Liftworthy
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Liftworthy

Every exercise ranked by research, by lifters and by results. Find what’s S-tier for your goal, then train it.

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Explore/Chest

Dumbbell Bench Press

DumbbellCompoundEasy to learn
Front
Back
Primary Secondary

Works

Chest

Also delts, triceps

You need

Dumbbells, Bench

How to do itPictures · 3 steps
1Start
2Bottom
Main musclesAlso working
  1. 1Lower until the dumbbells sit beside your chest
  2. 2Forearms vertical at the bottom
  3. 3Press up and slightly in

Most common mistake

Stopping short of the stretch, which is where dumbbells beat the barbell.

Watch a demo

Good for

  • Top 10 for chest

Compare with

vs Barbell Bench Pressvs Machine Chest Pressvs Single-Arm Cable Chest Press
B
For combat
#28 of 37
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Research
56
Scored by hand
Results
Soon
From the app
How lifters rate itBe the first
S
A
B
C
D
F
Why research scores it 56
TransferGood
Injury protectionGood
PracticalityStrong

Pushing strength for framing, the clinch and ground work, easier on the shoulders than a barbell.

Research behind these criteria

  • Transfer: Seitz et al., 2014 · Markovic, 2007 · Blagrove et al., 2018 · Rønnestad & Mujika, 2014
  • Injury protection: Lauersen et al., 2014 · van Dyk et al., 2019 · Harøy et al., 2019 · Webster & Hewett, 2018
How scores work

Machine taken? Swap to

  • SNeck Curl & ExtensionOther
  • STowel HangBodyweight
  • APull-UpBodyweight
  • AFarmer's CarryDumbbell

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