Dumbbell press with one hand lying on the floor. Dumbbell press with one hand lying on a horizontal bench

Dumbbell bench press with one hand lying on a horizontal bench - an exercise for the development of the pectoralis major muscle, belongs to the category of "balancing", since the work goes on one side and it is more difficult to hold and balance the weight than with two shells.

However, it is considered basic. The triceps and front deltas are also involved in the work.

Main working muscle groups: pectoral muscles.

Auxiliary muscle group: anterior delts, triceps

Dumbbell press with one hand lying on a horizontal bench - execution technique.

1. You need to lie down on a horizontal bench, holding a dumbbell in your hand. The hand with the dumbbell is pressed to the top of the thigh. The palm is turned inward.

2. Once you're in the prone position, help your upper thigh push the dumbbell up and bring it up. Or help yourself with your free hand.

3. Turn your wrist so that your palm is facing forward. This will be the starting position.

4. Slowly and under control, including the muscles of the stabilizers, lower the dumbbell while inhaling. Use your free hand to balance the dumbbell until you master the technique of this movement.

5. As you exhale, squeeze the dumbbell using the pectoral muscles. Fix your hand at the top, straining your chest, after a second pause, start moving down again. The movement in the negative phase should take twice as long as the movement up.

6. Complete required amount repetitions, according to your training program.

7. Change your hand and repeat the exercise.

8. To return the dumbbell to the floor, lift your legs off the floor by bending them at the knees. Rotate your wrist so that you can place the dumbbell on upper part hips.

9. At the same time, make a jerk, lifting your upper body and lightly pushing your legs forward. This movement will help you return to a sitting position. Only then put the dumbbell on the floor.

Especially for athletes who have only one kettlebell and it is at home. The exercise is good because it pumps the muscles of the left and right sides of the body separately. The essence of this kettlebell press is that due to the rotation of the body, the muscles are better stretched before contraction. The exercise is more suitable as an additional load, it has its own specifics and loads almost equally the pectoral muscles and triceps.

Initial position

Place the kettlebell on the floor and lie down so that it is at shoulder level. Turn your body towards the kettlebell and grab it. Lie down on the floor gradually lifting the weight. Bend your arm at the elbow and put it next to the body, if you put it close, the load will fall on the triceps. If you put your hand at an angle of 45 degrees, the load will be more on the pectoral muscle. Shoulders should be fully pressed to the floor. If you took the weight in your left hand, then right leg stays straight. The left leg is bent at the knee and rests on the floor with the toe or foot, depending on flexibility. At the same time, the pelvis must be torn off the floor and put on its side as far as possible. The second hand lies on the floor at an angle of 90 degrees as a support. The stomach will need to be pulled in, and the lower back must be tightened.

Kettlebell press technique with one hand lying on the floor

Squeeze the weight up while exhaling, straighten your arm completely. At the top point, tighten the pectoral muscle and triceps, and then slowly lower your arm. Lowering your hand, the weight should not lie on the biceps itself, put it on the brachialis, the outer part of the arm.

Take dumbbells and lie down on a bench. Push the dumbbells up with your hips and lift them up, holding them shoulder-width apart. Slowly lower the weight, as you exhale, squeeze up.

Dumbbell bench press with one hand lying down: video

Exercise rules

  1. Lie down on a flat bench with a dumbbell on your hip.
  2. Then lift your hips to lift the dumbbell up. Hold the dumbbell at shoulder width. Use your non-working hand to maintain proper dumbbell position.
  3. Rotate your wrist forward so that your palm is facing away from you. This is your starting position.
  4. As you inhale, slowly lower the weight to the side. Keep the dumbbell under constant control. Tip: Use your non-working hand to balance the dumbbell, as this can be difficult initially. Use this help only when necessary. Otherwise, just let it lie.
  5. As you exhale, press the dumbbell up using your chest muscles. Lock your hand at the top of the exercise, squeeze your chest, hold for a second, and then begin to slowly lower the weight. Tip: This should take at least twice as long as moving up.
  6. Repeat the recommended number of times.
  7. Change hands and repeat the movement.

Warning: Do not drop the dumbbells near you after the exercise, as this can be dangerous for the rotator cuff of the shoulder. Just lift your legs off the floor, bending them at the knees, turn your wrist so that your palms are facing each other, and place the dumbbells on your thighs. With both dumbbells touching your hips, simultaneously push your upper body up and also perform a small forward kick (keeping the dumbbells on your hips). When performing this combined movement, the momentum allows you to return to a sitting position, holding the dumbbells on your hips. At this point, you can place the dumbbells on the floor.

