Incline Dumbbell Press
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using dumbbells.
Starting position
End position
How to Do Incline Dumbbell Press
- Lie back on an incline bench with a dumbbell in each hand atop your thighs. The palms of your hands will be facing each other.
- Then, using your thighs to help push the dumbbells up, lift the dumbbells one at a time so that you can hold them at shoulder width.
- Once you have the dumbbells raised to shoulder width, rotate your wrists forward so that the palms of your hands are facing away from you. This will be your starting position.
- Be sure to keep full control of the dumbbells at all times. Then breathe out and push the dumbbells up with your chest.
- Lock your arms at the top, hold for a second, and then start slowly lowering the weight. Tip Ideally, lowering the weights should take about twice as long as raising them.
- Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
- When you are done, place the dumbbells back on your thighs and then on the floor. This is the safest manner to release the dumbbells.
Muscles Worked
Alternatives to Incline Dumbbell Press
10 movements that train the same primary muscle, closest substitutes first — same kind of training, then variations of the movement itself, then a similar difficulty.
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1
Barbell Incline Bench Press - Medium Grip
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using a barbell.
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2
Incline Cable Chest Press
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using a cable machine.
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3
Leverage Incline Chest Press
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using a machine.
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4
Smith Machine Incline Bench Press
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using a machine.
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5
Decline Dumbbell Bench Press
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using dumbbells.
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6
Dumbbell Bench Press
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using dumbbells.
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7
Dumbbell Bench Press with Neutral Grip
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using dumbbells.
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8
Hammer Grip Incline DB Bench Press
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using dumbbells.
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9
Incline Dumbbell Bench With Palms Facing In
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using dumbbells.
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10
One Arm Dumbbell Bench Press
A beginner compound strength exercise that works the chest, using dumbbells.
Frequently Asked Questions
What muscles do incline dumbbell press work?
Incline Dumbbell Press primarily works the chest. The shoulders and triceps assist as secondary muscles.
What equipment do I need for incline dumbbell press?
Incline Dumbbell Press uses dumbbells.
Incline Dumbbell Press: is it suitable for beginners?
Yes. Incline Dumbbell Press is rated beginner. Movements you can learn in a session, with a low skill floor and a forgiving failure mode.
What can I do instead of incline dumbbell press?
Barbell Incline Bench Press - Medium Grip, Incline Cable Chest Press, Leverage Incline Chest Press train the same primary muscles and are listed with 7 more alternatives above.
Can Fitnit count my incline dumbbell press reps automatically?
Not automatically yet. Fitnit's AI rep counting covers push-ups, squats, dumbbell curls, crunches and pull-ups today; incline dumbbell press can be logged manually in the app, and tracked movements are added over time.
Photographs and step-by-step instructions from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. Muscle mapping and alternatives by Fitnit.
Track Your Incline Dumbbell Press with AI
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