Aug 9 / admin

Chest Workout – Dumbbell Bench Press

Let’s be honest, every one wants big, powerful pectorals. Perhaps more than other other muscle in the body, having a strong chest shows that you are strong overall. Although every one knows about the bench press, I greatly prefer the dumbbell bench press, which really forces your arms to stabilize even more than the standard barbell bench press. But the major benefit of the dumbbell bench press over the barbell bench press is that you do not need a spotter for the dumbbell press, although having one is still a good idea.

To perform this exercise, you are going to need some standard dumbbells. You can buy some great adjustable dumbbells here, but personally I find that it would be much more cost efficient to just go to a gym so you can have a large selection of dumbbell weights without paying a ridiculous amount.

Performing this exercise is relatively simple; to start, lie on your back on a free standing bench. Then grasp two dumbbells in and overhand grip and hold them on the sides of your chest. Firmly place your legs on the ground, and then simply extend your arms to raise the dumbbells up and nearly touching each other. Finally, slowly lower them back down to the starting position, and you have successfully completed one repetition. Throughout this whole motion, you should be slowly and smoothly lifting the weight.

While the most commonly practiced and believed workout repetition and set philosophy says that every exercise should be done in three sets with 8-12 repetitions per set, I believe that this exercise should not be performed like this. Instead, I believe that for this exercise you should instead lift heavy, performing 5 sets of 3-4 repetitions with large breaks in between each set (at least a minute). Most power lifters practice this sort of heavy weight lifting, and it should help you get stronger faster.

If you regularly perform the dumbbell bench press, you should quickly begin to see big gains in chest strength. By performing this exercise as well as other great chest exercises, like the push up, you can eventually have that big, strong chest that every one really wants.