The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (63 page)

As you reach the top of the exercise, you can either touch the dumbbells together or press them straight up like a bench press. You can play around with different positions at the top of the movement as you may get a better muscle contraction varying the dumbbell positions. Two people may use two different dumbbell variations in order to fully stimulate their chest muscles. The most important thing you are concerned with is getting the most intense contraction possible! There are a couple of different ways to do this. You can simply touch the dumbbells together and squeeze, or you can turn the dumbbells slightly inward at the top of the movement, allowing for a controlled and isolated contraction. Are you starting to see how you can apply the many new tools of this program to any and all facets of your training regimen?

Begin lowering the weight while holding your proper postural alignment throughout the exercise.

As your elbows and the back of your arms are lowered, bring the dumbbells to a level that is comfortable, making sure that the chest muscles hold the majority of the resistance. If you don’t have any type of shoulder injuries or muscle impingement, you may allow the dumbbells to lower to a comfortable stretch where the dumbbells are parallel with your chest. Always make sure that you stay in control of the dumbbells and maintain this control throughout the exercise.

Once you reach the bottom position, slowly begin to press the dumbbells up again in a controlled, smooth and fluid motion without using any momentum.

FAQ:

Because I am now sitting on an incline versus a flat surface, does the shoulder maneuver still involve retraction of the shoulder blades?

ANSWER:

Great question! Now that you are on an incline bench, simultaneously retract (bring straight back) and depress (pull down) your shoulders to help isolate the upper chest muscles as much as possible.

Flat Dumbbell Press

This is a great exercise for toning the muscles of the upper and middle chest region. It can help create cleavage and gives the breasts a natural lift. Once again, try the two variations we spoke of in the last exercise. Try touching the dumbbells at the top of the movement and also try pressing them straight up, as you would do with a traditional barbell bench press exercise.

TECHNIQUE AND FORM

This exercise requires you to use the same technique as the incline dumbbell press, but there will be some slight variations in your postural alignment. You will align your body the same way you did before, but now you will obviously be in a flat position. You’ll want to focus more on retracting the shoulder blades rather than depressing them. Otherwise, follow the same technique and form for this exercise as you learned for the incline press.

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 lying, supine position (flat, with your body facing the ceiling). Use your abdominal muscles to safely ease you into that position.

Lay back and align your body as you were instructed above.

Position the dumbbells to the outside of your chest, keeping the elbows wide and the forearms perpendicular to the floor throughout the exercise movement.

Because your shoulder muscles are more likely to move the weight than your chest muscles, you must retract the shoulder blades back or together against the flat bench. This slight variation will take the shoulders out of the chest movement, allowing the chest to be the primary area working 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.