Dumbbell Chest Exercises Without a Bench

As a gym owner myself, I know the constraints that budgets can place on your home gym. Money only goes so far. If you’re just starting out, you may have had the budget to buy dumbbells, but not a bench. 

So that leaves you with a quandary… What dumbbell chest exercises can I do without a bench?

Worry not, amigo. I’ve got you covered.

I’m going to give you a list of dumbbell chest exercises without a bench. Not only that – I’ll go a step further. I’ll show you a couple of ways you can fashion a bench without dropping a few hundred bucks on one.

These solutions aren’t permanent ones, but they’ll see you ticking by for a while.

By the end of the article, your dumbbell chest training game will have been raised…

Dumbbell Chest Exercises Without a Bench: Benefit of the Approach

Sometimes in life, we have to adapt and overcome. In training, especially home training, that’s even more important. We won’t always have a commercial gym set up at home, so we have to get creative.

That’s not always a bad thing. Here’s three reasons why…

Benefit 1: It expands your training knowledge

Websites like this exist to educate about training. We provide you with theoretical guidance based on professional experience. Take what we give you, and work on it in real life. That’s how it works. 

But what if you don’t always have the equipment?

Well then you have to get creative. You learn on the job – and in doing so you expand your training knowledge. What you’ll learn here in this article will not only help your chest training, but it’ll also show you how to adapt and overcome equipment hurdles.

You’ll learn how to get more out of the equipment you have. You’ll learn to look at the possibilities in your equipment, not its limitations. 

Benefit 2: New exercises will be added to your list

Further to the earlier point, when you have a forced constraint (in this case only dumbbells and a lack of a bench), you have to expand your thinking.

We’re all guilty of relying on a handful of exercises for certain body parts (bench and curls brigade, I’m looking at you), so this forces a change. There’s a big motivational benefit to this.

Research shows the impact that the change in training stimulus has on training enjoyment…

Baz-Valle et al found in their 2019 study titled ‘The effects of exercise variation in muscle thickness, maximal strength and motivation in resistance trained men’ that…

‘Participants in the experimental (varied exercise) group showed a significant improvement in the intrinsic motivation to training, while participants in the control group presented non-significant decreases in this variable.‘

This means the motivation to train was increased by the variety of exercises. If you’re going to enjoy training for the long term, this is a big deal.

Benefit 3: Improved strength in the stabilizer muscles

One of the benefits of training your chest without a bench is the impact it will have on you stability training.

When you use a bench, you can rely on it supporting all of your weight. By removing this platform, you end up in a position where you need to recruit other muscles to ensure a strong and stable position to train from.

That’s not the case with every exercise you’ll see in the list, but it’s certainly the case with some of them. Training your chest without a bench gives your body the opportunity to force adaptation, recruit new muscles, in new ways.

You won’t just be training your chest with these exercises, you’ll be training your core, hips, and posterior chain too. Strengthening these small, important, and often overlooked muscles will help you build strength, fitness, and injury resistance.

4 Steps to Use Dumbbell Chest Exercises Without a Bench Effectively

Follow these steps to make the most of the exercises. If you do these, you’ll ensure the exercises are safe, effective and help to maximize the strength and hypertrophy gains you get as a result. 

Step 1: Set up correctly

These exercises aren’t always going to be familiar to you. You may have heard of them, but whether or not you’ve done them is another matter. To make sure you do them properly, spend the time getting the set up right.

It’s not as simple as it is with a bench, where you simply lie down. 

For some of these exercises, you’ll have to change your balance points, your range of movement will be compromised and your form will be different.

Make sure you take the time to get these right, because it’ll make the exercise much safer and effective.

Step 2: Don’t assume your weights

When you change some of the exercises you do, it’s not very wise to assume you already know the weights you’ll lift. Adjusting things such as the lifting angles, the range of movement, the direction of pressing etc will all have a bearing.

The other point is that sometimes you’ll be using more muscle than usual in order to maintain a position. If you’re having to use your legs and core to suspend your torso during a lift, it’ll fatigue you more quickly than if you were just lying on a bench. 

