The male physique has the potential to develop large chest size and strength. While barbells can provide the weight needed to build the basic mass, dumbbells are essential tools for a complete pectoral workout. Dumbbells possess a number of advantages that, when used in conjunction with barbells and even machines, will build your strength and keep you injury-free.
Exercise Variety
The book "Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding" explains that one of the chief reasons your body hits a plateau is because you're performing the same exercises over and over. Muscle requires calories to maintain, and your body doesn't want to put on more muscle than it absolutely must. So you need to perform a variety of exercises to shock it into growth. With a barbell, you can perform the basic, heavy, pectoral-building bench press, but if you don't mix things up, your body will stop responding and you won't gain the V-shaped torso men covet. Dumbbells allow you to perform flies, which stretch the pectorals to build inner and outer fullness. They also allow you to perform very heavy pullovers, which, according to Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding," is the primary way to expand the ribcage, something most men want to do. They allow for alternating presses and presses from different angles.
Joint Health
Joint health, particularly the shoulders, is an important concern for men that is often overlooked. Men have less flexibility in the shoulders than women do, but they also possess much greater strength in the pectorals and deltoids. Those two traits can add up to injury and surgery unless you take precautions. While the barbell bench press allows you to lift very heavy weight, dumbbells should be used as well because they are much easier on the elbows and shoulders. A barbell locks those joints into unnatural positions. Perform dumbbell bench press and notice how the wrists turn, taking pressure off your elbows and shoulders. The "Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding" explains that for this reason, many men who've had shoulder problems or who see them developing use dumbbells alone to build the pectorals.
Range of Motion
Eight-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger had one of the most perfectly developed chests in history, and he explains that dumbbells were an essential tool for shaping it. While barbell bench press can provide basic mass, to create the deep crevice at the center of the chest and fullness at the edges, a greater range of motion is required than a barbell can provide. A barbell limits your range of motion because the bar can't pass through your torso. For full pectoral development, Schwarzenegger recommends performing dumbbell bench presses and going deep on the bottom, and also performing dumbbell flies light enough to get a complete stretch.
Disadvantages
Men possess greater upper-body strength than women, and the barbell is the best tool to take advantage of this fact. The base pectoral mass you later refine with lighter exercises is most easily built with heavy exercises, and the barbell allows you to lift heavier weight than dumbbells do. A barbell allows you to worry about moving weight instead of balancing it. So most men will get the best results from fitting barbell, dumbbell and machine exercises into their pectoral workouts.
References
- "The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding"; Arnold Schwarzenegger; 1998
- "Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding"; Robert Kennedy; 2008
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