0:02 the dumbbell bench press is arguably the
0:04 most effective choice for building your
0:06 chest that said if you don't do it
0:09 correctly rather than work in your chest
0:10 you'll end up working more of your other
0:12 muscles like the front of your shoulders
0:14 and your triceps there's five mistakes
0:16 that cause this to happen they're easy
0:18 to fix but will make a massive
0:20 difference in your chest curl let's
0:22 start with mistake number one the first
0:24 mistake has to do with your arm path
0:26 typically people use a very wide arm
0:28 path and press the dumbbells straight up
0:30 and down this is so common because
0:32 pressing with this form actually makes
0:34 the movement feel easier and will enable
0:36 you to use heavier weights but not only
0:38 has this form been shown to have a
0:40 greater risk for shoulder injury but it
0:42 also just doesn't stimulate the chest
0:45 very well to maximize chest activation
0:47 you want your arm path to line up in the
0:49 same direction that the chest fibers run
0:51 a wide arm path with the elbows fled out
0:53 doesn't accomplish this very well and
0:54 instead lines up better with the front
0:57 dels and a small muscle underneath the
1:00 chest called the chical brachialis this
1:01 is why many of you likely feel this
1:02 movement more in the front of your
1:04 shoulders rather than your chest so to
1:06 align the arm path with the majority of
1:09 the chest fibers you'll instead want to
1:12 tuck your elbows to about a 45 to 60°
1:14 angle away from your body and allow your
1:16 grip to turn in slightly with your
1:18 elbows just keep in mind that when you
1:20 apply this form the dumbbells will no
1:22 longer move straight up and down but
1:24 rather forwards on the way down towards
1:26 your mid chest and then backwards on the
1:29 way up towards your shoulders so once
1:30 you fix your arm p path it's important
1:32 that you don't then make the next
1:33 mistake which has to do with your
1:35 forearms I remember back in my first few
1:38 years of lifting I got very strong with
1:40 this exercise very quickly I take the 95
1:42 lb dumbbells and throw them around like
1:46 they were nothing yeah buddy like wait
1:48 but I noticed that although my arms
1:49 definitely got bigger my chest just
1:51 never really grew eventually I realized
1:53 what I was doing wrong as the weights
1:55 will get heavier I'd start bending my
1:57 forearms inwards more and more without
2:00 realizing it this is a compensation that
2:01 very common especially among those who
2:03 struggle with their chest development
2:05 this is because by bending the forearms
2:07 inwards you're actually shortening the
2:09 lever which makes the movement Easier by
2:11 taking some of the load off the chest it
2:13 also gets the triceps more involved to
2:16 take on some of the load as well and
2:17 even the most subtle of a Bend can
2:19 drastically decrease the load place on
2:22 the chest in fact if we apply very basic
2:24 physics to get a rough estimate if the
2:26 forearms Bend such that the weights end
2:28 up halfway between your shoulder and
2:30 elbow you would end up reducing the load
2:32 actually placed on the chest by about
2:35 half although this can help you lift
2:37 heavier weights you aren't getting any
2:38 higher stimulus on your chest and are
2:40 simply causing more strain to your
2:42 joints lighten the weight keep your
2:44 forearm vertical over your elbow
2:46 throughout each rep and you'll feel the
2:48 difference right away now even with your
2:50 forearms fixed you may be guilty of
2:52 making this next mistake which is the
2:54 most common mistake I see given that
2:56 many of us are already stuck in a
2:58 hunched over posture we have the
3:00 tendency to round our our shoulders
3:02 forward whenever we press this is
3:04 especially true for those with like in
3:05 chest development because they'll often
3:07 have stronger shoulders that will want
3:09 to take over the movement this can lead
3:10 to the front of the shoulders
3:12 experiencing most of the growth rather
3:14 than the chest to avoid this I'd first
3:16 suggest that you open up your chest
3:18 before you even do the dumble Press so
3:20 that you're better able to activate it
3:21 you can do this by extending your back
3:24 over a foam roller and then performing
3:26 over and backs and band pull parts with
3:27 the band and I'll leave a link Down
3:29 Below in the description box to the one
3:32 I'm using here then when you actually go
3:33 into the movement on the weight down I
3:35 want you to think about as if you were
3:37 using your back muscles to pull the
3:39 weight down towards your chest by
3:41 pinching your shoulder blades together
3:42 and then on the way up just avoid