When you start the exercise, spend the time getting to know your weights. You’ll only need to do this once, then you’ll have an idea of your strength for the future. 

Start with a very light weight that you could lift all day, then increase the weight set after set until you reach a point where you can only manage 10 good reps. Use that as your baseline – increase the weight for fewer reps, decrease it for more reps.

Step 3: Account for limited ranges of movement with heavier weights

There are some exercises in this list that are to be done on the floor. When you’re lifting from the floor, you’ve got a reduction in the available range of movement.

Whilst I’m an advocate of a large range of movement in most cases, we’re working within constraints here.

To make the exercise effective whilst dealing with the reduced movement, increase the weight you lift. 

You can do this with some of the floor exercises, because you’re not relying on other muscles to support your body weight whilst you lift. It means the stability issues are taken care of, so you can put more effort into the lifting. 

The extra weight helps to compensate in part for the reduction in the range of motion.

Step 4: Treat them as you would any other exercise

The only limitation you have here is the lack of a bench. Beyond that, the exercises are exactly the same as any other, so treat them as such. This means adjust the sets, reps and loads of the exercises. Change their order, try them in different positions.

Embrace the fact that you have to take on this new challenge and make the most of it. You don’t have to assume that dumbbell chest exercises without a bench are worse, they’re just different.

That’s a good thing – our bodies and our fitness are at their best when we overcome a challenge, or challenge ourselves in different ways. 

To get the most from these exercises, mix up your weights, your sets and your reps. 

The 11 Best Dumbbell Chest Exercises Without a Bench (and 2 I Don’t Like)

So without further ado, let’s move on to my 10 favorite dumbbell chest exercises without a bench. I’ve also added a couple of extra at the end that I don’t personally like (and I’ll justify why), but are popular in these kinds of lists elsewhere on the internet.

1. Dumbbell Floor Press

This is the immediate dumbbell chest exercise without a bench that springs to mind. It has been used by bodybuilders and powerlifters for years.

The reduced range of movement hyper-focusses on a partial rep, but it’s also useful for helping lifters to push themselves beyond a sticking point.

This is an exercise where you can really push the weight as high as possible, because you’ve not got any core stability requirements. The floor is doing the job of the bench for you!

Equipment needed for dumbbell floor press:

• Dumbbells

SMRFT Nüobell 80LB Adjustable Dumbbells

These are the dumbbells we recommend for ‘most people’.

We have spent over 50 hours of research and compared over 100 dumbbells. Adjustable dumbbells make sense for most home gyms as they save space.

The Nüobell dumbbells go all the way to 80lbs per hand. This means they are much more versatile than most 50lbs adjustable dumbbells. You can use these for heavy shrugs, squats and bench press etc.

The main reason they are the top pick is because of their shape. They actually feel like real dumbbells and are not awkward to lift like some others.

Check the price here

How to do dumbbell floor press:

• Lie back with a dumbbell in each hand, at chest level
• Bring your knees up, so your feet are flat on the floor
• With the dumbbells positioned straight over your chest, slowly lower them down until the back of your upper arms touches the floor
• At this point, drive your feet into the floor and push the dumbbells back out straight over your chest, back to the start position
• Repeat as many times as required

2. Dumbbell Tricep Push Up

This is a great exercise for both the chest and triceps. I like to position the dumbbells closer together to really emphasize the work done by the triceps – the closer they are the more the triceps are worked.

The wider they are, the more the chest is engaged. This simple positioning of the dumbbells can change the target muscles dramatically.

The push up is one of the exercises with a huge return on investment, so should feature highly in any list like this one. It’s a great way to train a lot of muscle in one very simple movement. 

Equipment needed for dumbbell tricep push ups:

• Dumbbells

How to do dumbbell tricep push ups:

• Position the dumbbells relatively close together – no wider than shoulder width
• With an overhand or neutral grip, start with your arms at full extension
• Keeping your core engaged and your back straight, slowly lower your torso towards the floor, bending at the elbows
• Keep lowering your torso until you drop below the height of the dumbbells
• Push back up to the start position

3. Dumbbell Deficit Push Up

The dumbbell deficit push up really forces a stretch across the chest. It also engages the pectoral muscles through a huge range of movement, making it a fantastic chest exercise for a chest workout. 

