Upper chest exercise
Incline Neutral-Grip Dumbbell PressHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Upper chest, Triceps
- Also works
- Front delts
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Incline Neutral-Grip Dumbbell Press?
- Set the bench to about 30° and sit back with your feet flat.
- Press the dumbbells up over your shoulders, palms facing each other.
- Lower them slowly to the sides of your upper chest, elbows close to your body.
- Press back up until your arms are straight.
Cues
- Palms face each other throughout
- Elbows tucked at about 30–45°
- Back and hips stay on the bench
Common mistakes
- Setting the bench too steep: 30° keeps the work on the upper chest.
- Flaring the elbows: keep them in line with your ribs.
- Arching off the bench to finish the rep: lighten the weight.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Adjustable bench with the back pad at 30° (accept 30–45°), the seat tilted up a little so the hips stay back. Head, upper back and buttocks on the pads, feet flat on the floor. Shoulder blades pulled down and back, a natural low-back curve. One dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip (palms facing each other): the handles lie in the plane of the torso, pointing up and down the bench, never across it. Wrists straight.
The movement
Down to the upper chest and back up to finish over the shoulders, a near-vertical line in the side view. Both dumbbells together and level, the palms facing in the whole time. Hips stay in the seat, head and upper back on the pad.
End position
(turnaround point): Dumbbells beside the upper chest, just below the collarbones. Upper arm about 35° from the torso (accept 30–45°: the neutral grip keeps the elbows in), elbows a little below the pad, forearms near vertical (within about 10°).
Tempo
About 1.9 s lowering, no bounce, 1.4 s pressing, a short hold at the top.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back pad | 30° | 30–45° | |
| Elbow at top (included) | 172° | 165–178° | |
| Upper arm to torso at bottom | 35° | 30–45° | |
| Forearm at bottom from vertical | 8° | 0–12° | |
| Handles | in the torso's plane, palms in | no turn across the bench | |
| Tempo down / up | 1.9 s / 1.4 s | 1–2 s each |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Incline Neutral-Grip Dumbbell Press is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- [ACE: Chest Press (dumbbells)](
- [NASM: Two-Arm Incline Dumbbell Chest Press](
- ExRx.net, Dumbbell Incline Bench Press
- NSCA, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed., free-weight technique
