Dumbbell bench press: exercise technique and what muscles are working

fitness tréner

“The dumbbell press is a basic exercise for pumping up the upper body. It allows you to develop the pectoral muscles, triceps and anterior deltoid muscle. Unlike the barbell bench press, the dumbbell bench press engages the stabilizing muscles to a greater extent, because you have to control the movements of both arms separately, and also allows you to develop the muscles more symmetrically”.

A barbell is used to set records in bench press and powerlifting competitions. It allows you to lift more weight, so the dumbbell press is used as an auxiliary exercise in strength sports and as one of the main exercises in bodybuilding.

If your goal is to increase the volume of your muscles and make them more embossed, it is important to control the technique of the movement. It is necessary to achieve a state of slight burning in the muscles, not to lift as much weight as possible. Otherwise, you risk redistributing part of the load to other muscle groups, and the chest muscles will remain untreated.

Obsah

How to choose the right angle of the bench when bench pressing dumbbells?

Scientists from Spain conducted a study using electromyographic sensors to understand how to better train the chest muscles. They used the bench press exercise at angles of 0°, 15°, 30°, 45° and 60°.

Results showed that maximum upper chest activity occurred at a bench incline of 30°. The middle and lower portions showed high activity without bench inclination. When the incline is greater than 45°, the load shifts from the chest to the shoulders.

So, for the upper chest:

upper chest, it is recommended to place the bench at an angle of 30°;
middle and lower pectoral muscles are optimized to do bench press on a horizontal bench;
for the lower chest it is recommended to incline the bench below horizontal.

Dumbbell bench press at an angle of 30°

Technika

Take dumbbells in your hands. Lie down on the bench at an angle of 30° and press against it with your shoulder blades, bring your chest slightly forward and fix your shoulders. The best option is to have a partner help you with both dumbbells in turn.
Put your feet on the floor and firmly rest the entire sole. If you feel a lot of tension in your lower back or discomfort, use a lower bench or place a step platform under your feet.
Place the dumbbells slightly wider than your shoulders, with the shells above your collarbones. The shoulder blades, head and pelvis are pressed against the bench. The abs are tense.
On an inhalation, slowly lower the dumbbells to the middle of the chest to an angle of 90° at the elbows, bringing the shoulder blades together. Do not lower the dumbbells too low.
As you exhale, powerfully raise the dumbbells to the top point. One hand should not be ahead of the other. The movement of the dumbbells goes until the arms are fully straightened.
Shoulders should not be removed from the bench. Try not to overstretch the neck.

Perform three approaches of 8-12 times. Rest between approaches – two minutes.

Dumbbell bench press on the horizontal bench

Technika

Take a barbell in your hands. Lie down on a horizontal bench and press against it with your shoulder blades, bring your chest slightly forward and fix your shoulders. The best option is to have a helper help you hand you both dumbbells in turn.
Put your feet on the floor and firmly rest the entire sole. If you feel a strong tension in the lower back or discomfort, use a lower bench or put a step platform under your feet.
Position the dumbbells at an angle with a grip slightly wider than your shoulders, with the shells above your collarbones. The shoulder blades, head and pelvis are pressed against the bench. The abs are tense.
As you inhale, slowly lower the dumbbells to the middle of the chest to an angle of 90° at the elbows, bringing the shoulder blades together. Do not lower the dumbbells too low.
As you exhale, powerfully raise the dumbbells to the top point. One hand should not be ahead of the other. The movement of the dumbbells goes diagonally from the nipples to the full straightening of the arms.
Shoulders should not be removed from the bench. Try not to overstretch the neck during the dumbbell press.

Perform three approaches of 8-12 times. Rest between approaches – two minutes.

Dumbbell bench press at an angle below horizontal

Technika

With the help of a partner take dumbbells in your hands. Lie down on the bench at an angle below the horizontal and press against it with your shoulder blades, bring your chest slightly forward and fix your shoulders. The best option is to have a helper help you pick up both dumbbells in turn.
Fix your feet firmly on a special roll on the bench. The angle bench has special rollers to fix your legs so that you do not roll away.
Position the dumbbells at an angle with a grip slightly wider than the shoulders, the projectiles are above the collarbones. The shoulder blades, head and pelvis are pressed against the bench. The abs are tense.
As you inhale, slowly lower the dumbbells to the middle of the chest to an angle of 90° at the elbows, bringing the shoulder blades together. Do not lower the dumbbells too low.
As you exhale, powerfully raise the dumbbells to the top point. One hand should not be ahead of the other. The movement of the dumbbells goes from the nipples to the full straightening of the arms.
Shoulders should not be removed from the bench. Try not to overstretch your neck during the dumbbell press.
If you have a tendency to high blood pressure, it is recommended to do the exercise very carefully and with an assistant.

