Incline Dumbbell Press

Muscles worked

Chest

Primary muscle

Upper chest

Equipment

Dumbbell

Movement pattern

Push

Difficulty

Intermediate

What it is for

StrengthHypertrophy

Also known as

Incline dumbbell bench pressIncline DB press

Watch the full tutorial

• Setting the bench too steep. Past roughly 45 degrees it starts behaving like a shoulder press and the upper chest loses the lead. Thirty to 45 degrees is the usual range.
• Lowering with the elbows fully flared, in line with the shoulders. That puts the shoulder into maximum external rotation under load. Keep the elbows around 45 degrees to the torso.
• Clanging the dumbbells together at the top. The collision adds no tension and costs you control at the end of the range. Stop them a hand's width apart and hold the tension.
• Losing the shoulder-blade set-up on the first rep. Retract and depress the blades into the bench before you start and keep them there for the whole set.

Which muscles does the incline dumbbell press work?

It mainly works the clavicular portion of the pectoralis major, the upper chest. The front deltoid contributes a lot because of the bench angle, and the triceps extends the elbow on every press. Since the dumbbells move independently, the shoulder stabilizers and rotator cuff work harder than in the barbell or machine version.

What angle should the bench be for the incline dumbbell press?

Between 30 and 45 degrees is the range most coaches program. At 30 degrees the upper chest already gets more work than in the flat press and the shoulder stays secondary. Above 45 degrees the exercise looks more and more like a shoulder press and the front deltoid takes part of the stimulus. Try both ends and keep the one that lets you feel the chest.

What is the difference between the incline dumbbell press and the flat press?

The flat press spreads the work across the whole chest, with more emphasis on the mid portion, and lets you move more load. The incline shifts the effort toward the upper chest and front deltoid, with somewhat less weight. They are not interchangeable: many plans include both to cover the full chest, starting with the one you want to prioritize.

Why choose dumbbells over the machine for the incline press?

Dumbbells let you go deeper than the machine handles and bring the hands together at the top, so the chest works through more range with a fuller end contraction. They also force each arm to control its own load, which exposes side-to-side differences. The machine is more stable and safer near failure; dumbbells are more technically demanding and more complete once the technique is consolidated.