Developing a powerful pressing movement is pretty standard advice for any lifter trying to make big gains in upper body development. The incline dumbbell bench press, specifically, will add some spice to your chest workout by utilizing a special approach of attack to bring some unique perks.
Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock
Between the dumbbells, inclined body position, and a few clever programming decisions, you’ll set the stage for some long-term progress in size and strength. Here’s why this chest exercise needs to be a staple for sculpting your upper body.
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Tips on how to Do the Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Step by Step
The incline dumbbell bench press adds a number of recent elements to your normal pressing performance. Considering all of the moving parts to this variation will allow you to stay dialed in and make great progress session-to-session. Ideally, the incline dumbbell press requires an adjustable bench to decide on your incline setting and a pair (or full set) of dumbbells.
Step 1 – Get on the Right Bench
Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock
Set the backrest to an angle of roughly 45 degrees (or the closest angle available) and adjust the seat to be perpendicular to the remaining of the bench — you won’t be as secure with an incline backrest and horizontal seat. This setup will mean you can press from a pleasant, effective middle ground between flat dumbbell bench press and a totally upright shoulder press, and the seat angle will more effectively support your body.
Form Tip: Be sure that your bench settings are locked in before you begin. Test the angle with lighter dumbbells, or without weight, to ensure every little thing is in comfortable and efficient alignment prior to going heavy.
Step 2 – Bring the Weights Into Position
Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock
Pick up the dumbbells and sit on the incline bench. Rest the dumbbells in your thighs together with your thumbs pointed up. “Kick” the dumbbells up toward your shoulders using your legs to generate momentum as you control the burden in a hammer curl motion, bringing your thumbs near the fronts of your shoulders.
When your wrists are near shoulder-level, rigorously rotate your elbows away out of your body until your palms are facing forward. Rest your shoulder blades against the backrest to totally support your upper body.
Form Tip: You may find a way to bring each dumbbells up concurrently when using relatively lighter weights, but it will possibly turn out to be higher risk once weights get heavy. Concentrate on getting one dumbbell into position first, then hold it stable as you repeat with the opposite side. For those who’re scuffling with getting the dumbbells up into the starting position, ask a friend (or friendly looking gym-goer) for a spot.
Step 3 – Set Your Shoulder Blades, Core, and Feet
Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock
Tuck your shoulder blades down and picture putting them “into your back pockets.” This may help stabilize your upper back and ensure your pressing has a powerful base to supply force, particularly once fatigue starts to build up.
Squeeze the dumbbells tightly in your hands and engage your abdominal muscles. The goal here is to stop any unintentional arching — some natural back curvature will probably be normal from pinning your shoulder blades, but you’ll need to avoid any extreme arching which may lead to lower back pain. This manner, your incline press will remain an incline and never slowly turn into an ungainly “flat bench press using an incline.”
Find a cushty foot position roughly shoulder-width apart. Once the remaining of your body is about up properly, begin flippantly driving through your feet to ascertain pressure that pushes your body into the bench. This may help stabilize your position throughout the set and mean you can prevent wiggling around during harder reps.
Form Tip: Take into consideration pinning your upper abdominal muscles to the highest of your ribcage. This visualization should allow you to create a powerful core. To maintain your feet in place, consider performing a leg extension to create tension while your feet are digging into the bottom.
Step 4 – Press to Lockout
Credit: Slatan / Shutterstock
The predominant event has arrived. Begin with the dumbbells just above shoulder-height, each palms facing forward, and your elbows geared toward a slight angle between your shoulders and your feet. Tense your shoulder blades, engage your core, drive through your feet as you press the weights toward the ceiling.
Because the dumbbells pass your face, bring them barely together in an arc until they nearly meet. Within the locked out position, the weights needs to be generally above your face, not too far forward (above your chest) or too far back (above the highest of your head).
Form Tip: For those who can concentrate on mastering the correct setup while applying full-body tension, the dumbbells’ path should almost set itself up perfectly. For those who’re scuffling with controlling the weights, try adding tempo by moving more slowly through each phase of the exercise.