This exercise can be made tougher by performing them with bigger dumbbells. The bigger the weight, the bigger the deficit and therefore the range of movement.

This increases the time under tension, which we know from previous research by Burd et al increases muscle mass.

Equipment needed for deficit push ups:

• Dumbbells

How to do deficit push ups:

• Set your deficit to an appropriate width and height. Wider and higher means more pectoral engagement.
• Start with arms fully extended and lower yourself down through the movement.
• Lower yourself until you’ve reached full depth. You’re looking for more than 90 degree elbow bend and a full stretch of the chest.
• Slowly press yourself back up to a straight arm position.
• Repeat as many times as required.

4. Dumbbell Squeeze Press

You might look at this exercise and laugh, thinking ‘that’s a ridiculous exercise’. And to be honest, I did the same at first. But let me explain why it’s here.

It’s never going to increase your max bench press, but it engages your pec muscles with an isometric contraction, and that’s got great hypertrophy benefits.

Isometric contraction is where the muscle contracts without changing length. A common example is the plank. So, think of the dumbbell squeeze press as like a plank for your chest muscles!

Equipment needed for a dumbbell squeeze press:

• Dumbbells

How to do dumbbell squeeze press:

• Lie on your back, with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor
• Hold a single heavy dumbbell over your chest, with a hand on either end of the dumbbell
• Throughout the movement, squeeze each end of the dumbbell hard
• As you’re squeezing the dumbbell, slowly lower it down to your chest until the back of your arms touch the floor
• At this point, press it back to the start position, squeezing the dumbbell tightly throughout
• It’s really important to squeeze as hard as possible in order to maximize the effectiveness of the exercise

5. Swiss Ball Dumbbell Fly

The Swiss ball dumbbell fly is a great way of challenging the chest. It includes a pectoral stretch, an eccentric contraction of the muscles and controlled internal rotation at the shoulder.

Doing it on the Swiss ball adds an element of difficulty, because there’s a core stability element at play. You’ll need to control your movement by engaging the glutes and core throughout. 

The dumbbell fly is a very popular exercise in bodybuilding circles because it’s a perfect way to add variety and challenge the muscle fibers in a new way. Make sure your Swiss ball is properly inflated beforehand.

Equipment needed for Swiss ball dumbbell flyes:

• Swiss ball
• Dumbbells

How to do Swiss ball dumbbell flyes:

• Lie on the ball, with your upper back in contact with it
• Spread your feet apart and keep them in contact with the floor the entire time
• Engage your glutes and lower back to keep a stable position throughout
• Pick the dumbbells up, lie back and hold them directly in front of you
• Lower them slowly out to the sides, maintaining an almost-straight arm throughout the movement
• When you feel a full stretch, pause and pull the dumbbells back up and to the center, under control throughout
• Repeat as many times as necessary

6. Push Up to Row

The dumbbell pushup to row is a complete all upper body exercise… It’s a chest and triceps exercise with the push up. It’s a back exercise with a row. It’s a core exercise with the push up plank position, and the push/pull element trains all of the shoulders. 

As exercises go, it’s hard to beat. As well as the upper body challenges, it’s also a skills test. You have to engage the core to prevent rotation, all whilst balancing on one side at a time. This is an exercise that will challenge you beyond what you’re used to.

If you’re not used to this exercise, practice with a light weight to start with.

Equipment needed for dumbbell pushup to row:

• Dumbbells

How to do dumbbell pushups to row:

• Get into the push up position, with hands balancing on dumbbells and feet balancing on your toes
• Keep your legs apart to help with balance
• Lower your chest down into a full deficit push up
• As you push back up and reach the top of the movement, row one of the dumbbells up to your chest
• Perform another push up, then repeat on the other side
• Repeat as many times as necessary

7. Dumbbell Floor Hammer Press

You might see this exercise listed as a ‘neutral grip floor press’ or a variation thereof. It’s basically the same thing. I like this as a variation because it’s protective of shoulder and elbow issues in many people, so can suit those with some previous injury.

