The barbell bench press may be the mother of all chest exercises, but it is not the ultimate chest exercise. To train your chest in a targeted manner, especially if it lags behind in muscle growth, you should also do some other exercises in addition to the barbell bench press. The bent-over single-arm chest press, for example.

DUMBBELLS VERSUS BARBELL

The biggest flaw of the barbell bench press is that you only activate one function of the chest muscles, namely moving your arms forward. With the dumbbell chest press you also use the other function of the chest: bringing the arms together. That is why this exercise is preferable to the barbell bench press, if you specifically want to train your chest.

LIMITATION OF THE ROM

However, the dumbbell chest press also has its limitations: it is not possible to cross the arms. After all, you bring two dumbbells together and that actually forms a limitation of the range of motion, the range of motion (ROM). In fact, the heavier the weight you use, the bigger the dumbbells, the smaller the ROM. You could solve this by doing the exercise unilaterally, side by side, but especially with heavy weights you will be in an unstable, risky position.

The bent-over single-arm chest press is a safer and more effective alternative.

EXECUTION

You perform this exercise leaning forward using a cable machine. You make the same movement as with the dumbbell chest press, namely moving the weight forward (in this case downwards) and at the same time turning it inwards. But now you have the option to extend the movement a bit further, past the center of your chest. These extra centimeters make a big difference in the activation of your pecs! Plus, this exercise allows you to go really heavy without having to worry about coordinating and balancing the weights, like the lying dumbbell variety. Good luck!