There are lots of resistance machines to target nearly every part of your body in gyms, but a weight bench allows you to work your body in a more natural way and isolate each side perfectly.
Weight benches have fewer limitations in terms of the range of motion since they not restrict your joints like many plate-loaded machines. Also, with an incline bench, you can perform exercises to target a muscle from different angles. Weight benches are great for small spaces, like your home gym, not only they need little space but also their range of uses. You can use the weight bench for support when doing exercises like the split squat and hip thrust.
So, a weight bench is one of the essential pieces of equipment that you must have in any home gym and you can hit every single muscle group in your body if you know the correct exercises. Here are some of the exercises you can do with a weight bench, a barbell, and adjustable dumbbells to build muscle.
Barbell Bench Press
This is the first exercise that comes into the mind when you see a weight bench. It is known as the best chest exercise by many people and what you need are a barbell and a stable flat bench.
Bench Press with Dumbbells
The bench press with dumbbells is very similar to a barbell bench press but it allows you to move with a better range of motion. It is also a much safer exercise than the barbell press when training alone if you can’t push the weight more just drop the dumbbells on each side. Other advantages are, it develops the stabilization muscles and corrects muscle asymmetry.
Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
Like flat bench dumbbell press but the incline chest press works the upper portion of the pectoral muscle groups more and it also hits the front of the shoulder. Most fitness experts say that 30-degrees is the ideal angle for this exercise.
Seated Shoulder Press
This is a great compound exercise that builds your deltoids. If you can adjust the bench in a 90-degree position to support your back, you can focus on your shoulders more, so if you did not get a weight bench yet keep this in mind.
Dumbbell Pullover
This is also a great exercise to build your upper body, when done correctly it works your pecs and lats.
Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
With single arms dumbbell rows, you can hit your lats individually, so you can get rid of any muscle imbalances. This is a very important exercise because most of the other back exercises (pull-ups, lat pulldown, etc.) work both sides at the same time.
Lying Triceps Extension
This is one of the best exercises for the triceps muscle group mainly the Triceps Brachii. You can use a straight barbell or an EZ-bar. The exercise is also known as Skullcrusher, so be careful while doing the exercise and be sure you have a solid weight bench.
Reverse Flyes
The reverse fly is another exercise you can do with a weight bench, it that targets the deltoids and other muscles of the upper back.
Bulgarian Split Squat
You can use a box or a weight bench to support your leg to do Bulgarian split squats. The elevated leg adds some more difficulty to this exercise which makes it a perfect movement for your quads, calves, and hamstrings.