Just like the dumbbell floor press, you can push the weights higher on this exercise, which will help to address the concerns from the reduced range of movement.

Equipment needed for dumbbell floor hammer press:

• Dumbbells

How to do dumbbell hammer floor presses:

• Lie back with a dumbbell in each hand, at chest level
• Rotate the dumbbells inwards, so your palms face each other. This is a neutral grip – maintain it throughout the movement
• Bring your knees up, so your feet are flat on the floor
• With the dumbbells positioned straight over your chest, slowly lower them down until the back of your upper arms touches the floor
• At this point, drive your feet into the floor and push the dumbbells back out straight over your chest, back to the start position
• Repeat as many times as required

8. Dumbbell Svend Press

The dumbbell Svend press is an exercise that has made its way into folklore thanks to its creator, the legendary strongman Svend Karlsen.

Whilst I don’t consider it a go-to chest exercise, it’s definitely got a place in this list thanks to a combination of chest and shoulder recruitment, even with a low weight.

To get the most from the exercise, squeeze the dumbbells together, similar to how you would in a squeeze press. That way you maximize the intensity of the movement even when the weights aren’t especially big.

You can do it with one dumbbell, but I think it’s better with two.

Equipment needed for dumbbell Svend press:

• Dumbbells

How to do a dumbbell Svend press:

• Stand with a dumbbell in each hand, with a neutral (palms facing each other) grip
• Squeeze the dumbbells together – maintain this squeeze throughout the movement
• Press the dumbbells out directly in front of you, until your arms are straight
• At full extension, pause, then return to the start position, keeping the dumbbells squeezed together throughout
• Repeat as many times as required

9. Floor Decline Press

The floor decline press is a great exercise because it recruits so much muscle. It’s not just a case of hitting the chest, shoulders and triceps as with a normal bench press. The decline element requires calf, hamstring, glute, core and hip engagement because of the lack of the bench.

This means the exercise is so much tougher generally, because there’s a lot of additional muscle involvement. It’s not just an exercise for the chest, so it should be one of your go-to exercises here. 

Equipment needed for floor decline press:

• Dumbbells

How to do floor decline press:

• Lie back with a dumbbell in each hand, at chest level
• Bring your knees up, so your feet are flat on the floor
• Drive your feet into the floor and push your hips up as far as you can and keep them there throughout the movement
• The high hips will see your back straight and your body at a decline
• With the dumbbells positioned straight over your chest, slowly lower them down until the back of your upper arms touches the floor
• At this point, drive your feet into the floor and push the dumbbells back out straight over your chest, back to the start position
• Repeat as many times as required

10. Swiss Ball Incline Dumbbell Press

The Swiss ball incline dumbbell press is a way to benefit from an incline without a bench being present. It also offers the additional core, hip, leg and glute benefits you get from having to stabilize your body weight with the exercise.

The unstable platform you get from the Swiss ball means you won’t be able to lift your biggest weights, but there’s a way around this.

Treat the exercise as a high rep one, where you reduce the weight (still lift as heavy as the stability of the ball will allow) and max out your reps. The range of movement you have available with the ball is still great.

Equipment needed for Swiss ball incline dumbbell press:

• Swiss ball
• Dumbbells

How to do Swiss ball incline dumbbell press:

• Lie on the ball, with your upper and mid back in contact with it – your torso should be angled up
• Spread your feet apart and keep them in contact with the floor the entire time
• Engage your glutes and lower back to keep a stable position throughout
• Pick the dumbbells up, lie back and hold them directly over your chest
• With the dumbbells positioned straight over your chest, slowly lower them down to either side of your torso, until the chest is fully stretched
• At this point, drive your feet into the floor and push the dumbbells back out straight over your chest, back to the start position
• Repeat as many times as required

11. Floor Dumbbell Chest Fly

Like the other floor based exercises, the range of movement here is compromised relative to the other versions on a bench or ball. Despite that though, the movement is still an effective one, and the stability provided by the floor means you can lift more weight than some of the other ways.

