---
title: "Chest exercises with dumbbells"
description: "Dumbbell presses, flyes and floor versions for training without a bench. Watch the technique on video and see how a wide arc differs from pressing up."
locale: en
url: "https://hi.fitness/exercises/muscles/chest/dumbbell"
count: 16
type: combo
muscle: MID_CHEST
equipment: DUMBBELL
---

# Chest exercises with dumbbells

Dumbbells have one advantage over a barbell that shows up most clearly on the chest: a bar stops
on your ribs, dumbbells don't. Each arm runs its own arc, can travel a little lower, and can set
the hand wherever the shoulder is comfortable. Your weaker side has nowhere to hide either, since
nobody is helping it out with the other hand.

There are two families of movement on the list. In a press the elbow straightens and the triceps
joins in; in a fly the elbow stays bent at a fixed angle and the arms sweep together through a
wide arc. On top of that come the floor versions, for anyone training without a bench, and the
dumbbell pullover, which works the chest together with the lats.

## What do dumbbells give the chest that a barbell can't?

The bottom of the range, above all. A barbell comes to rest on your chest and that is where the
movement ends, no matter how much room is left in the shoulder. Dumbbells pass that line, so the
chest works through a stretch of the path that simply doesn't exist with a bar. The catalog
describes the same thing from the other side on flyes: the dumbbells come down until the arms are
parallel to the floor or slightly below.

The second thing is independent arms. Under one bar the stronger side can quietly add a few percent
for years and nobody notices. With two dumbbells the difference shows up in the first set, because
the weaker arm finishes sooner. Hence the single-arm versions on the list - one-arm presses and
one-arm flyes, where the other hand only stabilizes.

The price is that you have to get the dumbbells over your chest first, and with a heavier pair that
is a skill of its own. Until you have it, the versions lying on the floor are simpler: you pick the
dumbbell up off the ground beside you instead of from overhead.

## Bench or floor?

The floor stops your elbow before the arm finishes traveling. That limits the range, but it can be
an advantage - with a cranky shoulder the bottom of a press is usually the spot that speaks up, and
the floor version doesn't let you get there. It is also the only sensible option at home without a
bench, and the catalog has plenty of it: one-arm presses, presses with the elbow tucked to the
torso, flyes lying on the floor.

A bench opens the full path and lets you use what dumbbells do best. If you are picking a single
movement, the flat dumbbell bench press covers the most ground: it loads the chest, brings in the
triceps and the front delt, and it is the easiest one to record progress in.

The pullover sits a little to the side of both groups. The chest works there in a different
position, together with the lats, and the elbow stays slightly bent through the whole arc. The
catalog warns outright not to go too deep behind your head, because that is where the shoulder's
comfortable range ends.

## Common mistakes

- **Clicking the dumbbells at the top** - Touched together at the top, the dumbbells prop each other up and the tension in the chest disappears for a moment. Stop them a couple of inches apart and start lowering.
- **Flyes that turn into presses** - The moment the elbow straightens on the way up, the movement quietly becomes an incline press. The elbow angle stays the same from the first rep to the last, and that usually means less weight than you assumed.
- **Wrist rolled back** - Each hand carries its own weight, so it is easy to let it tip back and sit the dumbbell on the wrist. The wrist stays in line with the forearm through the whole movement.

## Progress the movement

1. **Range first, weight second** - The floor version ends the movement the moment your elbow touches the ground. A bench opens up the bottom of the range, so going from the floor to a bench usually changes more than the next pair of dumbbells.
2. **Slow it down before you go heavier** - Slow-tempo flyes are a separate exercise in the atlas, because the longer time under tension loads the chest harder with the same dumbbell. That is a sensible step in between.
3. **After a jump in weight, drop back on reps** - The next dumbbell in the rack is often two kilos in each hand, four across the whole movement - a far bigger jump than the smallest plate on a barbell. Losing reps after a change like that is normal, not a step backwards.

## All Chest exercises with dumbbells

- [Dumbbell Bench Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-bench-press) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Fly Flat Bench](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-fly-flat-bench) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Pullover](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-pullover) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell One Arm Floor Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-one-arm-floor-press) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Floor Fly](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-floor-fly) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Alternate Bench Press (High Start)](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-alternate-bench-press-high-start) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Pullover on Floor](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-pullover-on-floor) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Bent Arm Pullover](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-bent-arm-pullover) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Svend Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-svend-press) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell One Arm Wide Grip Bench Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-one-arm-wide-grip-bench-press) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Deep Push-up](https://hi.fitness/exercises/deep-push-up) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Fly Flat Bench Slow](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-fly-flat-bench-slow) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell One Arm Floor Fly](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-one-arm-floor-fly) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Single Arm Floor Press from Close Elbow](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-single-arm-floor-press-from-close-elbow) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Around Pullover](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-around-pullover) - Mid chest · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Pullover Hip Extension on Exercise Ball](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-pullover-hip-extension-on-exercise-ball) - Mid chest · Dumbbell