The Incline Dumbbell Chest Press Is a One-Two Punch to Your Chest and Shoulders

Bench presses are a classic strength exercise, beloved by Popeye and powerlifters alike, but they have perks even for people who aren’t concerned about lifting heavy weights. Pressing can help build strength to make doing push-ups easier, for example, or help you become better equipped to hoist things overhead. But if you’re new to strength training, you may not realize how many variations on the bench press there are—including ones that don’t require going anywhere near a barbell. 

The incline dumbbell chest press is one of those variations. Using an incline bench and a pair of dumbbells, you can work your chest slightly differently without lying on your back or lifting a heavy barbell. These factors make it more accessible than the traditional bench press for many exercisers, including those who are strength training while pregnant, for example (but always clear this with your doctor first). 

That said, though the incline dumbbell chest press is more accessible, proper form can be a little tricky to master. We’re breaking down everything you need to know, below, with the help of Peloton instructor Cliff Dwenger and Tanner Neuberger, a physical therapist at Athletico Physical Therapy.

Here’s How to Do an Incline Dumbbell Chest Press Correctly

An incline dumbbell chest press is a version of a chest press using an incline bench—a bench with an adjustable backrest that can be repositioned so it’s flat (0 degrees), nearly upright (85-90 degrees), or at various angles in between. Here’s how to do an incline dumbbell chest press with proper form, according to Cliff and Neuberger.

1. Set Up the Bench

Set the bench at about a 30-degree incline: look for a pin on the side or back of the bench, and pull it out with one hand while you raise or lower the backrest with your other hand (or ask someone else to give you a hand). The flat position is 0 degrees and the upright position is usually about 85 degrees, so when the bench is adjusted to 30 degrees, the backrest will be on a diagonal, just slightly lower than midway. If needed, adjust the seat of the bench as well. 

2. Find Your Starting Position

To get into the starting position, “choose your preferred weight and sit at the edge of the bench with the weights on your upper thighs,” Cliff says. Plant your feet on the floor. Then lean forward, and use momentum to lean back and lay on the bench, raising the weights to chest level, Cliff says. “Your elbows should point about 45 degrees away from the trunk,” he adds. 

3. Press the Weights

“From that starting position, keeping your wrists straight and aligned with your elbows, press the dumbbells up, fully extending your arms,” Cliff says. Exhale while you press the weights up, squeeze your shoulder blades into the bench, and engage your chest muscles. At the top of the movement, your palms should be facing the same direction as your feet, your arms should be perpendicular to the floor, and the weights should be over your chest and almost touching, not shifting out to the sides.

4. Slowly Lower Back to Start

Inhale and reverse the movement to slowly lower the weights back into the starting position, Cliff says. 

Dumbbell Chest Press Benefits

Any type of chest press will help build your upper body strength and make you more adept at push movements, like push-ups. Doing presses with dumbbells instead of a barbell allows you to work each arm individually, helping to address any muscle imbalances and also demanding greater muscular control and stability to complete each rep. Research shows that dumbbell presses work more or less the same muscles as barbell presses, but that the biceps get a little more involved.

As for doing dumbbell chest presses on an incline, specifically? “The main reason for this exercise is for those who want to develop their upper chest aesthetically,” Neuberger says. It has some practical benefits, too. “For someone who is just lifting recreationally to stay strong or have a higher quality of life, this exercise can help with overhead activities due to the involvement of the upper chest and increased involvement of the shoulders,” he adds. (A perfect example: lifting your suitcase into the overhead bin in an airplane.) There are also some performance benefits for athletes who partake in sports with overhead movements, like baseball, softball, volleyball, or tennis, since building strength with incline dumbbell chest presses can help increase force production and power through the shoulders, Neuberger says.

Cliff incorporates incline dumbbell chest presses into almost every “push workout” in his routine and has noticed nearly all of these benefits. “Targeting smaller muscles like the pectoralis minor, in this case, contributes to overall higher strength in push movements,” he says. “I notice more strength in ‘normal’ bench pressing, and also in daily activities like carrying things. Overall larger chest muscles is a benefit as well.”

Muscles Worked By the Incline Dumbbell Chest Press

The main muscle group worked by any bench or chest press exercise are the pectoralis muscles, also known as the chest or “pecs” for short. However, when you do chest presses with your body on an incline instead of horizontally, it changes the muscle engagement slightly. Neuberger says that incline chest presses work your upper chest more than your lower chest. In addition to focusing on your upper chest muscles, the incline dumbbell chest press also recruits the pectoralis minor, Cliff adds. The pectoralis minor is the smaller chest muscle and lies underneath the pec major, toward the outside of the chest. 