The fact that this exercise is done on the floor means you can focus purely on the lift and not on the upper back or hip stability. 

Equipment needed floor dumbbell chest flyes:

• Dumbbells

How to do floor dumbbell chest flyes:

• Pick the dumbbells up, lie back and hold them directly in front of you
• As you lie on your back, keep your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor
• Lower the dumbbells slowly out to the sides, maintaining an almost-straight arm throughout the movement
• When you feel a full stretch, pause and pull the dumbbells back up and to the center, under control throughout
• Repeat as many times as necessary

In my opinion, these are the best 11 dumbbell chest exercises without a bench. They’re a variety of movement patterns, they will use different weights and they have a series of different muscle recruitment demands.

They’re a challenging group of movements, and it means your chest training won’t suffer even without a bench.

Even if you have a bench, mix a few of these exercises into your programming and enjoy the fresh approach to chest training.

Two popular exercises that didn’t make the list, and why…

You may look at this list and think ‘you haven’t included XY or Z exercise’. There are usually reasons for this. 

Two of the popular dumbbell chest exercises without a bench you’ll see are…

1. Standing upward vertical fly
2. Single arm Swiss ball fly

Here’s why these two didn’t make the list…

In the case of the standing upward vertical fly, it didn’t make the list simply because I don’t really see it as a chest exercise. 

It’s an anterior deltoid exercise in my opinion. Sure, there’s a little bit of pec engagement, but that’s like saying a deadlift is a calf exercise because the calf muscles engage slightly during the pull. 

There’s far too much engagement of the delts and not enough of the pecs in order for me to consider it a chest exercise.

I didn’t include the single arm Swiss ball fly because it’s not enough of a change from the double arm Swiss ball fly that’s already in the list. I don’t see them as sufficiently different enough to justify its inclusion in this list. 

How to Fashion a Bench in Your Home Gym

I’m a gym owner myself, so I understand that budgets aren’t unlimited, and sacrifices have to be made. Whilst I think you should get a bench as soon as you can afford one, it’s true that weights have to come first.

Whilst you’re saving up for a bench, here’s a few ideas to help you create a bench in your home gym…

Stacking Bumper Plates

Depending on the number and type of plates you have, you can fashion a bench of sorts using the plates. The best bumper plates for making a bench are the high-temp plates. These tend to be thicker and a little softer, so more forgiving on your back.

I’d avoid the metal powerlifting plates, unless you love pain!

Here’s what it looks like if you only stack at the top end…

And if you have enough for both top and bottom support…

Swiss Ball

This is a more obvious one, because a Swiss ball has been used as a bench for literally decades. Sometimes a little reminder is in hand though, and this is one of those times!

You can pick up a Swiss ball pretty cheaply, but make sure the one you buy is good quality if you’re going to use it as a bench.

Here’s what it looks like…

Plyo Box

This one is less obvious, but it works pretty well. The only issues being that if you use a wooden plyo box, it’s very rigid and has sharper edges. This makes it potentially uncomfortable. Obviously this is reduced if you have a soft plyo box.

The second issue is that they’re wider than a bench, so don’t allow the same range of movement. They do offer more range than the floor though.

Here’s what it looks like…

Whilst these aren’t perfect solutions, they’re cheaper than a bench for the short term, and they allow you to perform a lot of the chest exercises you’d need a bench for.

Dumbbell Chest Exercises Without a Bench: The Bottom Line

It’s important to see these challenges as obstacles, not permanent blockades.

By using the exercises in this article, you’ll still be able to perform chest exercises even if you don’t have a bench yet. Not only that, you’ll have increased your exercise repertoire significantly. 

These dumbbell chest exercises without a bench should give you plenty of new ideas for hitting your chest. Even if you’ve got a bench in your home gym, throw them into your workouts – you’ll enjoy the results and change of training.

Now get in that gym and get busy!