I get a lot of requests for home gym dumbbell workouts, so over the next several videos and blog posts I’m going to be showing you how to work all your major muscle groups at home with nothing more than dumbbell exercises and body weight exercises.
Back in 1990 I started working out in our basement with an old cement filled York Barbell & Dumbbell set. I even made my own bench and squat rack out of wood, using scrap 2×4 lumber. It was a very crude home gym to say the least, but that’s how I got started.
Despite what some people may say, you can actually make good progress with the most basic of exercise equipment – if you are committed…
If you can’t play the embedded video here on my blog, you can watch it directly on my YouTube channel by clicking here.
Here’s an overview of the home gym dumbbell chest workout outlined exercise by exercise…
Warm Up:
We’re going to start off the workout with some arm circles forwards and backwards to limber up the muscles of the chest, shoulders, arms, and torso.
If you want to follow along with a complete total body warm up routine, check out my Warm Up Routine Video
Push Ups:
Next we’re going to do a couple sets of push ups to pump up the pecs, get some blood flowing, and to pre-exhaust them before we get into the actual dumbbell chest exercises.
Dumbbell Bench Press:
The first actual dumbbell exercise of the chest workout is the dumbbell bench press. This is a good mass building move for the pecs. For this one do at least 3 sets of 10-15 reps. Start off light and increase the weight with each set.
Incline Bench Dumbbell Fly:
The next exercise in our dumbbell chest workout is the incline bench dumbbell fly. This is a great stretching exercise for the chest. Perform at least 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions. Starting with a light warm up weight and increase the weight for each set.
Cross Bench Dumbbell Pull Over:
After the db flys, we’re going to do dumbbell pull overs to help expand the chest and rib cage. This is much more than a ‘chest exercise’, it’s an entire torso exercise that will stretch out the muscles of the lats, pecs, serratus, abdominals, etc. Starting with a light weight, do 3 sets of 10-15 reps, increasing the weight with each set.
Close Grip Dumbbell Bench Press:
This next exercise is a unique one that’s going to target the inner chest area. Hold the dumbbells parallel and together while doing the dumbbell bench press. This variation is a lot harder than a normal bench press with your hands spaced wider, so you’ll have to lighten the weights accordingly. Do 3 sets of 10-15 reps to finish off the chest workout and pump up the inner pecs.
Optional Finishing Exercise… More Push Ups!
The exercises we’ve done up until this point will work all aspects of your chest for complete muscle development. But if you still have something left in the tank and want to push your limits. You can do some extra high rep sets of push ups. Just rep’em out to failure. You can do different push up variations – such as incline push ups with your feet elevated, dumbbell push ups / push up handles for a deeper stretch in the bottom, close grip push ups, wide grip push ups, etc.
That’s it, if you do this your pecs will be feeling pumped and swole. Give it a try for yourself and leave me a comment letting me know how you like the chest workout.
Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more home gym dumbbell workouts coming soon…
The next workout will be a complete home gym dumbbell back workout!