Perform three approaches of 8-12 times. Rest between approaches – two minutes.

Odporúčania pre realizáciu

A dynamic five-minute warm-up of the arms will increase strength and performance, as well as reduce the risk of injury. But stretching should not be done, as the power of the muscles will decrease.
Practice a couple of bench presses with small dumbbells. Master the correct technique and perform the exercise strictly according to it. It is important not only to pump up, but also to keep your joints healthy.
If your goal is to increase your strength, perform no more than six repetitions per repetition, but with more weight. If your goal is to gain muscle mass, perform 12-15 reps.
Do not rush to increase the load, but learn to perform the exercise with confidence. Do not use the force of inertia and springing movements of the arms.
Spread your chest, do not bring your shoulders together in front. Lower and bring your shoulder blades together. Also, there is no need to bend in the lower back additionally, the natural flexion will be enough.

Contraindications to performing the dumbbell bench press

You have not treated old injuries

If you have old injuries, sprains, instability and discomfort in the shoulders, it is necessary to heal them before training. This is the only way dumbbell presses will benefit you, not harm you. Build your workouts to suit your goal, to be safe for your musculoskeletal system and to correlate with the principle of gradualism – from simple to complex.

Máte akútnu bolesť

If you have acute shoulder pain, exercise can be detrimental and make the condition worse. In any acute stages, exercise is not recommended. It is necessary to wait for the departure of pain, and then conduct special recovery training. It is best to do this under the supervision of a doctor and a trainer.

How to make the pectoral muscles grow?

Refuse from grueling training of pectoral muscles at every session. Systematically overworked muscles do not have time to recover. From the fact that you often train, strength and muscles will not become more, rather, on the contrary.

Train your pecs and biceps on the same day. By training the pecs, we also train the triceps. Do not train your pecs and triceps on the same day, it is better to replace them with biceps.

Do a total of 9 to 15 sets per week on the chest in all exercises. For example, three exercises of three to four approaches. The number of repetitions is 8 to 15. You can load your pecs once a week or break up your workout by day.

Change the weight of the weight, number of repetitions, range of motion and rest time at times to progress your results.

Incorporate shoulder stabilizer muscle exercises into your workout plan. Frequent lifters often have inflamed ligaments and tendons, and any injury, even a minor one, limits personal maximums. The rotator cuff of the shoulder must be strengthened to keep the joint strong and healthy. This is the only way to achieve record-breaking performance.

Which is better: dumbbell bench press or barbell bench press?

The barbell and dumbbells are effective training equipment for body development. Each of them has its own advantages. It would be wrong to say that one is better than the other. The ideal is to use both barbell and dumbbells for the best results.

In 2011, researchers recruited a group of men to find out the differences in barbell bench press, dumbbell bench press, and Smith machine press. The activity of the large pectoral muscle, anterior deltoid, biceps and triceps was measured. During the experiment, the lifters trained with the heaviest weights.

Maximum load. Researchers found that the load in the dumbbell bench press was 14% less than in the Smith machine and 17% less than in the bench press. The maximum load was in the barbell bench press. Approximately 3% higher than in the Smith machine.

Biceps activity. It was found that biceps activity increased when greater stabilization and control of both arms separately was required. The maximum activity was in the dumbbell bench press and the minimum was in the Smith machine.

Triceps work. The maximum triceps work was with the barbell, followed by the Smith machine, but the dumbbells showed the lowest result.

Work of the anterior deltoid. The performance of the anterior deltoid muscle with barbells and dumbbells did not differ much. The Smith machine showed the lowest result.

Pectoral muscle performance. Pectoral muscle involvement showed little difference in the three exercises and was virtually the same.

Advantages of dumbbells

Dumbbells allow you to find a comfortable angle of the hand. Some athletes feel discomfort and inconvenience in the hands when pressing with a barbell, which can not be said about dumbbells. Also, not all beginners can immediately squeeze a barbell 20 kg, and dumbbells allow you to train with a minimum weight. Another advantage of dumbbells is that they provide a greater range of motion. Full amplitude in an exercise is more effective on the muscles being trained than short amplitude.

Advantages of the barbell

The barbell allows you to train with more weight. When we press the barbell, we work with about 17% more weight than with dumbbells. This can be due to load redistribution, the involvement of additional muscle fibers, and the specific technique of the exercise. For example, if you do 50 kg bench press for 10 repetitions, the probability that you will squeeze 25 kg dumbbells for 10 repetitions in each hand is not very high. That’s a good reason to test yourself.

Remember that proper technique, quality recovery and injury-free training will ensure that you make steady progress. This way you will be able to form an athletic figure and achieve high strength performance.