One Arm Dumbbell Bench Press
How to do the One Arm Dumbbell Bench Press with correct form, the muscles it works, and where it fits a training plan you actually stick to.
Chest
Shoulders, Triceps
Dumbbell
How to do the One Arm Dumbbell Bench Press
- 1
Lie down on a flat bench with a dumbbell in one hand on top of your thigh.
- 2
By using your thigh to help you get the dumbbell up, clean the dumbbell up so that you can hold it in front of you at shoulder width. Use the hand you are not lifting with to help position the dumbbell over you properly.
- 3
Once at shoulder width, rotate your wrist forward so that the palm of your hand is facing away from you. This will be your starting position.
- 4
Bring down the weights slowly to your side as you breathe in. Keep full control of the dumbbell at all times. Tip: Use the hand that you are not lifting with to help keep the dumbbell balance as you may struggle a bit at first. Only use your non-lifting hand if it is needed. Otherwise, keep it resting to the side.
- 5
As you breathe out, push the dumbbells up using your pectoral muscles. Lock your arms in the contracted position, squeeze your chest, hold for a second and then start coming down slowly. Tip: It should take at least twice as long to go down than to come up.
- 6
Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions of your training program.
- 7
Switch arms and repeat the movement.
Log it, see it on your body.
Every One Arm Dumbbell Bench Press set you log feeds Ascend's anatomy heatmap — so your chest volume is visible at a glance — and counts toward your bodyweight-strength tier.
More chest exercises
The app is free. Club adds the coach, leagues and analytics.
Core tracking stays free forever — the climb, streaks, logging and your league tiers. Club is for when you want the full coach, worldwide competition and the depth, at about the price of one coffee a month.
14-day free trial · no card to start
| Free | Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking, the climb and streaks | ||
| Per-set logging, PR detection, wearables | ||
| Muscle-league tiers | ||
| The AI coach | nudges | Full conversation |
| Worldwide leagues and challenges | — | |
| PR projections and deep analytics | — | |
| Unlimited crews | — | |
| Themes, export and higher AI limits | — |