7 Best Dumbbells Chest Workouts At Home Without A Bench In 2022

Trying to build up your chest but don’t have a lot of time or access to a gym? All you need are a few dumbbells to start reaching your goals. There are many pressing movements that strengthen your pec and shoulder muscles. We’ve gathered the best exercises that can be incorporated into any type of workout routine such as a 3-day workout split or a 5-day workout split. Grab your gear and let’s get to work on the best chest workouts with dumbbells at home, no bench.

Best Chest Exercises At Home With Dumbbells

Standing Dumbbell Upward Fly 

Start in a standing position, with your feet shoulder width apart and a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing forward. Lift the weights until they are in front of your chest and touching. Keep your elbows straight and slowly return to the start position.

Dumbbell Floor Chest Press 

Place a dumbbell vertically on either side of you then lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat. Take a dumbbell in each hand and hold it directly over your shoulder joint, your elbows should be at a 45 degree angle from your body. Press the dumbbells up so they are above your chest, then slowly lower until the backs of your upper arms touch the ground. Think “dumbbell bench press” without the bench.

Dumbbell Alternating Chest Press

This exercise is a dumbbell floor chest press variation. Instead of moving both arms at the same time, you will alternate. Only one arm is moving while the other is stationary either resting on the ground or holding the weight stable in the air.

Dumbbell Pullover On Exercise Ball 

Sit on an exercise ball with a single dumbbell in your lap. Walk your feet forward and allow yourself to roll on the ball until only your upper back is on top of the ball, with your feet firmly planted on the ground. Press the weight up and hold it so it is straight above your chest. With your elbows slightly bent, extend your arms back towards your head so your biceps end next to your ears, or as far as your range of motion will allow. Pull the dumbbell back to the start position. 

Dumbbell Push-Up

To do a dumbbell push up, you will need one dumbbell in each hand. Place them perpendicular to you on the floor about shoulder width apart. Place your hands on the handles of the dumbbells and begin in a plank position. Lower your entire upper body towards the ground. Aim to get your rib cage below your hands to work your full range of motion and achieve more depth. Push back up to the start position.

Dumbbell Floor Hammer Press

You will need two dumbbells for this exercise, one in each hand. Your starting position is laying on your back on the floor, knees bent and feet flat. Your upper arms or triceps will start in contact with the floor and your elbows will be bent to 90 degrees. Press the dumbbells straight up until they are directly above your chest. In a controlled manner, bring them back to the starting position. This is also a great exercise to strengthen your front delts.

Dumbbell Chest Fly

For the starting position, lay on your back with your knees bent and feet on the ground. Hold a weight in each hand and your arms straight out to the sides, like a T shape. You can keep your elbows slightly bent as you bring the weights to meet over your chest. Slowly lower them back to the start position.

Benefits Of Doing Chest Workouts With Dumbbells At Home

Builds Muscle

A strong physique is admirable; it shows dedication and persistence and resistance training is the best type of workout to build bigger and stronger muscles. By doing this dumbbell chest workout once or twice per week you will see upper chest and lower chest development in about 6 to 10 weeks.^[1]

Time Efficient

Since you’re not spending time driving to or from the gym, you are saving a lot of time that can be spent with friends, family or doing other tasks in your day. By having dumbbells at home you won’t have to wait for someone else to finish with the ones you want.

Boosts Your Mood

Lifting weights has been shown to improve overall mood and mental health.^[2] It may improve feelings of self worth, improve feelings of tranquility, decrease the occurrence of depression, and decrease fatigue. Many people become drained by all of the responsibilities we have between work, friends and families and household tasks. Completing a good workout is one way to dedicate time to yourself and help improve your mental and physical health.

Tips For At Home Chest Workouts With Dumbbells

Start With The Correct Weight

Finding the correct weight to begin can be tricky. You want to have heavy enough weights to challenge yourself but not too much that you may injure yourself. You should be able to complete at least 6 repetitions and up to 12^[3] repetitions. If you can’t do 6 reps, the weight is too heavy. If you feel like you can do more than 12, go heavier.

Squeeze

Think about squeezing your chest muscles at the end of the range of motion. Concentrate on that muscle contraction throughout the movement so your body doesn’t compensate with other muscles. Focusing on the muscle^[4] that you’re targeting can help increase muscle size.

Track Your Workout

Progressive overload is the regular increase in intensity of the workout in order to develop bigger and stronger muscles. Make sure to keep track of the weights, sets, and repetitions in a notebook or on your phone. Studies show that it takes anywhere from 6 to 20 sets per muscle group^[5] per week to grow muscle.

Conclusion

You don’t need to workout at a gym to see improvements in muscle size. We just went through the best dumbbell chest exercises that you can start doing today. The most important thing is to stay consistent towards your goals!

Frequently Asked Questions