Besides your chest, the incline dumbbell chest press also works the front of your shoulder muscles and your triceps (the muscles on the back of your upper arm). Generally speaking, research shows that the higher the incline you use when pressing, the more work your shoulders and triceps do. Finally, your biceps get a little work, too, as they help control the weights during the downward phase of the movement.

Tips for Proper Technique and Form

Because you’re moving on an angle, it may take a little extra time to master the form of the incline dumbbell chest press. Here are some tips to help.

Bench Angle

Many adjustable workout benches can be positioned in at least three different angles, including flat (0 degrees), near vertical (85-90 degrees), and various points in between. “There are some variances in what angle the incline needs to be for a person, but a 30-45 degree incline is typically sufficient,” Neuberger says.

And a 30-degree angle appears to be the absolute best for hitting your upper chest, Cliff adds.

A 2020 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health compared muscle activation during barbell bench presses at various angles and found that engagement of the upper pec muscles peaked with the bench at a 30-degree angle. The study also found that pressing with the bench at a higher incline further increases activation of the anterior deltoid (the front shoulder muscle) and the triceps. In general, the higher the angle, the more shoulder work is required, Cliff says.

Choosing the Right Weight

Finding the right weight for this move may take some trial and error. “Start with lighter weight and ease into more as you get more comfortable with the movement,” Neuberger says. He recommends doing 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps with one or two reps in reserve, meaning you could do just one or two more reps at the maximum. 

Because the incline chest press shifts the focus from your entire chest into the upper region and smaller muscles (like the shoulders and pec minor), you may not be able to lift as much as you can with a regular bench or chest press. “The higher angle will mean that you’ll have to use less weight than you would for your flat bench,” Neuberger says. 

Form

As you bring the dumbbells up to your chest, keep them close to your body. Doing so helps reduces the risk that you’ll lose control of the weight. It’s also important to control the eccentric (lowering) portion of the movement, Neuberger says. 

You might be used to finding a neutral spine in just about every strength exercise ever, but this is one move where you’re actually allowed to arch your back. “Your rib cage should be elevated during the exercise to target the upper chest muscles (and chest muscles in general),” Cliff says.

When using a bar, Neuberger has found that it's best aim to touch the bar just below the collarbones for peak use of the upper pecs. Even if you’re using dumbbells, you can imagine they’re connected in the middle by a barbell, and use that cue to help guide the move.

Variations and Modifications

To modify the incline dumbbell chest press, instead of using dumbbells, you can use a Smith machine (a machine where the barbell is fixed and can only move up and down), Cliff says. This can help you get used to the movement and learn to recruit the right muscles, but there’s less risk since the weight’s movement is fixed and there’s a safety catch feature. “Once they’re comfortable with this movement, then they can move on to the more complex incline dumbbell chest press,” Cliff says.

A 30-degree angle may be best for targeting the upper chest, but it’s not the only effective option. “Utilizing a 45-degree incline will let you get more of an arch in your back,” Neuberger says. This arch can help protect your shoulders and increase the stretch you can get at the bottom of the movement with your chest, he says,

To challenge yourself, you can (of course) increase the amount of weight you’re lifting. You can also tweak the timing by playing with time under tension (the amount of time the muscle is working), Cliff says. For example, try lowering for four seconds, then pressing up for one.

Doing unilateral presses (one side at a time) can also pose a unique challenge because they recruit your trunk stabilizer muscles (aka your core), which keep you stable as you move weight on only one side. 

Takeaway 

It’s crucial to incorporate a variety of exercises into your workout routine to ensure you train all your muscle groups and build balanced strength throughout your body. However, the benefits of any single exercise or variation only go so far; incline chest presses aren’t going to work any magic if they aren’t part of a well-rounded routine. For that reason, when it comes to training your chest, both Cliff and Neuberger recommend doing incline dumbbell chest presses in addition to a flat press.

“[Incline dumbbell chest presses] can be done in isolation if someone really wants to focus on the upper portion of their chest, but ideally, you would still include a flat variation of the bench as well for total muscle development,” Neuberger says. “I recommend doing two variations a week: once with a barbell, and once with dumbbells, for example.” Incorporate them into a total-body strength workout, a push day, an upper-body workout, or a chest-specific session.

And rest assured that you don’t need to overthink it. Research that put untrained young men through an 8-week training program of either flat benching, incline benching, or both found that all three programs led to similar strength gains, meaning you’re probably getting stronger either way.

This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute individualized advice. It is not intended to replace professional medical evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment. Seek the advice of your physician for questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. If you are having a medical emergency, call your physician or 911 immediately.