3:44 letting your shoulders round forward and
3:46 take over the movement and instead keep
3:49 your chest up and think about squeezing
3:51 your biceps into the sides of your chest
3:53 focus on this every single rep and
3:55 you'll immediately notice your chest
3:57 rather than your shoulders now doing
3:59 most of the work all right so we fixed
4:01 the shoulders rounded forward at the top
4:03 but it's important to avoid this next
4:05 mistake at the top position as well the
4:07 main function of the chest is horizontal
4:10 eduction which is simply the act of
4:12 bringing the arms together this is what
4:14 makes the Dumbo press such an effective
4:16 chest Builder since the arms are pulled
4:18 together under low knowing this you
4:20 might think that bringing your arms in
4:22 as close as possible at the top would
4:25 better engage the chest in fact some
4:26 people even touch the dumbbells to get
4:29 at the top however since we're using
4:31 dumbbells the line of force is straight
4:33 down because of gravity this means that
4:35 once your arms are straight over your
4:36 shoulders there's actually no more
4:38 tension placed on the chest because
4:40 there's no longer any Force pulling your
4:42 arms apart going further than this
4:44 doesn't stimulate the chest any further
4:46 and is wasting energy that could
4:48 otherwise be used towards your next reps
4:50 so instead to keep constant tension on
4:52 the chest stop each rep once your arms
4:55 end up straight over your shoulders so
4:57 the last mistake doesn't actually relate
4:59 to form and instead has to do with the
5:01 Ang angle of the bench the flat dumbbell
5:03 press is great but most of the growth
5:05 you get from this exercise will be in
5:07 the middle portion of your chest which
5:09 can lead to the upper and lower portions
5:11 of the chest becoming underdeveloped in
5:14 fact in a recent 2020 paper subjects
5:16 that performed the incline bench press
5:18 experience over double the growth in the
5:20 upper portion of the chest when compared
5:23 to subjects that only perform the flat
5:25 bench press so in addition to doing just
5:27 the flat dumbbell bench press I'd also
5:29 recommend doing an incline dumball press
5:31 once a week as well however when you do
5:34 this exercise research has shown that
5:36 just a very slight incline of about 15
5:39 to 30° is optimal to Target the upper
5:42 chest this is usually just one to two
5:43 notches up from the bottom position of a
5:46 bench for most individuals anything
5:48 higher than that often causes the front
5:50 delts to take over instead in fact for
5:53 some of you even just a slight elevation
5:55 by placing a weight plate under the end
5:57 of a bench may be all you need to really
5:59 Target the upper chest now as for the
6:01 low lower portion of your chest for most
6:03 people the flat dumbbell press will
6:05 already hit this region quite well some
6:07 studies however suggest that a slight
6:09 decline can actually help activate this
6:11 region even more effectively so in this
6:13 case you can place a weight under the
6:15 other end of the bench to create just a
6:17 slight decline try that out see how it
6:19 feels and feel free to add it to your
6:21 weekly routine such that you're doing a
6:23 pressing movement that buys the zeper
6:24 chest a pressing movement that biases
6:26 the mid chest and a pressing movement
6:28 that biases the lower chest just
6:30 remember that all the previous mistakes
6:32 we went through appli to these dumball
6:35 press variations as well now after you
6:37 apply these various fixes you'll notice
6:39 that you won't be able to lift nearly as
6:41 much as you used to it might hurt the
6:43 ego but realize that this is a good
6:45 thing it means that your chest is now
6:47 doing most of the work rather than your
6:49 other muscle groups and you'll very
6:51 quickly feel and see the difference this
6:53 makes to your chest development just
6:54 make sure that you don't fall back into
6:56 your old habits as you try to increase
6:58 the weight over time and guys it's
7:00 important that you take the same
7:02 detailed science-based approach to every
7:04 single exercise that you do that way you
7:06 can get results faster and without
7:08 harming your joints for a step-by-step
7:10 plan that puts this all together for you
7:11 just head on over to buildwi science.com
7:14 and take our analysis quiz to discover
7:16 which of my programs are best for you
7:18 and your specific body I'd also highly
7:20 recommend giving these videos a watch
7:21 next to see if you might be guilty of
7:23 making similar mistakes with your
7:25 deadlift or with your squat thank you so
7:27 much for watching and I'll see you next time
