Dumbbell vs barbell bench press?
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Here’s everything you need to know from someone who uses both, and uses both often. I’m telling you this from years of personal experience and the research studies I’ve read that confirmed everything that already seemed true to me. First of all, you WILL lift more using a barbell than you will with dumbbells on the bench press. This is because dumbbells are a balancing act and require the use of what is known as “stabilizers” – basically many smaller muscles that are involved in coordination, balance, and control. Using a barbell takes this out of the equation and allows you to drive up more weight because it’s less about balance and more about raw power. They are both absolutely necessary in developing a strong chest, and a big one. Dumbbells will not make you progress slower, but you may find that one exercise yields better results for you. For me, dumbbells actually do (though I use both for optimal results, otherwise I’ll stop gaining). Another factor is that dumbbells, because they are usually kept closer to the body (due to balance issues), will put more pressure on your shoulders and are arguably more effective for developing stronger front deltoids. They also allow you to move in a “natural range of motion” since your hands are not locked into one position. This makes dumbbells better for your rotator cuffs (the root of many a shoulder injury) and are overall a safer bet for this reason. Strength you gain from these exercises WILL crossover, meaning when you make progress with dumbbells, your barbell bench press will go up as well, and vice versa. They are codependent and you need to do both to get the most out of your workouts. When I stop gaining strength after a few weeks of solid barbell benching I’ll go to dumbbells and the gains will start coming again. You need to rotate these and not get too stubborn about your favorite exercises. Always experiment. You won’t regret that. Since you don’t own a barbell, don’t sweat it too much (no pun intended). You’ll make gains. Just play around with different form, i.e. try keeping the dumbbells closer to your body to hit those shoulders and then do some sets with your arms farther from your body to hit your pecs more directly. Throw in some flys like the other guy suggested and you’ll make progress. Dumbbells are great and I’ve probably used them more than the barbell in all of my training. Most guys gravitate towards the barbell bench press but they are missing out on a truly effective alternative. Just keep it up, eat well, get enough sleep, and you’ll have nothing to worry about. Hope some of this helps you out. Feel free to ask if something was confusing or if you have other questions. And good luck.
The dumbbells are more difficult since you have to try to balance and control each weight in each hand.
You can also do flyes, and standing dumbell cross-overs.
Flyes you'll likely need to reduce the weight on the dumbbells. You do those with the elbow almost straight, arm out to the side, try to swing the weight from out to the side to overhead.
Do them slow up, slower down. Exhale up, inhale down.
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