Use this information from Jeff at Athlean X to learn how to build a perfect chest with only dumbbells.
How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells
“If you want to learn how to build a perfect chest with dumbbells only, then you have come to the right video. I’m going to show you how to build your upper chest, lower pecs, and get a more defined middle pecs with 8 specific chest workout techniques that will help you to start sculpting your chest like never before.”
How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells – Mechanical Keys
“It starts with a couple of mechanical keys that you want to make sure you are not abandoning just because you are using dumbbells to perform your chest exercises.”
How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells – Maintain Leg Drive
“First thing is making sure to keep using leg drive on the dumbbell bench press. Think about pushing your feet into the floor as if you would try and slide your body up the bench as you press the dumbbells away from your body at the bottom of the rep.”
“Keep in mind, it is important that you use heavier dumbbells to do this as they will be important to keep your shoulders pinned down to the bench and prevent your body from actually sliding.”
How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells – Tilt the Thumbs
“Next thing you want to take advantage of is the fact that when you build bigger pecs with dumbbells you have the independence of the weights that you can use to your advantage. When using a barbell, your hands are fixed to the bar and it is impossible to get any independent freedom of them during the press. With dumbbells, you can tilt your thumbs up, which will allow the dumbbells to be brought closer together into adduction at the top of the rep and get a better contraction of the pecs muscles as a result.”
Underhand Dumbbell Bench Press
“Next, you want to explore the use of the underhand dumbbell bench press in order to build a perfect chest. This is particularly helpful when you are training at home and don’t have access to an incline bench. The flip of the grip helps to better engage the lats (always a good thing when learning how to bench press heavier) but also gives you the low and away to up and in path that gets a better contraction of the upper chest fibres.”
How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells – Drop Sets
“From here, you want to be sure that you are not forgetting to include drop sets in your chest workouts to build a bigger chest. This is helpful because it limits the number of dumbbells that you will need to build a big chest. In fact, you may not need any additional dumbbells at all if you simply drop to the floor immediately following your heavy set of bench press and rep out on pushups until failure.”
How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells – Dumbbell Bench Press
“Next, the static dumbbell bench press technique is another great way to levy a powerful attack against your chest muscles without needing a heavy barbell. Hold one arm steady as you press with the opposite arm. This is great for exposing one sided imbalances of the chest. The position you hold the dumbbell in makes it more or less difficult. Hold the dumbbell down near the chest for an even greater challenge.”
How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells – Dumbbell Pull Over
“Finally, three chest exercises for building a bigger chest are important to make sure you’re not overlooking. The first is the dumbbell pullover. Here you want to make sure you’re not pulling with the elbows with them flared out to your sides. This will engage the lats more than the chest. Instead, if you pull your hands together and squeeze your upper chest together you will drive the movement more with the chest and help it to grow bigger.”
How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells – UCV Dumbbell Raise
“The UCV dumbbell raise is a great move for getting pecs muscle growth as it gets your chest into a more complete contraction with dumbbells, with more adduction possible at the top of the rep. Keep in mind that the weights used here will have to be lighter.”
How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells – Chest Fly
“Finally, the chest fly is one of the better exercises for overloading adduction, but you can also take advantage of eccentric stress for chest growth by slowing the weights down and safely performing this on the floor rather than a bench. This chest exercise is one that often times gets done on a bench with light weights rather than as shown here with heavier weights, and your ability to build a bigger chest is compromised because of it.”
Video – How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells
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Muscles of the Chest
The chest is the region of the body that lies between the neck and abdomen and includes the pectoralis major, serratus anterior and external oblique muscles. The pectoralis major is a large fan-shaped muscle that covers much of the chest wall. It attaches to ribs 1-6 and its fibers run downward across the chest to attach onto various parts of the upper arm bone (humerus).
The serratus anterior is a small triangular muscle located at the side of each ribcage. Its fibers run toward your head, attaching on either side of your upper ribs where they meet with your shoulder blade bone (scapula). The external oblique runs diagonally across your lower back from one hip bone (ilium) to another. It also wraps around each ribcage forming an ‘hourglass’ shape when viewed from above.
Pectoralis Major
The Pectoralis major is a large and powerful muscle located in the chest. It originates on your ribs and inserts into your upper arm. Its primary function is to move the arm, but it also contributes to flexing your shoulders. As you can see by its size, this is an important muscle for many everyday activities. The pectoral muscles are synergists with other muscles of the chest; they work together to produce certain movements while they are antagonistic to some other groups of muscles (meaning they work against each other).
The pectoralis major crosses both joints; therefore, it can be used in various movements such as flexion/extension and adduction/abduction of the shoulder joint. In addition, because both joints are crossed by this muscle, there will likely be some conflicting actions depending on which direction you want your arms pointing at any given time!
Serratus Anterior
The serratus anterior is a fan-shaped muscle that originates at the medial border of the scapula, ribs 1 through 7 and runs onto the upper 8th rib. The inferior fibers (the bottom ones) of this muscle attach to the 8th rib and depress it. These fibers also rotate the scapula medially (towards your midline), which helps you shrug your shoulder up towards your ear when you’re cold or trying to cover yourself up from something scary!
The superior fibers (the top ones) originate on more superior ribs, but then insert directly into only two of them: #6 and 7. This part of the muscle protracts (pulls forward) those ribs during movement as well as stabilizes them by resisting forces trying to pull them backward or downward into a hunched posture.
External Oblique – How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells
The external oblique muscle originates from the iliac crest and lumbar fascia, with fibers inserting into the linea alba and lower six ribs. The external oblique is involved in flexion, adduction, and internal rotation of the trunk.
Deltoid – How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells
_The deltoid muscle_ originates on the lateral border of the clavicle, acromion, and spine of the scapula; it also has a small insertion at its lateral edge, just above the teres major. The deltoid inserts onto the posterior surface of humerus at its medial and lateral ends.
The deltoid muscle performs three actions: abduction, flexion, and external rotation. It abducts (moves away from center) when you lift your arm to your side or extend it forward over your head; flexes (bends) when you lift your arm as in an uppercut; and externally rotates (turns outwards) when you rotate your forearm inward towards yourself—for example, when reaching behind yourself for something on a shelf or picking something up off the ground.
In addition to these movements in daily activities such as lifting things overhead or carrying bags with both hands at once (like grocery bags), sports like tennis or softball use these motions a lot too!
Conclusion – How to Build a Perfect Chest with Only Dumbbells
The chest muscles have many functions, and they can be difficult to distinguish from one another. However, if you know where to look, it is possible to tell the difference between these different muscles. You should also remember that some of these muscles are used in pairs (such as the pectoralis major and serratus anterior).
Use the tips and dumbbell exercises described above to build a perfect chest.
Image Sources
- Chest-Workouts-Quick-Time: Depositphotos / CrossFit Inc