Building a muscular chest is considered a staple for anyone who is in the pursuit of a head-turning physique.
And so the king of upper body exercises is a big deal for both strength athletes and gym bro’s alike.
If you don’t believe me, try securing a bench press station at your local gym on any given monday (international chest day!)
Good luck with that.
Fortunately though using dumbbells in place of the barbell for bench pressing isn’t inferior and studies like this actually suggest that the dumbbell bench press may result in greater muscle growth due to greater pec activation.
Either way they both have there place in a good training program and so not incorporating either one in your chest training, whether in conjunction or intermittently, means you’d be missing out.
One advantage the dumbbells have over the barbell is extra range of motion and freedom at a multitude of angles that can’t be achieved with a barbell.
The deeper range of motion is a possible reason for increased activation in the fibers of the pectorals and helps to build strength through a greater range of motion.
I’ve put together a form tutorial over on YouTube showing 2 of my favourite dumbbell bench press exercises.
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