Close-Grip Dumbbell Bench Press
A dumbbell bench press with dumbbells held together to increase triceps involvement.
Upper arms · Dumbbell · Intermediate


Muscles worked by the Close-Grip Dumbbell Bench Press
Primary
Secondary
Also called: tricep, triceps, triceps brachii, horseshoe, tris.
Equipment
Also called: db, dumbell, hex dumbbell, rubber dumbbell, hand weight.
How to do the Close-Grip Dumbbell Bench Press
- Lie on a flat bench and hold two dumbbells together over your chest.
- Lower them to your chest keeping elbows close.
- Press back up.
- Repeat.
Form tips
- Press the dumbbells together throughout the movement.
- Keep elbows tucked.
At a glance
| Body part | Upper arms |
|---|---|
| Category | Strength |
| Force type | Push |
| Mechanic | Compound |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Equipment | Dumbbell |
| Goals | Hypertrophy, Strength |
| Tags | Arm day, Push day, Knee safe, No axial load, Lower back safe, Shoulder safe, Requires bench |
| MET | 6.0 (metabolic equivalent, for calorie estimates) |
| Unilateral | No |
| Bodyweight | No |
| Dataset id | close-grip-db-bench-press |
Close-Grip Dumbbell Bench Press in German & Spanish
| German | Kurzhantel-Bankdrücken enger Griff |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Press de Banca con Mancuernas y Agarre Cerrado |
Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.
Exercise data (JSON)
The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.
{
"id": "close-grip-db-bench-press",
"name_en": "Close-Grip Dumbbell Bench Press",
"name_de": "Kurzhantel-Bankdrücken enger Griff",
"name_es": "Press de Banca con Mancuernas y Agarre Cerrado",
"description_en": "A dumbbell bench press with dumbbells held together to increase triceps involvement.",
"description_de": "Kurzhantel-Bankdrücken mit zusammengehaltenen Kurzhanteln zur stärkeren Trizepsbeanspruchung.",
"description_es": "Un press de banca con mancuernas sostenidas juntas para aumentar la participación de los tríceps.",
"category": "strength",
"force_type": "push",
"mechanic": "compound",
"difficulty": "intermediate",
"equipment": "dumbbell",
"body_part": "upper_arms",
"primary_muscles": [
"triceps_brachii"
],
"secondary_muscles": [
"anterior_deltoid",
"pectoralis_major"
],
"goals": [
"hypertrophy",
"strength"
],
"tags": [
"arm_day",
"push_day",
"knee_safe",
"no_axial_load",
"lower_back_safe",
"shoulder_safe",
"requires_bench"
],
"variation_group": "bench-press",
"is_unilateral": false,
"is_bodyweight": false,
"instructions_en": [
"Lie on a flat bench and hold two dumbbells together over your chest.",
"Lower them to your chest keeping elbows close.",
"Press back up.",
"Repeat."
],
"instructions_de": [
"Leg dich auf eine flache Bank und halte zwei Kurzhanteln zusammen über der Brust.",
"Senke sie zur Brust, Ellbogen nah am Körper.",
"Drücke zurück nach oben.",
"Wiederholen."
],
"instructions_es": [
"Túmbate en un banco plano y sostén dos mancuernas juntas sobre el pecho.",
"Bájalas hasta el pecho manteniendo los codos cerca.",
"Empuja hacia arriba.",
"Repite."
],
"tips_en": [
"Press the dumbbells together throughout the movement.",
"Keep elbows tucked."
],
"tips_de": [
"Drücke die Kurzhanteln während der gesamten Bewegung zusammen.",
"Halte die Ellbogen angelegt."
],
"tips_es": [
"Mantén las mancuernas presionadas entre sí durante todo el movimiento.",
"Mantén los codos pegados."
],
"met": 6.0,
"images": {
"flat": {
"start": "images/flat/close-grip-db-bench-press-start.webp",
"peak": "images/flat/close-grip-db-bench-press-peak.webp"
}
}
}Fetch just this exercise
const { exercises } = await fetch(
"https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "close-grip-db-bench-press");Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.