Step 5 – Lower the Weight
Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock
After successfully locking out the burden, slowly lower the dumbbells. Once the dumbbells are roughly flush alongside your chest (if mobility allows that range of motion), reverse course and perform the following repetition, pressing the dumbbells with control back to the lockout position.
Form Tip: Lifters with poor shoulder mobility or pre-existing shoulder issues will not be comfortable with the stretched position created by holding the dumbbells near shoulder-level. Work inside a cushty, pain-free range of motion to avoid worsening any current joint problems. Pressing with a neutral grip (palms facing one another) as a substitute of a palms-forward grip may help to cut back shoulder-joint strain.
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Mistakes to Avoid
Among the most typical errors chances are you’ll stumble across while performing the incline dumbbell press involve various incorrect body positioning and poorly performed pressing. Any considered one of these can reduce results or create a chance for injury. Here’s what to look at out for.
Overarching
Some extent of arching during any kind of chest press is a crucial and direct results of setting a stable upper back. Nevertheless, issues can arise in case your arch gets uncontrolled and too extreme.
Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock
In case your abdomen begins to approach the identical level as your sternum or chest, chances are you’ll end up with an awkwardly angled torso that begins to more closely resemble a flat press than an incline.
Avoid it: Keep your core braced, drive your body into the bench using your legs, and only arch by depressing your shoulder blades — tucking them into your “back pockets.” Don’t arch by attempting to “make space” between your lower back and the bench.
Flared Elbows
There may be a sweet spot to your elbow angle during most presses. A standard mistake is flaring your elbows out in order that your arms are almost completely perpendicular to your body.
Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock
Everybody goes to be barely different depending on their individual arm length, but there’s a powerful probability this directly outward position might limit your range of motion or run into some stressful issues at your shoulder joints or shoulder blades.
Avoid it: Aim for a pleasant middle ground between having your elbows fully tucked (aimed straight ahead) and fully flared (aimed straight to the edges). An excellent goal to shoot for is to have your upper arms at roughly a 45-degree angle out of your shoulder during a lot of the range of motion.
Inactive Legs
One quite common mistake on the incline dumbbell press is totally forgetting about your lower body. While pressing is clearly designed to primarily goal your chest, triceps, and shoulders, an energetic and engaged lower body may help with total-body stability and overall performance.
Credit: Serghei Starus / Shutterstock
Avoid it: Because wiggling around can reduce your stable position, keep your feet flat on the bottom and dig in. Use your legs to continuously push yourself into the bench press pad through your thighs and hips.
Short Range of Motion
Training with high intensity is a reasonably common prerequisite for results. Unfortunately, it isn’t unusual to see a lifter “cut depth” as an exercise starts to get harder and harder.
Credit: Oleg Romanko / Shutterstock
Either through choosing too heavy of a dumbbell or just by accumulating fatigue across a set, the range of motion often starts to diminish slowly and the previous few reps of a set may find yourself with a shorter range of motion than the initial reps of the identical set.
Avoid it: Hold yourself accountable throughout the workout. Perform a consistent range of motion for every repetition and select your working weights to ensure you may hit it with every rep of each set.
Tips on how to Progress the Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
The incline dumbbell press may be a wonderful staple exercise in your program. There may be some big value in getting a powerful base of strength using a machine chest press or flat bench variation first, but when you’re on the incline dumbbell press, progressing it will possibly be approached in a number of very effective ways.
Degree of Incline
The bench’s degree of incline will affect your level of stability and may potentially even alter the swath of muscle that gets the best stimulation (1). These two considerations can allow you to plan your chosen “angle” of attack. They may provide you with a pleasant long pathway to progress.
Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock
Typically, a lower incline (flat or barely above flat) will probably be more stable because gravity remains to be assisting your stability to a greater extent. Every time you’re feeling able to increase the challenge and progress yourself to a different level, kick the incline up a notch until you’re at a solid 45-degree for a pure incline press.
Just know that because the angle goes higher than 45 degrees, and approaches a 90-degree “incline” bench, you’re shifting muscular stress farther from your chest and more directly onto your shoulders.
