How to PROPERLY Dumbbell Bench Press With Perfect Form

It's Coach Josh from Kloss Fitness, your forum expert and online fitness coach. And today I'm gonna show you how to do the dumbbell bench press like an absolute pro. So first and foremost, you're gonna grab a flat bench. You can have a preset flat bench like this or an adjustable one. Either one will work totally fine. From there, you're gonna grab two dumbbells. I recommend starting with the weight that's realistic and reasonable as you learn or as you get it down. I'm gonna show you some high-level tips in this video that will really change how you feel your chest in this movement. So we're gonna grab them. We're gonna put them on the edge of our knees here. And one of the biggest common mistakes I see is just not knowing how to get these back. You can get away with it as you use light weights. When it gets heavy, if you're doing this, you can get in really awkward positions and you can harm yourself. So instead, have them at the end of your knee. You're gonna lean forward and you're gonna let your back actually curve a little bit here. You're gonna roll back as you kick your knees up and you're gonna be in your starting position just like so. From here, a big mistake people make is they try to drop like this. See how awkward this looks? I hate this. I hate this in my chest. I hate this in my shoulders. Instead, what you're gonna do is you're gonna tuck your elbows in a little bit. So you'll see how I have like a little bit of a V forming on the dumbbells. From here, I'm gonna bring the dumbbells down towards my nipples, just outside of them. I'm gonna stop just above my chest here and I'm gonna power up. So once again, we have a little bit of an angle. We're not like this. And we're bringing our elbows down, letting the dumbbells come down to around where our nipples are. From here, we're pushing up. And as we push up, I like to envision squeezing my elbows together to really actively engage that chest. Once again, we're gonna do a big squeeze here, bringing them down with control and power. And that is how you do it. But what I will say is there's a lot of common mistakes people make in this exercise. And I've outlined the biggest three that you're gonna want to avoid. But before we jump into those, I have a free form guide. It's like a personal training in your pocket. Shows you how to do exercises, how not to do exercises, as well as some great cues. So when you're in between sets, you want to whip out something so you can actually say, okay, how do I do this movement? I want some refreshers. I want the best tips. This is gonna be for you. And you can get that totally free in the first link down below. My gift to you. I'm always happy to be given back in teaching and helping you grow. So that is my gift for you for tuning into this video. All I ask is if you can smash like, that would mean a lot. But as we jump into our common mistakes, the first biggest one I see is not actually retracting your scapula and getting in a strong pressing position. You want to make sure when you're on that bench that you can see I'm nice and tight, roll my shoulders back, I'm squeezing them together, and I have my chest high. This is gonna open up my chest for me to get a maximum contraction, as well as to really stretch it out on the negative so I can get more out of this movement. Number two, you know it's common. I had to call some of you out as half reps. I know it's fun to use heavy weights, but the second you get into half rep territory, you're just working your elbows and your triceps, and you're not gonna be doing yourselves any favor. Our goal is to actively stretch that chest. You can see on the screen here, by me bringing it down, how much I'm able to stretch that chest so you can actually build a fuller, thicker chest is one of my biggest cues. You can see my chest here on the screen, and this changed everything for me. When I first started, I was a bit of a half repper. I was trying to go up in weights too fast. Instead, drop the weight and really focus on the negative. You're gonna get a lot more out of this movement. Third common mistake, I need to reiterate this. This is not correct. Once again, this is gonna cause impingement to your shoulder. It's gonna be uncomfortable. Instead, as you can see on the screen here, tuck those elbows. This will change everything for you. When you drop those weights down, lead by dropping your elbows, and from there, actually push those dumbbells upward a little bit more towards your face. This is gonna really greatly help you with a bench press as well. So this is a massive game changer. But I assure you, now you know how to do the dumbbell bench press like a pro. This will change everything for you. This helped me really throw my dumbbell bench press up. I'm now currently doing 125-pound dumbbells, which I'm really proud of, and I'm sure you're gonna be there in no time. So smash like if you learned something. Grab that free personal trainer in your pocket. We'll see you in the next one. Peace out.