It is human psychology to look good while being professional in any field. If we talk about BJJ athletes, they look forward to the muscular upper chest. The chest popping out of their shirts makes their personality impressive and also collects the audience’s wows. However, athletes believe that a dumbbell upper chest workout is not a piece of cake for everyone. Especially when you start practicing the wrong exercises. You need proper training and practice for upper chest dumbbell workouts for maximum results.
Everybody who competes in jiu jitsu gi agrees that having a powerful upper chest is one of the key characteristics for achieving a jaw-dropping physique. Dumbbell chest exercises are the best choice if you want to develop your upper chest development quickly. Still, there is a huge debate among fitness trainers about whether to use the dumbbell for upper chest exercises. The dumbbell upper chest workout creates mind and muscle harmony for better development.
Best Upper Chest Dumbbell Workouts
Now let’s explore the top dumbbell chest workouts that may provide an efficient chest workout.
Incline Dumbbell Flyes
An excellent workout for the upper pecs is the incline dumbbell fly. It helps improve total chest growth and is a terrific way to work out your upper chest. Your chest muscles will benefit from being opened up by the dumbbell chest fly. The chest opening exercises are particularly beneficial for avoiding back injuries and releasing any upper body tension.
Steps To Follow
- To begin, situate the bench at a 45-degree incline.
- Currently, sit on the bench with a dumbbell on your thighs in each hand.
- Lean against the bench with your back against it, then lift the dumbbells and position them at your shoulders.
- With your elbows bent and palms facing each other, raise the dumbbells above your chest level.
- Lower the dumbbells until they are at chest height.
Raise these again, this time in front of your chest.
Old School Incline Dumbbell Press
Every professional BJJ no gi athlete performs and considers this as one of the chest exercises. The clavicular head of the pectoralis major is a crucial muscle group targeted by the dumbbell incline press. Other chest workouts like the flat dumbbell or bench press nearly never include this chest portion. Additionally, the dumbbell incline press naturally copies numerous pressing motions used in daily life, including opening doors, putting objects on shelves, and many others.
Therefore, completing an incline dumbbell press will make it easier and more efficient for a dumbbell upper chest workout.
Steps To Follow
- To begin, situate the bench at a 45-degree incline.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand while sitting on the bench. Push your legs up to assist in lifting the upper chest workout dumbbell, resting on your thighs.
- The dumbbells will now be close to your shoulders.
- Dumbbells should be raised straight up in front of your chest.
- Squeeze your muscles as soon as you are in the highest position.
- Now, flex your elbows and bring them nearly to your shoulders as you lower the weights.
- Repeat the same actions.
Classic Incline Dumbbell Pullover
The incline dumbbell pullover is the best dumbbell upper chest workout, especially for pectoral muscle fibers. In addition, the incline dumbbell pullover is also excellent for increasing flexibility because it stretches your back, chest, shoulders, and arms.
That’s not all, either. Your abs and lats will both benefit immensely from this exercise.
Steps To Follow
- To begin, tilt your bench at a 45-degree angle.
- You will just need one dumbbell for this exercise. Take it in your hands.
- You can hold the dumbbell with your hands facing up or with a hammer grip.
- Lay on the bench with your back against it and drop the dumbbells until they parallel your head by extending your arms behind you.
- The dumbbell should now be in front of your chest as you pull it closer to your body.
- hold the dumbbell in this posture and tense your muscles for a moment.
Bonus For Incline Dumbbell Pullover
You can perform a superset of a single dumbbell bench press with a close grip at the end of each set. This makes some additional efforts to improve muscle hypertrophy and speed up upper chest dumbbell workouts.
Close Grip Dumbbell Press Technique
- Hold onto your dumbbell after completing your set of incline dumbbell pullovers.
- Lower the dumbbell till it is just about to touch your chest while holding it in front of your clavicular region.
- Pull it back up right now. Squeeze your muscles while standing tall.
- Repeat these steps.
Dumbbell Crossover Upper Chest Exercise
A substitute for cable crossover is the dumbbell crossover for upper chest dumbbell workouts. It is the ideal chest workout as it extends the upper pecs right from the starting posture. Targeting the inside part of your upper chest, which is only slightly worked during other upper chest dumbbell exercises, is a benefit of this exercise.
This exercise, which focuses on the inside part of your upper chest specifically, is an isolating exercise. Try this workout if you’re having trouble developing the desired line in your chest so you can show off your V-neck shirt.
Steps To Follow
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand and place your feet hip-width apart.
- Your palms should be inward and facing each other.
- Raise the two dumbbells and position them in front of your clavicle.
- Take a brief pause and stress your muscles.
- Return the dumbbells to the starting position slowly.
Why Should You Choose Upper Chest Workouts With Dumbbells?
The ultimate goal for every BJJ gi player is to obtain hypertrophy. The hypertrophic state occurs when a muscle breaks down its microfibers due to exercise. Later, they achieve normal muscle structure due to the proper diet intake. The muscles start increasing in size. Additionally, those muscle fibers expand even more when they regenerate.
You need to keep in mind that your chest workout restricted to solely bench presses or cable flyes cannot develop into a hypertrophic state. Here we have given the reasons which make it essential for BJJ no gi or gi players to select a dumbbell upper chest workout.
Train Your Chest Safely Without Burdening Your Joints
As was previously mentioned, when lifting a barbell, it is more likely that you will lean on your stronger side while favoring your weaker side. This would eventually increase the stress on the stronger side, resulting in strained joints. When using dumbbells for exercise, your shoulders, elbows, and wrists can all move in any manner that feels natural.
Dumbbells ensure that training stress is applied to your muscles, not your joints, where it belongs.
Balanced Upper Body
The upper chest workout dumbbell does not allow your more muscular arm to assist you while lifting the weight during exercise. In contrast, when lifting a barbell, we frequently make compensatory motions by taking assistance or support from our stronger side.
Most bodybuilders have unbalanced chest muscles, which is one of the leading causes. You can build a balanced chest by performing regular dumbbell chest exercises. Increased advantages for the efficient development of your upper body for BJJ gi, particularly the shoulders, and arms, come from a dumbbell chest workout.
Put More Effort Into Those Difficult Pecs
If you’ve ever performed an incline bench press with a pair of dumbbells, you’ve probably experienced upper pec contraction at the peak of the exercise. Your chest muscles must work harder to keep the upper chest workout dumbbell from swaying outward. However, with a barbell, this is not the case. Not that performing a barbell bench press is ineffective. The upper chest can, however, be developed a little more effectively by lifting dumbbells.
Increased Range Of Motion
It’s not that bad to bench press with a barbell. Your pectoral muscles get a good stretch when the bar strikes your chest. However, using dumbbells for chest presses allows you to drop the weights below your chest level. So, you stretch the pecs to their maximum extent and work more muscle fibers. A dumbbell chest workout is the best option if you want to get an athletic body faster.
Final Words
Upper chest workouts with dumbbells help the players develop their bodies with maximum gains. Most trainers believe that upper chest development is one of the important aspects of winning jiu jitsu gi or any other martial art. Intense and challenging martial arts like BJJ require muscle strengthening to avoid injury and combat effectively.
All of the above discussed best upper chest dumbbell workouts are professionally recommended. Practicing these exercises in the right way can help you in bodybuilding and a successful BJJ journey.