Adding Repetitions
Sometimes the most effective option is so as to add repetitions while maintaining the identical load in your incline dumbbell press. Because you’re using dumbbells because the loading tool, the unilateral (single-sided) aspect of the exercise could make quick jumps in weight lots harder to do since each arm is answerable for, literally, carrying its own share of the burden.
If so for you, adding repetitions on a number of sets per workout, or step by step increasing the entire repetitions performed per day overall, is usually a way of progressing. This may allow you more time to strengthen your ability to manage and stabilize the identical load, which can make a rise in weight feel less daunting whenever you finally do move to heavier weights.
Adding Load
Adding load is commonly essentially the most obvious way of progressing any exercise, even though it needs to be approached with care. Using heavier weights may help assure definitive, measurable progress — nevertheless it may run you headlong into an early plateau.
Once you may have added a substantial amount of strength and stability by increasing repetitions, start fascinated about making the smallest incremental jump in load that you may which can help to avoid hitting a plateau and permit more long-term progress. Many dumbbells are fixed in five-pound increments, but you may also have access to plate-loaded adjustable dumbbell handles or magnetic add-on weights which may be attached to dumbbells and permit increases as little as one or two kilos.
Increasing Frequency
Sometimes, to see the most effective overall progress in an exercise, you should work in your skill and technique. On this case, it will possibly be extremely useful to extend your training frequency by performing the incline dumbbell press more often each week.
For those who only train the movement once per week, consider adding a second session to enhance your expert execution. This will have a really positive amplifying effect on all your other progression tools as well.
Advantages of the Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
The incline dumbbell press is a improbable tool for strengthening your upper body, constructing more chest muscle, and benefiting from a unilaterally controlled exercise.
Gaining Strength
Except for a basic barbell, dumbbells are one of the vital effective tools for constructing strength. The complete-body stability, coordination, and absolute load that dumbbells can achieve make for a improbable strength training option.
The incline dumbbell press is an efficient common accessory exercise in lots of powerlifting programs, talking to the worth of the movement in developing significant pressing strength.
Constructing Muscle
The incline dumbbell press is usually a very effective muscle-building exercise. The incline angle can allow you to goal your upper chest while also constructing your shoulders and triceps. Since the dumbbells mean you can bring the weights together in the highest position, you may get an extended range of motion in comparison with using a hard and fast barbell. This will further improve the muscle-building stimulus. (2)
Training Unilaterally
Perhaps considered one of the most important advantages is the unilateral aspect of the exercise. Unilateral exercises typically emphasize one side of the body working independently of the opposite.
Credit: Serghei Starus / Shutterstock
Each arm is answerable for controlling one dumbbell without assistance from the other side. This may help encourage essentially the most natural pressing path since the load is distinct and never linked like a barbell, allowing your shoulder and elbow joints to maneuver more with relatively more freedom and potentially less joint strain. The increased stability requirement can even force a more even development of strength and coordination.
Muscles Worked by the Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
The incline dumbbell press primarily works three major upper body muscles — your chest, shoulders, and triceps. While these are sometimes considered “vanity” muscles resulting from their high-profile appearance, additionally they play a key role in displaying upper body strength and stability.
Chest
The first body part involved is your chest (or pectoralis major). The chest is a broad swath of muscle that covers many spots all across the front of your upper body — out of your collarbones to the breastbone and even a number of the ribs.
Each of those regions insert upon the identical location at your upper arm meaning, so any pressing angle will ultimately harness the complete chest. Nevertheless, the incline dumbbell press puts a selected emphasis on the upper muscle fibers, or the highly wanted “upper pecs.” (3)
Shoulders
Your shoulders (specifically, the anterior deltoid or front shoulder muscle) are a virtually inseparable a part of any pressing exercise. The anterior deltoid originates on the skin of your collarbone and inserts on the deltoid tuberosity (a small protrusion on the outer-middle a part of your upper arm bone). Because it’s situated here, most of your chest presses and chest flye exercises will similarly draw upon the anterior deltoid muscle.
