Training at home is more accessible than ever with gym-grade quality equipment available at competitive prices. In fact, Benches now cost less than £200, so you could own a bench and bar set up with a variety of weights and even a Power Rack, for less than a year’s gym membership. And there’s the option to make some money back if you ever decided to resell.

But what if the issue was never cost, but a lack of space? While you can practice a myriad of exercises when you have access to a wide range of home gym equipment, it’s harder to know where to begin when you’re restricted to more compact gear, like dumbbells.

Over the next few months, we’ll cover some of the best dumbbell exercises for strength, power, and hypertrophy (muscle growth), targeting nearly every muscle in your body.

Overcoming challenges

If you’re switching from machines or a barbell bench press, you’ll need to overcome a couple of challenges when you move dumbbells.

Stability

Pressing individual, free-moving weights compared with a single unified bar feels different. To start with, it’s harder. Whether you’re bench pressing 20kg or 100kg, in the majority of cases simply splitting the number and attempting the same weight with dumbbells is not going to work. Putting more pressure on your shoulders and testing your core, balance, and stability is going to put a limit on how heavy you can lift. To improve, you’ll want to include more shoulder workouts into your routine, and make sure you’re not neglecting your core either.

Stretching

In our recent blog on why we love cable machines for muscle training we talked about the benefits of training under tension, but only during the right movements. With specific exercises like chest flys, you’ll put additional pressure on your shoulder joints with dumbbells, something
you’ll need to account for by stepping-up your stretching regime and listening to your body if your muscles start to feel over-extended.

Four dumbbell exercises for your chest

Dumbbell press

You’ve probably seen the dumbbell press before, and there’s a good reason you've heard of it. The dumbbell press is arguably the most effective exercise when it comes to strength training, beating even the barbell press for some lifters.

The core and shoulder activation in the dumbbell press is greater than the barbell variant, training your body to stabilise itself when under pressure. But it’s also safer, allowing your shoulders (one of the most fragile muscles in the body) the free movement they need to remain in good form, while also limiting the weight you can load onto them.

Performing the dumbbell press

Just like the barbell press, you’re going to want to lie back on a horizontal bench, with your shoulders pressed back and down. Then, raise the dumbbells above your central chest, until your arms are fully extended, and your palms are facing your feet. If you find that you have shoulder problems, try a neutral grip and turn your palms to face towards each other, or at a 45° angle.

Then, slowly lower the weights, making sure that your wrists stay in line with your elbows until the dumbbells are close to/are touching your chest. Press the weight back up, bringing them over your chest to make the most of the free range of movement. Try focusing on squeezing your biceps together, as if trying to touch one another to increase chest activation.

No bench? No problem. You can use a stable foot-rest or the floor to perform this exercise.

Dumbbell fly

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, the fly is a fantastic exercise for muscle growth — but it’s not without its caveats. While we all know that, at some point, you’ll need to get sore to get stronger, we don’t want to run the risk of injuring ourselves while training. That’s where training the fly at home, with less equipment, could be a better option than performing them at a fully-equipped gym.

By using the floor, you’ll be limiting your range of motion to where your arms are unable to fall behind your torso. This solid safety-net will stop you from stressing or damaging your shoulders while performing the exercise.

Performing the dumbbell fly

Lie back on a flat bench, or a flat surface like the floor, with your shoulders firmly supported. Hold the dumbbells directly above your chest, but unlike the press, make sure your palms are facing each other.

Then, once you’re in position, lower the weights in an arc motion to the sides as far as you find comfortable. Keep a slight bend in your elbows throughout the exercise, and don’t arch your back or overstretch at the bottom of the movement. Once your elbows are in line with your torso, squeeze with your pectoral muscles to pull the weights back to their centre position.

Incline/Decline Press

Just like the standard dumbbell press, the incline and decline press is a staple of any chest training program. If you’re new to training, you might not know that the chest is split into three sections – the upper, middle, and lower. Neglecting any one of these muscles could negatively impact your ability to strengthen the others.

Performing the incline/decline press

The form here is pretty much the same as your regular dumbbell press. Keeping your shoulders pressed back and down, squeeze your chest by bringing your biceps towards each other (without letting your shoulders come forward), and grip with your palms facing towards your feet.

But instead of a flat bench, you’re going to want an adjustable bench or a way to angle your body at roughly a 45° angle. If you don’t have the space for a bench, then you’ll need to improvise. For decline, you can angle your body so that your shoulders are pointing towards the ground by bending your knees and placing your feet flat on the floor.

The incline version is a little trickier to imitate, but you’re going to need to prop yourself up by leaning back against another object. Try sitting on the floor and stabilising yourself by resting your shoulders against the edge of your sofa.

Coffin press

The coffin press, or the close grip dumbbell press, is an underrated exercise that’s incredible when it comes to developing your mind-muscle connection and offers a muscle-burning contraction like no other.

Unlike any of the press exercises we’ve already covered, the coffin press is more about contracting your muscles through squeezing your elbows and dumbbells together, while only lifting a small distance above the chest.

Performing the coffin press

Sit on your floor and prop your upper back against a sofa. Then, while leaning back just enough to point your chest towards the ceiling, grip a lighter pair of dumbbells with your palms facing towards each other.

With your elbows bent at roughly 90° by your side, raise the dumbbells above your chest and push them together, keeping the tension throughout the movement. Once you’re ready, press the weights until your elbows are just above your torso, and while still squeezing the weights together, bring your elbow in, as if trying to meet the two over your body. Hold for 1 second, and then return to the starting position.

Understanding rep ranges

While some exercises are designed for specific goals, most people can adapt movements to fit nearly any routine. Instead of looking for an alternative exercise that achieves the same results, try playing with your rep ranges and resting times to match your needs.

If you’re training for strength, you’ll want to push the weights a bit heavier, focus on sets of around 3-5 reps, and allow your body to rest for a reasonable amount of time before performing your next set.

Looking for overall muscle growth (hypertrophy)? You’ll want to up your reps to somewhere around 8-12 reps per set. You’ll also want to focus on lowering your resting time, aiming to have around two minutes between sets.

Checkout our Complete guide to dumbbells

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Tags: Equipment > Benches ; Equipment > Dumbbells ; Exercise Type > Strength ; Misc > Workout