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If you want a nice big chest, the dumbbell bench press is a must-have exercise, so I’m going to explain to you how to properly perform a bench press using dumbbells.

Now I know the majority of you can lift more weight with the barbell version of this movement, but if the dumbbell bench press is not a staple in your push workouts, then you’re really missing out on a lot of potential benefits. This is because dumbbells are usually advantageous over barbells because they allow for FULL range of motion (ROM), and help strengthen other muscles surrounding the area you’re training. This is because you need more CONTROL to perform the movements, which in this case would be your shoulders and triceps. So if you want to add the dumbbell bench press to your current chest workout there are 3 important things that you need to focus on.

#1: Range Of Motion
When you’re using a barbell it should be obvious that you’re LIMITED by the barbell itself at the bottom of the movement. What I mean by that is that as I’m lowering the barbell towards my chest, the barbell stops as soon as my chest gets in the way and I cannot lower it any further. This limited range of motion might be good for overloading your chest with more weight because the distance the barbell has to travel is smaller, and while that’s great, it’s definitely not optimal when it comes to getting a full STRETCH at the bottom OR a full CONTRACTION at the top of the movement.

Also, dumbbells don’t just allow you to get a deeper stretch but they also create the circumstances for a HARDER contraction at the top. Why? Well, to answer that, we have to remember what the chest muscles actually do. Sure, their primary function is to press weights away from your body, but their secondary function is to also adduct the humerus. You can try it right now – bring your hands together (like clapping) and press one hand into the other as hard as you can. Notice how much your chest is already firing, and also notice how you’re getting a pump just doing this without any weight.

Going back to the dumbbells, you have to take full advantage of their potential by getting a maximum stretch at the bottom of the movement by not stopping at 90 degrees. Instead, you need to be going as deep as possible and full ROM also means ensuring a maximum flex or contraction at the top by bringing your arms together as you push the dumbbells over your chest.

#2: Proper Shoulder Blade Positioning (Shoulder Packing)
Proper shoulder packing comes down to two movements; bringing your shoulders back AND down. So you have to retract AND depress the shoulder blades as you’re setting up for your set. Learning how to properly do shoulder packing, if you aren’t doing it already, is going to completely change your life when it comes to doing the bench press with either dumbbells or a barbell. This technique is going to ensure that you 100% are packing your shoulders before the start of every single set.

What you’re going to do is sit on the very edge of a bench. Obviously when you roll back you’re going to have a lot of room leftover, but that’s a good thing, you want that room there. This is because once you roll back into place, you’re going to bring your toes back so your legs are in a solid position. Then, you’ll extend your hips into the air, and then utilize how far down you are on the bench to slide back a bit to get your shoulders fully packed. You can then put your butt back down on the bench, and get ready to do your repetitions.

If you’re doing that, there’s no possible way that you’ll be able to flare your elbows out far enough to actually injure your shoulders, because they’re so tightly packed from doing the slide. When you stick your hands in the air after doing the slide, they should be above your chest, and you’ll notice that your ROM is exactly where it needs to be.

So why do this? First of all, you’ll find that it’s an anatomically advantageous position for your shoulders to be in, which means you’ll be able to push much heavier weights. Secondly, by packing your shoulder blades, you’re essentially protecting your shoulders from serious injuries such as chest tears, rotator cuff tears and even shoulder dislocations.

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