Find out which bodybuilding exercise can maximize the load on your chest muscles without having to resort to isolating movements.

What is a dumbbell bench press on a horizontal bench?


Most often in bodybuilding and powerlifting, an exercise is required - dumbbell bench press. Such a projectile is endowed with a plurality positive qualities, to which the action of a huge amount of musculature can be attributed.

First of all, it should be noted that dumbbell presses are various kinds: Presses with both hands and press with one hand. Presses with two hands are also quite effective and efficient. They are most often used to work out the lateral deltoids and pectoral muscles. All methods of exercises must be performed synchronously.

In this case, we will consider the bench press with one hand. Each hand repeats, as if in a mirror image, each other. If this recommendation is not followed, asymmetrical muscles can be built up. Most importantly, never swing your arms forward or backward. Otherwise, it is possible to easily injure the shoulder joint.

Each set of exercises also includes triceps, so it is advisable to perform such exercises during the days when your program is designed to increase triceps. Pressing with one dumbbell means the presence of the past stage. But, with this method, there is some negative indicator, which is to include each hand in turn. With such an exercise, the power potential is lost faster.

Therefore, when doing a bench press with one hand, repetitions of the same exercise for both hands should be done, but this is quite difficult. Such training becomes less effective. Fatigue can be blocked with each exercise. The one-arm press is not comfortable enough. That is why it is worth including other exercises in the course with him.

Exercise technique

  • Lie down on a bench horizontally. You should take a dumbbell in your hand and sit on the end of a horizontal bench. The palms should face each other.
  • When lying down, it is worth helping yourself by pushing the upper thighs. Gently lie down on it, throwing a dumbbell in chest, and straighten your arm up.
  • With the other hand, you need to grab the end of the bench to be more stable.
  • The legs are best placed wide. Turn your hand in such a way that the palm is facing in front of you. This position is called the original position.
  • Lower the dumbbell to the chest, while taking elbow joint to the side for pumping the chest. When exhaling, squeeze your hand up. It is necessary to control your movements and perform the exercises very carefully.
  • Keep your balance until you're confident.
  • It is worth doing a few repetitions, before the onset of fatigue, and then change hands and perform the exercise with the other hand. The main thing is to observe the proportion in the number of exercises.
  • To tear off the legs from the floor, bending them at the knees, should be after the end of the exercise. Rotate your wrist so that you can rotate the other part of the hip joint. This movement can help you turn to a different position. In this position, it is worth putting dumbbells.

Benefits of the One-Arm Bench Press

  • The pectoral muscle groups are involved.
  • Basic type of exercise.
  • Additionally affects shoulder joint and triceps.
  • It is a strength exercise.
  • Only dumbbells are required.
  • It can be suitable for both experienced athletes and beginner athletes.


The best thing this exercise perform in certain situations.
  • When training assistant muscles, which are responsible for the balance and steady state of the body.
  • Exercise helps to improve muscle coordination, that is, the combined performance of various muscle groups which are aimed at the implementation of certain complex tasks.
  • Trains that part of the body that lags behind in development. With ordinary traction exercises, one hand is little involved, then it is worth increasing the load. You should not continue exercises with a lagging arm, as the muscles will develop out of proportion.
Also, when performing the exercise, it is worth lowering the elbows down gradually, and without being distracted. When experiencing pain or discomfort, it is worth turning the dumbbells towards each other with your palms. Then the load will decrease a little, and the exercise will become the most comfortable and will not reduce efficiency.

All the nuances of execution horizontal bench press dumbbells in this video from Denis Borisov.

Anthony Mychal

It's been twelve days since you've stopped doing any barbell presses and it's not fun at all.

Your rehabilitation protocol for the muscles of the articular capsule shoulder girdle very depressing. You're missing a load, a big heavy iron, and my god, what about your shirts? You can't let your pecs and shoulders start to shrink as you've just moved up to size XL.

However, you cannot press through pain. In a wise decision, you refrained from doing so.

What if I told you that there is a bench press that can change your life? The bench press, which in this case acts not as a destroyer, but as a healer. A bench that can add serious size where no other bench can.

If you think you are dreaming, then it's time to wake up, because this exercise should be added to your program, regardless of the condition of the shoulders.

