The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (62 page)

Incline Dumbbell Press

This is an excellent exercise for the upper pectoral muscles. The dumbbells are more challenging than the barbells as they involve stabilizer muscles needed in order to keep the weights in balance. The exercise can be performed in two manners for variety: with palms facing away or palms facing each other. For both variations, the only difference is the position of the palms throughout the movement. The movement itself remains the same. You will notice how you have the option of either touching the dumbbells at the top of the movement or keeping them separated when you reach the top of the movement. Some people feel the ability to get a better muscular contraction in the chest muscles when they touch them at the top, while others feel like it is a waste of valuable time and strength. Try both, and see what works better for you.

TECHNIQUE AND FORM

With the dumbbells on your thighs, thrust one leg up, leveraging one dumbbell up to about your chest level.

Immediately thrust the second dumbbell upward while simultaneously allowing momentum and the dumbbells to guide you back into the angled, incline position. Use your abdominal muscles to help safely ease you into that position.

As you are lying on the inclined bench, align your body as you were instructed above.

Position the dumbbells out to the side of your chest, keeping your elbows wide and your forearms perpendicular to the floor throughout the exercise movement. Find a position that is wide enough to be comfortable and not so wide as to redirect the force to the shoulders. Some trainers believe that bringing the arms out excessively to the sides of the body will help to better isolate the chest muscles. This is a misconception that can actually inhibit chest development and, worse, cause injury. The wider you go beyond a comfortable position, the more likely you are to redirect the force of the weight on to the shoulders rather than the pecs. Even worse, when you widen your arms excessively and then proceed to press a heavy or even moderate weight, you are actually causing the outer pectoral muscle to tear. Once again, bring your arms out to the side of your body to a point where they are still positioned wide, but not excessively!

Because the incline dumbbell press positions you on an inclined angle, your shoulder muscles are more likely to move the weight rather than the chest muscles. To avoid this, not only will you want to retract the shoulder blades back or together against the bench; but you must also depress or press the shoulders downward. This slight variation will take the shoulders out of the chest movement, allowing the chest to be the primary area worked during the exercise.

With the chest in its elevated position, the elbows out and wide, and the forearms perpendicular to the floor, press the dumbbells up toward the ceiling.