Best Chest Exercises: Dumbbell Bench Press
Dumbbell Bench Press is one of my favorite exercises for building mass, shape and power in my pecs. Try it and you’ll soon feel this way too! Unlike barbell bench press which often causes shoulder pain and risks rotator cuff injury, this exercise allows you to comfortably stretch your pecs through a greater range of motion to stimulate more muscle fibers for enhanced growth and shape.
And if you really want to build strength in your chest, balancing and controlling each dumbbell during high intensity sets requires considerably more power than it does to complete the same motion with a barbell. If you don’t believe me, consider the following. If your one-rep maximum in the barbell bench press is 250 pounds, you might logically assume that you could work with two 125 dumbbells for your Dumbbell Bench Press. But if you actually tried to do this you’d be in for a big surprise! Bench press with dumbbells is harder and requires more strength than the barbell variety. I recommend it for beginners because the difficulty lies not in the technical aspects of the lift, but in the strength required to complete it. And the sooner you start developing the strength in your chest necessary to effectively complete this exercise, the better.