Do not have time going to the gym to build muscles? Don’t care about it! I will show the best weight bench exercises at home to have a full-body workout. A bench and a pair of hand weights are enough to have complete strength training.
If you do not have the equipment yet, I recommend you to get and an adjustable workout bench and a pair of adjustable dumbbells. Therefore, you can do even more types of exercises and variations, plus you can save money and space. But, a flat weight bench and traditional dumbbells will do as well.
I group the exercises based on muscle groups. These practices are suitable for both beginners and advanced fitness level athletes.
Now let’s learn.
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Best Weight Bench Exercises With Dumbbells
1. Chest
The most beneficial chest exercises are the flat, incline, and decline bench presses. They are great for developing the size and strength of our pecs. Chest flys are great for widening and stretching the pectoralis. Finally, I have to mention the push-ups (regular, decline, incline).
The following video is an excellent example of a chest workout at home to build your upper body.
2. Shoulders
Seated or standing shoulder presses, and lateral and front raises are the winners here. Perfect drills for strength and size. However, I have to mention the Arnold press, which is a fantastic compound exercise for the delts.
3. Back
You can do various dumbbell rows. There are single or two hand versions, even ones even chest supported versions. Hence, you can target every part of your back.
You can also do reverse hyperextension with the help of a flat bench to strengthen your lower back and muscles next to your spine.
4. Legs
Well, squats and lunges with dumbbells are the winner here for which you do not need a bench.
Although, there are other powerful moves: Bulgarian split squat, step-ups, and supported pistol squats. These are single limb drills, so they require existing strength. Beginners better do them without weight first.
Also, some equipment comes with leg curl and extension attachment to have an even more complete leg weight training at home with bench.
5. Arms
In my opinion, dumbbells are the best exercise equipment for arms training. Curls in seated or standing positions are great for developing the biceps. For triceps, bench dips are excellent strength training exercises. But, you can do seated, standing or lying triceps extensions as well. With these exercises, you can have a complete bench arm workout.
6. Abs
Some items come with a leg hold attachment so that you can do sit-ups or crunches. If not, you can use the equipment to do leg raises, knee-ins, and many other hand and feet elevated weight bench exercises for abs.
Exercises to do on a weight bench without weights
If you think about a weight bench, I’m sure the first thing that comes to your mind is the bench press exercise. However, this fitness equipment provides far more possibilities than you think to work out, even if you have no dumbbells or other tools.
How is it possible that a simple workout bench so versatile?
The answer is bodyweight exercises!
Yes, numerous beneficial exercises require only your body, and with them, you can strengthen almost all parts of your body. Furthermore, some moves boost your endurance, cardio, and help lose weight.
I’ve just found an excellent video in which over 50 exercises shown that require only a workout bench, nothing more. But, I’m sure after watching this video, more moves will come into your mind.
List of Exercises
One of the main benefits of bodyweight training is that they are compound exercises. That means during the move, several muscles have to work together to perform the motion. However, there is almost always one particular muscle group that is activated the most.
A flat bench could be enough for most of these moves, but an adjustable one provides even more possibilities since you can change the position of the board.
For Chest
- Hand elevated pushups
- Feet-elevated pushups
- Bench tap plyometric pushups
- Up-down pushups
- Chest-squeeze pushups
- One-arm pushup (+ alternating plyo version)
For Abs
- Hands-elevated mountain climber
- Feet-elevated mountain climber
- Back bridge
- Plyo pushup to plank transfer
- Feet-elevated donkey kicks
- Inchworm
- Hand-elevated side plank
- Feet-elevated side plank
- Elevated bicycle crunch
- Reverse crunch (+ on the incline)
- Knee-in
For Legs & Glutes
- Shoulders-elevated butterfly hip thrust
- Feet-elevated hip thrust
- Straight leg-feet elevated hip thrust
- Shoulders-elevated hamstring walk
- Bench squat
- Hack squat
- Step up
- Lateral step up
- Crossover step up
- Split squat
- Single-leg squat
- Step up to reverse lunge
- Natural leg extension
For Triceps & Shoulders
- Feet-elevated pike pushup (to push-ups)
- Triceps extension
- Bench dip
For Back
- Reverse hyperextension
For Endurance & Cardio (Full body)
- Hand elevated burpees
- Bench jump
- Alternating single-leg jump
- Single leg bench jump
- Squat jump
- Drop squat
- Step up jump
- Lateral step-up jump
- Split squat jump
- Hands-elevated blast-off pushup
- Feet-elevated blast-off pushup
- Runner
- Parkour leap
- Face melter
Stretches
- Quad, and hip flexor stretch
- Pigeon stretch
- Hamstring stretch
- Prayer stretch
How to use a weight bench at home effectively?
You have learned many exercises, so the next step is to create an at-home bench workout routine. If you are a beginner, I recommend you to have a full-body workout 3 times a week instead of a split training. That means you strengthen every main muscle group during a session.
For big muscles like chest, leg and back get 2-3 exercises. For small muscles like biceps, triceps, abs, and shoulders so 1-2 exercises. Since you are a beginner, do 2-3 sets and 10-12 reps.
Of course, as you get better, you can increase the resistance, reps, and sets and add advanced exercises to your weight bench workout routine. However, I always focus on the correct performance of the activities.
Conclusion
As you see, there are many exercises you can do with weight benches to have a full-body training. I know a gym seems to be a much better option, but if you try these moves, you will see how effective they are. Do not underestimate the effectiveness of a bench workout at home.