Triceps
The triceps are a meaty muscle comprised of three separate heads working together, on the back side of your upper arm. They’re responsible primarily for extending your elbow, so that they will probably be heavily involved in successfully completing any pressing exercise.
Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock
Pressing together with your elbows and upper arms set roughly 45-degrees out of your shoulder can harness a ton of triceps activation due to the improved depth and increased range of motion you may achieve.
Tips on how to Program the Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
The incline dumbbell press is usually a surprisingly versatile exercise to your repertoire. It might probably function a primary movement of the day, an adjunct performed after a heavier exercise, it will possibly be used as a “pre-fatigue” tool to concentrate on chest development, and it will possibly even be involved in a movement preparation or warm-up.
Primary Movement
Your primary movement is the meat and potatoes of any workout. It’s the primary exercise performed within the session, typically since it’s the movement you’ll approach with the best amount of effort and energy.
As a primary exercise, the incline dumbbell press may be used for hypertrophy (muscle-building) and even for constructing strength once you begin to get acquainted with the movement. Just a few sets of 8-12 repetitions will probably be a fantastic muscle-builder. For those who’re in a position to safely execute within the 6-8 range, it will possibly even be leveraged for strength.
Accessory Exercise
If it’s not the primary exercise of your workout, the incline dumbbell press is a powerful candidate for the second movement of the day. When you’ve accomplished, for instance, a heavy flat barbell bench press, it’s common to slip the incline dumbbell bench press into the following slot to coach the muscles from a special angle and/or with different loading and volume.
This approach may be an efficient solution to construct muscle, but it will possibly also help shore up shoulder mobility and stability resulting from the inclined angle and varied range of motion from the previous exercise. Since your muscles will already be a bit drained from the predominant exercise, you’ll get loads of stimulation from a barely lighter load while aiming for 8-12 repetitions per set.
Pre-Fatigue
Pre-fatigue is a strategic technique to your programming. In an ideal world, you’d have all of the access to loading and each potential exercise at your whim, but sometimes you’re stuck with a limited amount of coaching tools available. In these instances, pre-fatiguing your chest with a targeted exercise just like the incline dumbbell press can sufficiently work the muscle enough to maintain any following exercises difficult enough to deliver significant stimulation.
This is analogous to using the exercise as a primary movement, but maintains the intention and effectiveness of additional exercises. Pair the incline dumbbell press with tempo training (lifting and lowering slowly) and moderate repetitions within the 10 to 12 rep range, and it will possibly be a robust solution to breathe recent life into any chest-focused workout.
Movement Preparation
Movement preparations are warm-up plans that use exercises themselves in a clever and efficient solution to check many boxes concurrently. The incline dumbbell press may be used as a component of your warm-up routine to ensure you may have access to all of the range of motion you may need for a barbell variation or flat bench press, for instance.
It would also serve to practice your ability to stabilize your upper back and shoulders prior to hitting more heavily loaded exercises in your workout. Consider the incline dumbbell press as the ultimate check before advancing to your primary movement of the day.
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Variations
For those who are in search of some effective chest exercises much like the incline dumbbell press, changing the implement or barely modifying the pattern are solid options. The incline machine press, incline cable press, neutral-grip incline dumbbell press, and incline dumbbell power flye can all be great tools at your disposal.
Incline Machine Press
The incline machine press will assume a more fixed range of motion than the incline dumbbell press. Because it is locked in its own path, you’re often in a position to load the exercise heavier because your stabilizing muscles are less of a limiting factor.
The soundness of the machine also allows you to more safely approach muscular failure and more safely going past failure with intensity techniques like forced reps, in comparison with dumbbells. These are great advantages when you’re pursuing muscle and strength gains, but some machines is usually a bit tricky in the event that they doesn’t perfectly suit your frame.
Incline Cable Press
The incline cable press is usually a uniquely effective modification to the dumbbell movement. You’ll still get unilateral advantages, but you’ll also get a touch more stability when using cables somewhat than dumbbells.
