good loading profile (difficult at the bottom and easier at the top).
- Customizable for every individual (fits to every structure).
- Safer exercise as compared to a barbell (fewer chances of injury).
- Easy on your elbow Joints (good for long-term elbow health).
Note: while performing this exercise it is very important to train in your active range of motion.
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5. Chest Exercises: Dumbbell Press With Resistance Band
When it comes to efficiency any dumbbell pressing movement done with a resistance band is very efficient and you can do this exercise on an incline bench or decline or even a flat bench as well, this is a great exercise for those who do not have a lot of time to train, the reason why it is on no.5 is that in order to perform this exercise you need to have a resistance band which not everyone has, so you would need to invest in a good resistance band.
- In this entire list, this exercise has the best loading profile (amazing for muscle growth).
- It also gives a lot of tension at the top of the ROM as compared to other exercises which gives close to zero tension.
- This exercise is a complete chest workout in itself (trains your chest in its entire contractile range).
- Has a very good stimulus to fatigue ratio (easier on recovery).
- Easy on your shoulder joints (good for long-term shoulder health).
- Easy on your elbow Joints (good for long-term elbow health).
- Safer exercise as compared to a barbell (fewer chances of injury).
- Customizable for every individual (fits to everyone’s structure).
- Allows for lifting heavier weights (good for muscle and strength gains).
- Easy to do progressive overload (ensures long-term muscle gains).
- Allows for better ROM as compared to Barbell (better stretch and better contraction).
Note: If you have access to the resistance band, then you should definitely include this exercise in your chest workouts.
6. Chest Exercises: Flat Dumbbell Fly
“The old school exercise” flat dumbbell fly is a great tool for building an aesthetic chest. Fly movements for the chest are great because it uses lightweight and gives very high stimulus making it a best friend for bodybuilders and anyone who is looking to get a bigger chest.
benefits of this exercise
- Stimulates your entire chest.
- Trains your chest at its lengthend and mid range (very difficult at the bottom of the ROM).
- Good for individuals with elbow issues (dosenot places a lot of tension on your elbow joint).
- An isolation movement (helps in isolating chest muscles).
- Uses lighter weights (easier on recovery).
- Safer exercise (less chances of injury since dumbbells are involved).
- Customizable for every individual (fits to everyone’s structure).
7. Chest Exercises: Dumbbell Push-Ups
Pushups in general are a great way to train your chest as it allows your scapula to move in its natural ROM when doing any other exercise for the chest where your back is braced against a bench, hinders the natural ROM of your scapula, so if you are a beginner or someone who has a hard time feeling their chest, then including pushups is a great way to maximize your chest gains.
Using dumbbells while doing pushups, allows you to get extra stretch (if your shoulder mobility allows you to do that) at the bottom of the range of motion and it also demands your stabilizers to work more.
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Benefits of doing dumbbell pushups
- Teach how to move your scapula while training your chest.
- Activates your stabalizers (as it demands more stability)
- Allow for better ROM (better stretch at the bottom of the ROM).
- Good for beginners to learn how to engage their their chest in a correct way.
- Great tool for warm up (helps warming up your entire upper body)
- Great exercise as a finisher (including pushups at the end of your workout helps in getting better pumps).
- Trains you chest, shoulders and triceps all together.
- Very less chances of injury.
- Good for progressive overload (for beginners).
8. Chest Exercises: 30°Decline Dumbbell Fly
30° decline is a very slight decline, this dumbbell fly variation is a very effective exercise for targetting the lower part of your chest, individuals who tend to feel their shoulder more while training their chest should definitely try doing this exercise.
Benefits of decline dumbbell fly:
- Very effective in growing your lower chest.
- Great exercise for people who feel their shoulder while training their chest.
- Trains your chest at its lengthend and mid range (very difficult at the bottom of the ROM).
- Good for individuals with elbow issues (dosenot places a lot of tension on your elbow joint).
- An isolation movement (helps in isolating chest muscles).
- Uses lighter weights (easier on recovery).
- Safer exercise (less chances of injury since dumbbells are involved).
- Customizable for every individual (fits to everyone’s structure).
9. Chest Exercises: 30°Incline Dumbbell Fly
Just like 30° decline dumbbell fly 30° incline is also a very slight incline, this is a good exercise for people with some shoulder issues or for individuals with less shoulder mobility, as it allows for a slight shoulder external rotation which increases the ROM at your shoulder joint.
Benefits of 30° incline dumbbell fly
- Good exercise to target your uper chest.
- Easier on your shoulder joint due to slight shoulder external rotation.
- As compared to decline this exercise wil allow for better ROM.
- Good exercise for people with shoulder pain or shoulder issues.
- Trains your chest at its lengthend and mid range (very difficult at the bottom of the ROM).
- Good for individuals with elbow issues (dosenot places a lot of tension on your elbow joint).
- An isolation movement (helps in isolating chest muscles).
- Uses lighter weights (easier on recovery).
- Safer exercise (less chances of injury since dumbbells are involved).
- Customizable for every individual (fits to everyone’s structure).
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10. Chest Exercises: 60°Incline Dumbbell Press
This exercise is one of the most underrated and very effective exercises, most athletes have a very weak upper chest especially the clavicular head of their chest, this is where 60° incline dumbbell press comes into play, it targets the clavicular head of your chest.
Benefits of doing this exercise
- As mentioned above, targets your clavicular head (the most under-developed part of everyone’s chest).
- Also trains your front shoulder (which makes your shoulder look bigger).
- Great exercise for progressive overload (ensure long term muscle gains).
- Very safe for your shoulder joint (if done in youe active ROM).
- Allows for lifting heavier weights (good for muscle and strength gains).
- Allows better ROM as compared to Barbell (better stretch and better contraction).
- Good loading profile (difficult at the bottom and easier at the top).
- Easy on your shoulder joints (good for long-term shoulder health).
- Easy on your elbow Joints (good for long-term elbow health).
- Safer exercise as compared to a barbell (fewer chances of injury).
- Customizable for every individual (fits to every structure).
Why Dumbbell Exercises For Chest ?
When it comes to maximizing muscle growth, taking your muscles to their entire range of motion with the appropriate load is very extremely important, and since everyone has a different structure of their shoulder joint, their shoulder mobility differs, so it’s very important to choose exercises that fit your structure.
When training the chest with a barbell people with amazing shoulder mobility will never have any problem cause their structure is built for doing “barbell” bench press and these are the people who would say ‘barbell bench press is the best exercise for big chest’, it might be the best chest builder for them but not for you.
Now that doesn’t mean dumbbells are superior to barbell
A fixed bar has a fixed range of motion as compared to dumbbells, therefore a dumbbell will allow you to have the range of motion you are built for.
In order to maximize your chest growth, you need to understand the function of your chest.
Function of Chest
The function of your chest is very simple, bringing your humerus (upper arm bone) across your body or your midline, any exercise that allows you to do that safely while loading your chest with heavier weights is amazing for growing chest and pressing movements for your chest like dumbbell press, machine press, barbell press, dips, pushups will help you to do that and they also have a very good loading profile.
Advantages of dumbbell press over Barbell Press
Now we know that pressing movements are great for building mass in your chest now we will tell you about the benefits of dumbbell press over barbell press.
Dumbbell vs Barbell
1. RANGE OF MOTION (ROM): Dumbells allow you to have better ROM as compared to barbells as you can squeeze your chest more using dumbells, as at the top of the range of motion your hands get close to each other and you can also get a better stretch at the bottom of the ROM,
Whereas while doing a barbell bench press your hands are stuck in a place and they can come close to each other at the top of the range of motion, and at the bottom of the ROM (if your shoulder mobility allows you to get a deeper stretch) you cant go below your chest as to do that the barbell has to go through your ribcage.
2. RISK OF INJURY: Anecdotally, people who train their chest mostly with barbells have more shoulder and elbows issues as compared to people who use dumbbells to train their chest.
3. ALIGNMENT: Alignment might not be an important factor for beginners or casual lifters, but for advanced trainees and people who love working out on a very frequent basis, alignment becomes very important as alignment prevents joint pain.
For almost every individual, dumbbell movements will align better with their joints as compared to barbell movements.
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Is training your chest with a barbell bad?
To answer this question, it is very important to understand that alignment of an exercise with your joints is very important when it comes to avoiding joint pain in long run, people who casually workout for being fit can use exercises that don’t align with their joints properly, as they don’t push themselves like a bodybuilder or a powerlifter or someone who loves training does.
But if you are someone to likes to push themselves to extreme limits on a regular basis then, choosing the right exercise is very important.
In order for a barbell to align properly with your joints, you need to have very good shoulder mobility and wrist mobility (predetermined when you’re born) and if you don’t have those prerequisites then doing dumbbell presses is the next best alternative for you.
NOTE: If you really want to use barbells in your chest training then you can do that by training in your active ROM.
And a big benefit of the barbell over a dumbbell is that a barbell is more stable than a dumbbell, therefore, you can lift heavier weights using barbells which increases the mechanical tension on your chest, great for muscle growth.