Chest exercise
Neutral-Grip Dumbbell Bench PressHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Also works
- Front delts
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Neutral-Grip Dumbbell Bench Press?
- Lie on a flat bench with your feet flat and a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing each other.
- Press the dumbbells up over your shoulders and pull your shoulder blades down and back.
- Lower them slowly to the sides of your lower chest, elbows close to your body.
- Press back up until your arms are straight, keeping your palms facing in.
Cues
- Palms face each other the whole time
- Forearms vertical at the bottom
- Elbows close to your ribs
Common mistakes
- Letting the dumbbells turn across your body: keep the handles in line with your torso.
- Flaring the elbows out wide: keep them tucked at about 30–45°.
- Bouncing the weights off your chest: lower under control and pause lightly.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Flat bench, about 45 cm high. Head, upper back and buttocks on the pad, feet flat on the floor a little wider than the hips. 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 parallel to the length of the bench (in line with the torso) for the whole rep. Wrists straight, thumbs round the handles.
The movement
Straight down and up in the side view, a slight arc in towards the shoulders at the top. Both dumbbells move together and stay level; the handles never turn across the body. Head, hips and feet stay still; the shoulder blades stay pinned.
End position
(turnaround point): Dumbbells beside the lower half of the chest, each one directly above its forearm, so the forearms are vertical (±10°). Because the palms face in, the elbows stay closer to the body than in the pronated press: upper arm about 35° from the torso (accept 30–45°). The dumbbells stop just above the chest or touch it lightly.
Tempo
About 1.8 s lowering, a light touch with 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elbow at top (included) | 172° | 165–178° | |
| Upper arm to torso at bottom | 35° | 30–45° | |
| Forearm at bottom | vertical | ±10° | |
| Elbows below the shoulder line at bottom | 4 cm | 2–8 cm | |
| Handle direction | along the torso | ±10° | |
| Tempo down / up | 1.8 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 Neutral-Grip Dumbbell Bench 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)](
- ExRx.net, Dumbbell Bench Press
- NSCA, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed., chapter on free-weight technique
- [Motra: Dumbbell Close-Grip Hammer Bench Press (Crush Press)](
