Exercise

Incline dumbbell press

The incline dumbbell press is the usual second chest lift after a flat press, and for plenty of lifters it is the main one. The bench angle decides how much of the work goes to the upper chest and how much drifts to the front of the shoulder. It is also the setting people change most often without noticing.

Updated September 2026

Incline Dumbbell Press: start and end position of the movement — Start and end position. Reference photos from free-exercise-db, public domain, and bundled in the app.

Start and end position. Reference photos from free-exercise-db, public domain, and bundled in the app.

Equipment: Dumbbell
Primary: Chest
Secondary: Shoulders, Triceps
Level: Beginner

How to do it

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.

Instructions from free-exercise-db, public domain — the same text the app shows on this exercise.

Saying it out loud

Any of these logs a set of incline dumbbell press in SayLift. Say the whole session in one go if you want — weights, reps and sets in whatever order they come out.

“Incline dumbbell press, three sets of ten at 50”
“Incline DB press 60 for 8, 8 and 7”
“Incline dumbbell bench press 45, four by twelve”

Pick one angle and keep it

Most adjustable benches click into fixed notches. The first or second notch above flat, somewhere around 30 degrees, keeps the press on the upper chest. At 45 degrees and higher it turns more and more into a shoulder press.

The angle also changes how much you can lift. If the bench sat one notch steeper this week, a drop of two reps may be the setting and nothing else. Use the same notch every time, and put it in a note the first time you log the exercise so you can find it again.

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Getting heavy dumbbells into place

Past a certain weight, the hard part is getting the dumbbells to the start position. Sit on the end of the bench with the dumbbells standing on your thighs. Lie back, and as you go, drive one knee up and then the other to help each dumbbell up to your shoulders.

From there, lower the dumbbells until they are level with your chest and press them up and a little together. They do not need to touch at the top. When the set is done, bring them back down to your thighs and sit up with them, instead of letting them fall out to the sides.

Shoulder blades pulled back into the bench before the first rep.
Elbows a little in front of your body, around 45 degrees from your sides.
Same depth every rep. Short reps at the bottom are the easiest way to inflate a set.

What to write down

Log the weight of one dumbbell, the number printed on it. That is how gyms label them and how programmes read them, so "60 for 8" means a pair of 60s.

Keep the incline and flat presses as two separate exercises. Mixed together, both look like they go up and down at random. With SayLift you say the set out loud when you rack the dumbbells, and it goes into the log without you typing between sets.

Frequently asked questions

What angle should an incline dumbbell press be?

Around 30 degrees suits most people, which is usually the first or second notch above flat. The steeper you go, the more the front of the shoulder takes over.