You’ll be able to expect a greater range of motion that can easily accommodate individual limb lengths. Cables also offer constant tension by maintaining muscular stress throughout your entire movement, which may help to stimulate more muscle growth. (4)
Neutral-Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
A neutral-grip incline dumbbell press places you in a rather more stable position than the usual incline dumbbell press grip (together with your palms facing forward). For those who are working toward more mobile and stable shoulders, improve your odds by choosing an angle of incline that currently works for you (resembling a rather lower angle) and pressing with a neutral grip.
You’ll still find a way to achieve some serious baseline strength, coordination, and stability, however the neutral grip will lessen the challenge barely.
Incline Dumbbell Power Flye
The incline power flye is a fantastic combination exercise. It’ combines’s one-part dumbbell press variation and one-part chest flye variation. The unique exercise involves bending your arms to a more significant degree than during a standard flye pattern.
It still hits your upper chest with an incline movement, however the flye motion lets you make gains even whenever you’re limited in load. Once you’re in a pinch for equipment or need to blast your chest in minimum time, performing the incline dumbbell power flye with a medium load for moderate reps may be just the fix.
FAQs
What should I do if my elbows keep wobbling in the course of the incline dumbbell bench press?
This is likely to be an indication that the load is simply too great or your incline is about too high to your current abilities. Try starting with a much lower incline or barely reducing the burden.
You too can employ tempo training for a number of weeks — taking two or more seconds to lift the burden and one other two or more seconds to lower each repetition. The slower tempo can allow you to concentrate on control and you need to find a way to stabilize way more effectively with less movement at your elbows.
Can I do each incline and flat dumbbell pressing in the identical workout?
You should use each of those exercises throughout the same training program, but the most effective suggestion is to separate them into separate training sessions to avoid redundancies.
They provide distinct advantages, but they’re each dumbbell presses. To maintain your options open for more variable training on either day, select one dumbbell press to do in each upper body training session, after which move on to other exercises that cover different ground.
What should I do if I plateau?
You’ll be able to begin to strategically manipulate your training variables to interrupt or avoid these plateaus. As you begin to note your results slowing, change your angle of inclination from the bottom to moderate after which the best — stopping before it becomes a totally vertical shoulder press.
You too can pair this with changing load and repetitions ranges as well, steadily going from lighter weight with higher repetitions to heavier weights with lower repetitions. Together, these two solutions should keep you progressing for a very long time.
Press On
The incline dumbbell bench press is a wonderful meshing of many various training tools and useful concepts: Independently manipulated dumbbells, a protracted range of motion, stability and mobility demands, and really versatile programming potential. Any considered one of these advantages is reason enough to begin tinkering with this movement, let alone all of them together. For those who’re trying to sneak in some recent pressing gains and pumped up upper pecs, look no further than this straightforward, classic, and effective movement.
References
- Chaves, S. F. N., Rocha-JÚnior, V. A., EncarnaÇÃo, I. G. A., Martins-Costa, H. C., Freitas, E. D. S., Coelho, D. B., Franco, F. S. C., Loenneke, J. P., Bottaro, M., & Ferreira-JÚnior, J. B. (2020). Effects of Horizontal and Incline Bench Press on Neuromuscular Adaptations in Untrained Young Men. International journal of exercise science, 13(6), 859–872.
- Schoenfeld, B. J., & Grgic, J. (2020). Effects of range of motion on muscle development during resistance training interventions: A scientific review. SAGE open medicine, 8, 2050312120901559. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050312120901559
- Rodríguez-Ridao, D., Antequera-Vique, J. A., Martín-Fuentes, I., & Muyor, J. M. (2020). Effect of Five Bench Inclinations on the Electromyographic Activity of the Pectoralis Major, Anterior Deltoid, and Triceps Brachii in the course of the Bench Press Exercise. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(19), 7339. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197339
- Burd, N. A., Andrews, R. J., West, D. W., Little, J. P., Cochran, A. J., Hector, A. J., Cashaback, J. G., Gibala, M. J., Potvin, J. R., Baker, S. K., & Phillips, S. M. (2012). Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. The Journal of physiology, 590(2), 351–362. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200
Featured Image: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock