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STOP Doing Dumbbell Press Like This (5 Mistakes Slowing Your Chest Gains) | Jeremy Ethier | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: STOP Doing Dumbbell Press Like This (5 Mistakes Slowing Your Chest Gains)
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Core Theme
The dumbbell bench press is a highly effective chest-building exercise, but common form mistakes can shift the focus to the shoulders and triceps. Correcting these five specific errors will maximize chest activation and development.
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the dumbbell bench press is arguably the
most effective choice for building your
chest that said if you don't do it
correctly rather than work in your chest
you'll end up working more of your other
muscles like the front of your shoulders
and your triceps there's five mistakes
that cause this to happen they're easy
to fix but will make a massive
difference in your chest curl let's
start with mistake number one the first
mistake has to do with your arm path
typically people use a very wide arm
path and press the dumbbells straight up
and down this is so common because
pressing with this form actually makes
the movement feel easier and will enable
you to use heavier weights but not only
has this form been shown to have a
greater risk for shoulder injury but it
also just doesn't stimulate the chest
very well to maximize chest activation
you want your arm path to line up in the
same direction that the chest fibers run
a wide arm path with the elbows fled out
doesn't accomplish this very well and
instead lines up better with the front
dels and a small muscle underneath the
chest called the chical brachialis this
is why many of you likely feel this
movement more in the front of your
shoulders rather than your chest so to
align the arm path with the majority of
the chest fibers you'll instead want to
tuck your elbows to about a 45 to 60°
angle away from your body and allow your
grip to turn in slightly with your
elbows just keep in mind that when you
apply this form the dumbbells will no
longer move straight up and down but
rather forwards on the way down towards
your mid chest and then backwards on the
way up towards your shoulders so once
you fix your arm p path it's important
that you don't then make the next
mistake which has to do with your
forearms I remember back in my first few
years of lifting I got very strong with
this exercise very quickly I take the 95
lb dumbbells and throw them around like
they were nothing yeah buddy like wait
but I noticed that although my arms
definitely got bigger my chest just
never really grew eventually I realized
what I was doing wrong as the weights
will get heavier I'd start bending my
forearms inwards more and more without
realizing it this is a compensation that
very common especially among those who
struggle with their chest development
this is because by bending the forearms
inwards you're actually shortening the
lever which makes the movement Easier by
taking some of the load off the chest it
also gets the triceps more involved to
take on some of the load as well and
even the most subtle of a Bend can
drastically decrease the load place on
the chest in fact if we apply very basic
physics to get a rough estimate if the
forearms Bend such that the weights end
up halfway between your shoulder and
elbow you would end up reducing the load
actually placed on the chest by about
half although this can help you lift
heavier weights you aren't getting any
higher stimulus on your chest and are
simply causing more strain to your
joints lighten the weight keep your
forearm vertical over your elbow
throughout each rep and you'll feel the
difference right away now even with your
forearms fixed you may be guilty of
making this next mistake which is the
most common mistake I see given that
many of us are already stuck in a
hunched over posture we have the
tendency to round our our shoulders
forward whenever we press this is
especially true for those with like in
chest development because they'll often
have stronger shoulders that will want
to take over the movement this can lead
to the front of the shoulders
experiencing most of the growth rather
than the chest to avoid this I'd first
suggest that you open up your chest
before you even do the dumble Press so
that you're better able to activate it
you can do this by extending your back
over a foam roller and then performing
over and backs and band pull parts with
the band and I'll leave a link Down
Below in the description box to the one
I'm using here then when you actually go
into the movement on the weight down I
want you to think about as if you were
using your back muscles to pull the
weight down towards your chest by
pinching your shoulder blades together
and then on the way up just avoid
letting your shoulders round forward and
take over the movement and instead keep
your chest up and think about squeezing
your biceps into the sides of your chest
focus on this every single rep and
you'll immediately notice your chest
rather than your shoulders now doing
most of the work all right so we fixed
the shoulders rounded forward at the top
but it's important to avoid this next
mistake at the top position as well the
main function of the chest is horizontal
eduction which is simply the act of
bringing the arms together this is what
makes the Dumbo press such an effective
chest Builder since the arms are pulled
together under low knowing this you
might think that bringing your arms in
as close as possible at the top would
better engage the chest in fact some
people even touch the dumbbells to get
at the top however since we're using
dumbbells the line of force is straight
down because of gravity this means that
once your arms are straight over your
shoulders there's actually no more
tension placed on the chest because
there's no longer any Force pulling your
arms apart going further than this
doesn't stimulate the chest any further
and is wasting energy that could
otherwise be used towards your next reps
so instead to keep constant tension on
the chest stop each rep once your arms
end up straight over your shoulders so
the last mistake doesn't actually relate
to form and instead has to do with the
Ang angle of the bench the flat dumbbell
press is great but most of the growth
you get from this exercise will be in
the middle portion of your chest which
can lead to the upper and lower portions
of the chest becoming underdeveloped in
fact in a recent 2020 paper subjects
that performed the incline bench press
experience over double the growth in the
upper portion of the chest when compared
to subjects that only perform the flat
bench press so in addition to doing just
the flat dumbbell bench press I'd also
recommend doing an incline dumball press
once a week as well however when you do
this exercise research has shown that
just a very slight incline of about 15
to 30° is optimal to Target the upper
chest this is usually just one to two
notches up from the bottom position of a
bench for most individuals anything
higher than that often causes the front
delts to take over instead in fact for
some of you even just a slight elevation
by placing a weight plate under the end
of a bench may be all you need to really
Target the upper chest now as for the
low lower portion of your chest for most
people the flat dumbbell press will
already hit this region quite well some
studies however suggest that a slight
decline can actually help activate this
region even more effectively so in this
case you can place a weight under the
other end of the bench to create just a
slight decline try that out see how it
feels and feel free to add it to your
weekly routine such that you're doing a
pressing movement that buys the zeper
chest a pressing movement that biases
the mid chest and a pressing movement
that biases the lower chest just
remember that all the previous mistakes
we went through appli to these dumball
press variations as well now after you
apply these various fixes you'll notice
that you won't be able to lift nearly as
much as you used to it might hurt the
ego but realize that this is a good
thing it means that your chest is now
doing most of the work rather than your
other muscle groups and you'll very
quickly feel and see the difference this
makes to your chest development just
make sure that you don't fall back into
your old habits as you try to increase
the weight over time and guys it's
important that you take the same
detailed science-based approach to every
single exercise that you do that way you
can get results faster and without
harming your joints for a step-by-step
plan that puts this all together for you
just head on over to buildwi science.com
and take our analysis quiz to discover
which of my programs are best for you
and your specific body I'd also highly
recommend giving these videos a watch
next to see if you might be guilty of
making similar mistakes with your
deadlift or with your squat thank you so
much for watching and I'll see you next time
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