Barbell Problems

Complaints related to bench presses and shoulder pain are common, and of all types of bench presses, barbell presses cause largest number problems, because they change the correct relationship between the work of the wrist, elbow and shoulder.

There are people who do bench presses and overhead presses with no problems. I know in the old days everyone used a barbell for bench presses and overhead presses and never had a problem, or at least that's what everyone tells me.

However, perhaps you do not belong to this category of people. No need to worry if this is the case, and do not force yourself to perform these exercises at all costs. You just have a different anatomy and body structure.

Whether you're training yourself, clients, students, or athletes, pain can't be ignored. I am sure that if Tiger Woods were paying you millions of dollars to coach, you would in no way force him to do something that could put his game at risk.

So why force others to do it? Being forced to miss work because your trainer beat you up last night isn't hard training, it's violence.

So what can we do to break the deadlock associated with bench presses? Swiss barbells and push-ups are common methods for pressing with shoulder problems, however not everyone has such barbells, and weighted push-ups are extremely unpleasant.

Use one-arm dumbbell presses on the floor, the new/old solution to pressing problems.

Why with one hand?

Exercises that use one hand are often considered less effective than their bilateral counterparts because they cannot use the same heavy weights. Also, due to the asymmetry of the load, more reliable stabilization of the whole body is required. This means that sometimes the difficulty may cause something other than the main motor muscles. Those who have tried dumbbell bench presses know what I mean.

For this very reason, lifters often perform bench presses while standing. They seek to use the entire kinetic chain to simulate the movements performed in both sports and sports. real life. This might be called "functional" nonsense, but something tells me that engaging the glutes and stabilizing the core to perform the shoulder movement is a good idea.

Due to some of the difficulties associated with strengthening the torso, the one-handed version works better. I even have a very scientific theory explaining the reason for this fact, which is as follows - you can not walk and chew gum at the same time.

All available attention is focused on one hand, which is 50% more for math gurus than in the bilateral version. This reminds us that we are not just doing an exercise, we are striving to achieve a specific goal.

Another advantage is the freedom of movement and adjustment of body position. If during the bench press you lose tension in the upper back when you remove the bar from the stoppers, then it will be impossible to return it back.

Dumbbells are easier to set up, however, when you use both of them, they swing over your face, making you look like you're trying to scratch your back at the wrong time. But while working, take only one shoulder correct position Now fine.

Great benefit

But what if you possess impeccable healthy shoulders And with the development of the upper chest are you all right? Well, Mr. Franco Columbu, this exercise is great for triceps and elbow extension strength, among other things, just like any other floor press variation.

Dumbbell floor presses will help you build strength so you can use more heavy weights while doing various presses, and heavier weights are usually a plus.

Thus, you have a choice. You can do tricep curls with dumbbells back while standing on the floor to develop the triceps. However, in the latter case, not only the triceps will be grateful to you, but also the shoulders and upper chest.

healthy shoulders

One-arm floor presses protect the shoulders because there is no Bottom part amplitude of the bench press, and that is the whole point. In the lower section of the amplitude, the arms rotate outward uncontrollably, entering the pinch zone. The slow and controlled descent turns into a ballistic rebound. It is better to exclude rebounding, even if the amplitude of movement is reduced from this.

However, the real magic happens in the off position. The dumbbell presses the shoulder into its glenoid fossa and apparently eliminates postural problems. At correct technique the shoulder blade should lie completely on the floor, and the whole body should remain motionless.

Another beauty of this exercise is that the dumbbell wobbles back and forth slightly. The shoulder stabilizes, as it does during the performance of more specific movements for the muscles of the glenoid bag of the shoulder girdle.

Develop the upper chest
Guys can feel insecure for many reasons, but nothing compares to a lack of upper chest development.

Those who suffer from it try everything. Breeding hands, mixing hands while standing in a crossover, presses on incline bench. Most often, these exercises do not help, because, like in other lagging parts of the body, there is no neuromuscular connection. Most compound exercises force you into an unfavorable position for optimal activation, and this includes incline presses. With a combination of bad activation and sub-optimal mechanics, you won't be able to get a good contraction.

One-arm floor presses develop the upper chest because this exercise solves both problems. First, one arm remains free, so during the presses you can feel this part of the chest, and now you can no longer just hope that these muscles are contracting, but know for sure that they are. In addition, sensory communication will enhance activation.

