The dumbbell chest press builds strength, size and width in your chest. Dumbbells let you individualize your pressing in a way a barbell won't, and they give you more range of motion.

Where it goes wrong is usually the setup. If your shoulders roll forward at the bottom of the rep, the delts take over and the shoulder joint takes the load, so I fix the shoulder blades before anything else. The video below is my favorite finisher, the squeeze press.

Why the dumbbell chest press works

A barbell causes issues for some people. Dumbbells let you individualize your pressing, and you can change your grip and hand angle to put more on the chest or the triceps.

The bigger win is range of motion. Lowering to the sides of your chest puts a huge stretch on the muscle, and that stretch can drive serious muscle growth.

How to do a flat dumbbell chest press

1. Sit and set your back. Dumbbells on your thighs, hips toward the end of the bench. Retract your shoulder blades and get your chest up before you lie back.
2. Lie back and plant. Keep your back set as you hit the bench. Feet planted, chest high.
3. Lower slowly. Two to three seconds on the way down. You should feel tension building in the chest the deeper you go.
4. Watch the elbows. Not flared to 90 degrees, not tucked into your sides. In the video I call 45 to 70 degrees out from the torso a good starting spot. Find the angle where your shoulders stay pulled back.
5. Bring them down on a slight angle. The dumbbells start over your shoulders and travel down to the sides of your chest. Elbows stay under the wrists the whole time if you looked down from above.
6. Press back to the start. Drive them back up over your shoulders, blades pinned. Don't clang them together at the top. There's no tension up there anyway.

Common dumbbell press mistakes

Mistake	What it does	The fix
Loose shoulder blades	Shoulders roll forward and the delts take over. A common source of shoulder discomfort on this lift	Pull the blades down and back before rep one and hold them there all set
Elbows too wide or too tucked	Too wide and the shoulders roll forward. Too narrow and they slide forward. Either way, discomfort	Find the happy medium where your shoulders stay back
Lowering too fast	You lose your back position, the chest relaxes and the weight lands on the shoulder	Two to three seconds down, feel the tension build
Wrists bending back	Wrist discomfort and a loss of stability through the joint	Keep the wrist stacked and fixed from start to finish
Dropping the dumbbells straight down	They hit the outside of the shoulders, the shoulders hike up, and people complain of shoulder pain	Let them travel down on a slight angle to the sides of your chest
Half reps to move heavier weight	You give up the stretch, which is the point of using dumbbells	Use a load you can take through full range

Sets and reps for the dumbbell chest press

For strength: 3 to 6 sets of 4 to 8 reps. Don't be afraid to go heavy as long as you control the lowering phase.

For muscle: muscle can grow anywhere from about 5 to 30 reps, but personally I recommend 8 to 15. That lets you load it heavy and still get plenty of volume. I'll usually do 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15, or 8 to 12.

As a finisher or for muscle endurance: 12 to 20 reps, maybe 20 to 30. With light weights you have to train very close to failure to grow.

Whatever range you pick, keep progressing. Choose one variable: add a set, add reps with the same weight, or do similar reps with a heavier weight. I break that down more in how to progress dumbbell workouts.

Dumbbell chest press variations

Incline dumbbell press

The incline shifts the work to the upper chest. I like a bench angle between 15 and 45 degrees. Above 45, I start feeling my shoulders, so if that's you, bring it down.

Lie back with the chest high and push straight up against gravity, not out in front of you. The bench angle takes care of the rest.

My favorite trick: even a small angle change changes the whole exercise. I'll run a block at 15 degrees, then four weeks at 30. That gives you a fresh runway to progress without swapping exercises.

For strength I go 3 to 5 sets of 4 to 6 reps, heavy, with a controlled lowering. For growth, 3 to 5 sets of 8 to 12 with about a two-second descent. The two mistakes I see are shoulders hunching forward and dropping the weight too fast.

Decline dumbbell press

The decline trains the lower pecs. I like just slightly below flat, around 15 degrees. No decline bench? Put a plate or block, 1 to 3 inches tall, under one end of a flat bench.

Keep your feet pressed down, since they usually aren't hooked in. Line the dumbbells up a little lower on the chest, around the sternum, elbows under the wrists. Press straight to the ceiling, not over your head and not toward your thighs.

As you lower, let the dumbbells drift slightly wider and open up the bottom of your chest, shoulders pinned back. If they collapse forward at the bottom, you get no extra stretch on the pec.

Strength: 4 to 5 sets of 4 to 6. Size: 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12, lowering for one to two seconds with a slight pause at the bottom.

Dumbbell squeeze press

This is the one in the video at the top. It targets the innermost fibers of the pec, the ones that help give you separation down the middle of the chest. It works because you press the dumbbells into each other the whole set.

I prefer a flat bench for the range of motion. Dumbbells touching, palms facing each other, press them together hard over your chest. Keep pressing in as you pull them down to your body, elbows not flaring, then push back up.

In a second version, the dumbbells open slightly at the bottom for a deeper stretch, then squeeze back together once they pass your chest. Less squeeze, bigger stretch. I go back and forth, so try both.

It's a finisher, not a main lift. The close hand position is a tough spot for the shoulders, so don't go too heavy. I do 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 20 reps, sometimes 25, at the end of chest day. It works great with drop sets too. Keep your chest as the high point, like a mountain, with the shoulders back.

Neutral grip dumbbell press

Palms face each other the entire set. That lets the elbows track closer to your body, which makes this the most shoulder-friendly press I know for chest and triceps. It also works the triceps hard at lockout. If barbell benching bothers your shoulders, run this as your main press for 6 weeks.

Settle the shoulders down and back into the bench. Elbows track at about 30 to 45 degrees. Lower until the dumbbells are level with your chest and press straight up. Don't flare (it defeats the whole point) and don't bounce out of the bottom. Go 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12.

Full range flat dumbbell bench press

Same lift, with your lower body in it. Hips to the edge of the bench, feet tucked underneath you and driven into the floor, glutes squeezed. Shoulder blades stay down on the bench.

FAQ

Is the dumbbell press better than the barbell bench press?

Dumbbells give you more range and let you individualize your pressing, which helps if the barbell causes you issues. Heavy dumbbell work also helps your barbell bench.

What incline angle is best for the incline dumbbell press?

Somewhere between 15 and 45 degrees. If you feel your shoulders taking over, lower the bench.

How far down should the dumbbells go?

To the sides of your chest, or a little lower if you can keep your shoulders back and your chest high. That stretch is a big part of why dumbbells build muscle.

Can I do a dumbbell chest press without a bench?

Yes. The floor press is a great option, and the floor acts as a built-in depth stop. Here's my floor press guide. For a cable option, see my cable chest exercises.

The bottom line

Pin your shoulder blades before the first rep and take the dumbbells all the way down to the sides of your chest. Flat, incline, decline or neutral grip is your call, as long as you add a set, a rep or some weight over time.

If you train at home, start with my free dumbbell program. Want more? Get every J2FIT program in one app for $29/month.

Coach Mike Dewar, MA, USAW2. Founder, J2FIT Strength & Conditioning. 20+ years coaching, D1 and D3 strength coach.