5 'No-Bench' Dumbbell Chest Exercises To Do At Home

Not sure what kinds of dumbbell chest exercises you can do at home if you don’t have a bench?

This short list includes 5 of my personal favourite ‘no bench required’ chest exercises that you can do with your dumbbells.

Having strength in our chest muscles can help make everyday pushing movements easier and improve our overall upper body strength. Implementing even one or two of these exercises into your home workout routine could make a difference!

P.s This post may include affiliate links, which means if you click on them I could make a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps me keep the content I share on this blog free and accessible for you!

5 Dumbbell Chest Exercises Without A Bench

1) Dumbbell Floor Press

How To Do A Dumbbell Floor Press

Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Hold two dumbbells beside the chest, with your elbows resting on the floor to start.
Press your dumbbells straight up until your arms are fully extended above the chest.
Then lower slowly back down, gently touching the elbows on the floor.

Jane’s Technique Tip 💋
Try not to bounce the dumbbells up and down, think about moving with control and tapping lightly on the floor with the elbows as you descend.

2) Single-Arm Floor Press

How To Do A Single-Arm Floor Press

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold one dumbbell beside the chest with the elbow rested on the floor.
Press the weight straight up, until your arm is fully extended.
To return, simply lower the dumbbell back down with control to the floor.

Jane’s Technique Tip 💋
When pressing, keep your hips and core stable, and don’t let your ribcage flare too much.

3) Dumbbell Floor Fly

How To Do A Dumbbell Floor Fly

Lie on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold two dumbbells above the chest, keeping a soft bend in your elbow.
From here, start to lower your arms out to the sides until the elbows reach the floor, keeping that soft elbow throughout.
Then use your chest muscles to squeeze the weights back up and together above the chest.

Jane’s Technique Tip 💋
When squeezing the weights back up, think of yourself as if you are hugging a tree! This will really get the muscles in your chest working!

4) Dumbbell Floor Squeeze Press

How To Do A Dumbbell Floor Squeeze Press

Lying on your back, rest two dumbbells at your chest and actively press them together.
Maintaining that squeeze, press the dumbbells straight up above the chest until the arms are fully extended.
Then lower back down with control – without releasing the squeeze.

Jane’s Technique Tip 💋
Actively press those dumbbells together the whole time, this is what is really going to work your chest muscles!

5) Dumbbell Floor Pullover

How To Do A Dumbbell Floor Pullover

Lie on your back, holding a dumbbell straight above your chest. Either ‘goblet’ style or holding on at each end.
With fairly straight arms, lower the dumbbell behind you until you feel a nice stretch.
To come back up, use your chest muscles to pull the dumbbell back to the starting position.

Jane’s Technique Tip 💋
Try your best to keep your ribcage down throughout this movement – avoid flaring too much!

What Dumbbells I Use For Home Workouts

For my home workouts I like to use rubber HEX DUMBBELLS. They are the type of dumbbells you’ll probably find in most gyms and you can do so many different exercises with them.

They’re also very safe & sturdy due to their hexagonal shape.

I also find they feel better to grip due to the knurling on the steel handle, in comparison to smoother neoprene dumbbells.

You can easily get them on Amazon – these are the ones that are best reviewed in the UK/Ireland and seem to be most popular!

If they’re not available just look for similar ones, there seem to be plenty of options available! 💪🏻

I hope this list has given you some useful ideas for dumbbell chest exercises you can do at home without a bench!

If you want to save this list so you can refer back to it later, I’d recommend either bookmarking it in your favourites folder on your browser or save it to Pinterest below! 💋

Let me know in the comments if you’ll give any of these ‘no-bench’ chest exercises a try!

Save This List To Your Pinterest 📌

DISCLAIMER ☁️✨

Just a friendly heads‑up: The workouts and tips I provide on this site are here to help you move, feel strong, and learn — but they’re absolutely not a substitute for personalised medical advice. If you have any health concerns, injuries, or conditions, it’s always best to chat with a healthcare professional before trying something new. Listen to your body, take things at your own pace, and stop if something doesn’t feel right.

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