Secondly, this biomechanics causes more effective activation of the upper chest. Dr. Clay Hite explains in his article "Building a Bodybuilders Chest":

“Using a narrower grip has been shown in at least one study to improve upper chest activation even more than an incline bench. This is due to the fact that applying a slightly narrower grip causes the elbows to move slightly closer to the body (i.e., adduction occurs). humerus), but does not diverge to the sides.

In this regard, the clavicular pectoral muscles are in a more favorable mechanical position for performing their main functions - contraction and horizontal adduction.

Dr. Hite means more narrow grip when using a barbell. However, when using a barbell, no matter how narrow the grip is, there is still a predisposition to flaring the elbows out as the arm is pronated, thus placing the load on the lower chest.

With a dumbbell, keeping track of the elbows is easier because the wrist is in a neutral position, thereby allowing the upper chest to take on more work.

Preparing for the exercise

The hardest part about floor presses is getting into the starting position with the dumbbell in the off position without hurting yourself. There are two ways.

The first option is the flip method. You don't have to be a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion to do it, so don't be intimidated. You need to know just a few principles in order not to twist the spine into a pigtail.

Lie on your side, bend your knees and press the dumbbell to your body. This will reduce the leverage and reduce the bending moment that occurs in the spine. You need to hold the dumbbell with both hands, but grab the handle upper arm, and the second performs a supporting function.

After that, you begin to roll over, looking through upper arm. Where the head goes, the body follows, so the head always leads. Once you feel the pull of the dumbbell, use your hands to roll it onto your chest and abs. Here she should lie down comfortably.

Straighten both legs and use your hands to move the dumbbell to the desired position.

Photos are good, but videos are often more effective. Here is a video demonstrating flipping and pressing

The second option is the one-two-take method, which is more like the one we use during traditional bench presses. Spread your legs out to the sides in a "V" shape and place a dumbbell between them.

Tilt it so that the side closest to you is on the ground and the other is in the air.

Interlace your fingers in a lock around the handle. Bend forward forcefully and then lean back, lifting the dumbbell to the off position.

And another video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF6ww2LDeUo&feature=player_embedded

Initial position

Regardless of the method you use, you will end up in a straight-legged off position. Reduce gluteal muscles and a press to stabilize the body. As the working weight increases, the importance of this stabilization increases.

Move the dumbbell to the right hand and make sure your shoulders are pulled back and down. Simply put, the shoulder blades should be brought together and fit snugly on the floor.

However, do not forget that since you are working with only one dumbbell, you have more freedom of movement. If necessary, you can fidget back and forth to set the shoulder in the desired position; this is one of the benefits of this exercise.

Once you're sure your shoulder is in the right position and your shoulder blade is fully on the floor, either place your free hand on your chest or keep it in the air to further improve your balance. Hold this position for 5-10 seconds and just "feel" the head of the shoulder pushing into the glenoid socket as the upper back tightens. Now you are ready for the actual exercise.

Movement technique

After an isometric hold in the off position, lower your arm, bringing your elbow close to your body. When the shoulder section of the arm reaches the floor, pause for a second, while tensing all the muscles, as in squats on the bench. What you have achieved bottom point amplitude, does not mean that you can take a nap.

After a pause, straighten your arm in starting position, reminding yourself to keep your shoulder blade on the ground. This will help you load your shoulder. The elbow stays close to the body; don't let him step aside.

After completing the approach, hold the dumbbell in the off position for 5-10 seconds. If you want to work on shoulder stabilization, you can do what I call a "compass". After completing the set, slightly move the dumbbell to the north, south, east and west. It can be dangerous when using heavy weights, so save this technique for warm-up sets.

Completion

After completing a set for one arm, return the dumbbell to your chest. Take it with the other hand, but use both to reach the off position. After both hands have completed a set, return the dumbbell to the floor using the reverse procedure for any method of getting to the starting position.

If you are reversing the flip, place the dumbbell on your chest, tuck one leg to the side (which you are about to flip), look over your shoulder, roll over, and place the dumbbell on the floor.

If you are reversing the one-two take! method, hold the dumbbell in the off position with both hands, create momentum in thoracic region spine, then, applying force, direct this moment forward and sit down with a dumbbell between your legs.

Call to action!

Add muscle mass triceps, pump up your upper chest and increase your cutting power while restoring shoulder health.

Stop wallowing in your pressing problems and start solving them. Maybe you can't do overhead presses or bench presses only temporarily, so take care of your problems and build strength at the same time. Regardless of your goals, dumbbell floor presses are worth your attention.