What does the dumbbell bench press work?

The chest does the work. The triceps and the front of the shoulders assist through the press. If the front of your shoulders is what feels worked afterward, your shoulder blades are rolling forward off the bench.

Is the dumbbell bench press better than the barbell?

Neither is better outright. The barbell lets you load more weight, which is what drives growth. Dumbbells give more range at the bottom and stop your stronger arm from carrying the weaker one. Most people who press well do both.

How do you get heavy dumbbells into position?

Sit on the end of the bench with the dumbbells resting on your thighs, then lie back and use your knees to drive them up as you go. To finish, bring them back to your chest, sit up with them, and put them down from there.

How far should you lower the dumbbells?

To roughly the level of your chest, or a little below if your shoulders allow it comfortably. Depth is one of the reasons to use dumbbells, but forcing range your shoulder does not have is how the joint ends up aching.

Should the dumbbells touch at the top?

No. Press up rather than in and finish with them over your shoulders with a gap between. Clashing them together at the top adds nothing and releases the tension the rep just created.

How much lighter are dumbbells than a barbell bench press?

Most people handle less total weight with dumbbells than on a bar, because each arm balances its own load. Compare your own numbers over time rather than to a rule of thumb, and do not let the smaller number push you into pressing sloppily.

Back to the library

Dumbbell · beginner · chest

Dumbbell bench press

Also called Dumbbell press, Flat dumbbell press, DB bench press, Dumbbell chest press, Flat DB press.

The short answer

The dumbbell bench press is a flat pressing movement where each arm carries its own weight, so your chest drives each dumbbell up on its own side. Your triceps and front delts assist. Because nothing connects the two hands, the dumbbells can travel further at the bottom than a bar allows and neither arm can borrow from the other, which is the whole reason to press this way instead of with a barbell.

How to do it

Step oneLie flat on a bench holding a dumbbell in each hand at chest level, palms facing forward.
Step twoPress the dumbbells upward until your arms are fully extended above your chest.
Step threeLower the dumbbells back to chest level in a controlled arc, keeping a slight bend in your elbows.
Step fourPause briefly at the bottom, then press back up to the starting position.

What usually goes wrong

Each starts with what you would notice.

The front of your shoulders is what aches the next day, not your chest.

WhyThe shoulders roll forward off the bench as you press, so the front delt takes the load the chest should be taking.

FixPull the shoulder blades back and down into the bench before the first rep and keep them there. Your upper back should feel wedged against the bench the whole set, not rolling with the weight.

Your elbows ache, or the shoulder joint pinches at the bottom.

WhyThe elbows are flared straight out to the sides, which puts the shoulder at its most exposed angle exactly where the weight is heaviest.

FixLet the elbows sit at roughly 45 degrees to your ribs rather than square. The upper arm should point somewhere between your shoulder and your hip, not out at 90 degrees.

You cannot get heavy dumbbells into position without a fight.

WhyYou are lifting them up from the floor once already lying down, which is the one part of this exercise a barbell does not ask of you.

FixSit on the end of the bench with the dumbbells on your thighs, then lie back and drive them up with your knees as you go. Reverse it to finish: bring them to your chest, sit up with them, then put them down.

The dumbbells drift together and clash at the top.

WhyPressing inward as well as up, usually chasing a squeeze at the lockout.

FixPress up, not in. The dumbbells should finish over your shoulders with a gap between them. Banging them together adds nothing and costs you the tension you spent the rep building.

Dumbbell or barbell bench press

A barbell fixes your hands in one position and joins them together. That makes it stable, which is why you can load it far heavier and why it is the lift people test their strength on. It also means your stronger side can quietly do more of the work without you noticing.

Dumbbells make each arm carry its own weight, so a side that is lagging has nowhere to hide. They also let your hands travel below the point a bar would stop at your chest, and let the arms come together slightly at the top. That extra range is the usual argument for pressing this way.

Expect to handle noticeably less total weight with dumbbells, and expect the first few sessions to feel unsteady. That is the exercise doing its job, not a sign you are pressing badly.

Flat or incline

Flat is the version to learn first and the version most people should press most often. It lets you handle the most weight and it works the chest as a whole.

Incline tilts the bench so the arms press up and away rather than straight up, which shifts more of the work to the upper chest and brings the front delt in further. It is a genuine variation, not a better version.

If your shoulders complain on incline but not on flat, the incline is probably too steep. 30 degrees is plenty; sat much higher than that and you are doing a shoulder press on a slope.

The extra range, and what it does not buy

The claim attached to this movement almost everywhere is that dumbbells build a better chest than a barbell because of the range of motion. It is worth being precise about what that does and does not buy you.

The extra range is real, and so is the fact that neither arm can compensate for the other. What does not follow is that a barbell is inferior. The barbell lets you load far more weight, and load is what drives a chest to grow. Most people who press well do both, and the dumbbell version is not a replacement for pressing heavy.

It will also not fix a strength difference between your sides on its own. It shows you the difference honestly, which is the useful part. Closing it takes time under load on the weaker side, not simply switching implement.

What it is for

The dumbbell bench press is a compound chest exercise targeting the pectoral muscles. Using dumbbells allows for a greater range of motion and independent arm movement compared to a barbell, promoting balanced chest development.

Questions people ask

What does the dumbbell bench press work?: The chest does the work. The triceps and the front of the shoulders assist through the press. If the front of your shoulders is what feels worked afterward, your shoulder blades are rolling forward off the bench.
Is the dumbbell bench press better than the barbell?: Neither is better outright. The barbell lets you load more weight, which is what drives growth. Dumbbells give more range at the bottom and stop your stronger arm from carrying the weaker one. Most people who press well do both.
How do you get heavy dumbbells into position?: Sit on the end of the bench with the dumbbells resting on your thighs, then lie back and use your knees to drive them up as you go. To finish, bring them back to your chest, sit up with them, and put them down from there.
How far should you lower the dumbbells?: To roughly the level of your chest, or a little below if your shoulders allow it comfortably. Depth is one of the reasons to use dumbbells, but forcing range your shoulder does not have is how the joint ends up aching.
Should the dumbbells touch at the top?: No. Press up rather than in and finish with them over your shoulders with a gap between. Clashing them together at the top adds nothing and releases the tension the rep just created.
How much lighter are dumbbells than a barbell bench press?: Most people handle less total weight with dumbbells than on a bar, because each arm balances its own load. Compare your own numbers over time rather than to a rule of thumb, and do not let the smaller number push you into pressing sloppily.