Ok so right now I am not able to go to the local gym so I'm using my only home equipment to train: a single dumbell. For bench presses im simply doing the motion many times in each hand. My first question is does this give the same effect as a normal bench press and my second is that aren't presses supposed to work your pecs? for me they only seem to stress my arms or am i doing them wrong.

Any help would be greatly appreciated


PS- I would love to have any tips on what different workouts i could do with only my dumbell.

In my opinion the kind of training you are describing is not as usful for stimulating growth of prime movers and muscle groups but more for the purpose of engaging and strengthening your core while performing a certain movement. Very useful for improving performance in day to day activities, but not as successful as using a db in each hand or a bar to balance yourself out and allow you to use heavier weights for greater muscle gain. Although theres always an exception. Core strength is very important in weight lifting and i think it is something that can be easily overlooked at times.

DB presses do work the chest and triceps and can also work the shoulder. They are probably better than doing the regular bench press but still they are slightly different. You want to be stretching and squeezing your chest whilst doing them for them to work your chest more efficiently. Theres many exercises you can do with a DB but i still think it limits you slightly. Can you not afford or get access to any more equipment?

there are ways to use a single db press from time to time to help fix imbalances...but you really want both halves of the chest pressing in unison.

I doubt you're able to fully use the pecs in your lifts, probably a lot has to do with the balancing act you have to play on the bench...so its mostly your tricep and deltoid muscles pushing the weight and the pec is just kinda helping out.

Is this an adjustable dumbell? Its common for people to feel the burn in their arms over their chest in the beginning.

I would love to see your workout and I am actually enthused because I think you can do wonders with only one adj dumbell.

I use two adjustable dumbbells and a flat-incline-decline bench to do my workouts: My Bodybuilding Blog: My Equipment