When most people walk in the gym doors, they makes a beeline for the barbell bench press. After all, it’s the big test of strength, right? Load up bar, lie back down and push.
But if you look around the corner quietly enough, you’ll see what so many lifter miss: the secret to creating a good-looking chest from any angle lies in the dumbbell rack. Your stabilizer muscles is engaged more with dumbbells than you’ll ever experience with a barbell. When both arm are going at it alone, there’s nowhere to hide.
The isolation promotes deeper mind-muscle connections and better muscle balance. That is the difference between moving weight and building tissue. The pecs aren’t flat pieces of meat, though; they’re a complex series of muscle fibers running in varying directions.
A flat press simply won’t cut it if you want a well-rounded pec that fill out a shirt nicely. Targeting these fiber at various angle is necessary to trigger full-belly growth throughout the muscle. You’ll require a set of exercises to do just that.
Best Dumbbell Exercises for Your Pecs
The Benefits of Dumbbell Chest Training
The Incline Dumbbell Press is the undisputed champion of upper chest. If you’ve got a flat upper chest and fully-developed lower chest, it will make for an unattractive appearance around the collarbone. Positioning your bench at a thirty degree angle moves weight onto the upper part of the pecs.
Mastering the Incline Dumbbell Press
Maintain a slight tuck in your elbows. Avoid flaring out into a T-pose position. This minimize stress to the shoulder joints and increases tension on target muscle.
Incline hits areas the flat bench doesn’t come anywhere near. It develops that shelf and makes chest look bigger and more impressive. For some reason, many guy give incline short shrift.
Incline should of be your go-to move for developing upper body mass. Use a weight you can perform perfectly. No ego lifting here.
Using Dumbbell Flyes for Chest Stretch
The Dumbbell Flye provides the volume needed once the foundation has been built. Remember, this isn’t a strength move. It’s a stretch move.
You want max tension on the bottom of the range of motion. Maintain a small bend in the elbows. Think about hugging a big ol’ tree.
Slowly lower the weights. Control the movement. Stretch your chest all the way down before pressing it back up.
The pec stretch works the long head of the pectorals. It open up the muscle and increases blood flow to it. It’s great at busting through plateaus.
You don’t need heavy weight to make progress with flyes. Perfect technique with light weight will beat heavy weight with sloppy technique every time. The stretch is the stimulus.
Why Flat Dumbbell Press Builds Mass
Respect it. The Flat Dumbbell Press keeps your arms closer together at the top, which produces a deeper contraction. And secondly, dumbbells give you more room to work with than the barbell do during the range of motion.
Plus, because they’re not connected like they are on a barbell, each arm works independently and fixes any imbalance you have. You’ll notice if you’re weaker on one side (i.e. Your left). With a barbell, you can cheat by using your stronger side but that’s harder to do with the dumbbells.
Apply this motion to increase total thickness. This one’s the backbone of the chest exercise. Combine this with the incline press and you have yourself a solid workout.
Concentrate on really squeezing the pecs on the positive portion of each rep. Don’t go through and simply lockout your elbows. Use the muscle.
Dumbbell Pullover as a Chest Finisher
It is slight, yet noticeable and vital for sustainable gains. The last item to add would be a finisher like the Dumbbell Pullover. This exercise combines back work and chest work.
It works the lower lats and the serratus anterior. It also hits the chest. Using a bench, lie across perpendicularly with one dumbbell grasped in both hands.
Slowly lower it toward the back of your head until you feel a stretch. Then pull it back up using your lats and chest. Many mistake this movement for merely a back exercise.
This exercise increases your breath capacity, opens up your rib cage, and defines the outer edge of the chest. Think of it as a finisher. Don’t use a ton of weight; instead, really focus on what you’re doing.
Mind-muscle connection is key with this one.
Creating a Complete Chest Workout Strategy
When combined, they forms a complete chest strategy. It’s not about moving weight up and down anymore.
It’s about sculpting it from all angles. Begin by hitting the top shelf with the incline press. Next hit the overall mass with the flat press.
Finish with the detail using pullovers. Then use flyes for the stretch. Form follows function Dumbbells are a wonderful tool for building a stronger, more powerful, and more functional chest.
They will change how you walk around day-to-day. The strength gains you experience on the bench will translate into other lifts too. There’s no need to fear isolation work either, embrace it.
It will build the chest of your dreams. As they say, consistency is the name of the game. Results don’t happen overnight but they’ll be there.
Your chest will be fuller, more defined. Don’t get discouraged. Trust the process.
The dumbbells don’t lie. They reward effort with form.
