Hammer Grip Incline DB Bench Press

Also called neutral grip incline press, incline hammer press and incline db press palms in.

Works

Chest, plus shoulders and triceps

Equipment

Dumbbells

Level

Beginner

Type

Compound

How to do it

Setup. Lie back on an incline bench with a dumbbell on each hand on top of your thighs. The palms of your hand will be facing each other.

1. By using your thighs to help you get the dumbbells up, clean the dumbbells one arm at a time so that you can hold them at shoulder width.
2. Once at shoulder width, keep the palms of your hands with a neutral grip (palms facing each other). Keep your elbows flared out with the upper arms in line with the shoulders (perpendicular to the torso) and the elbows bent creating a 90-degree angle between the upper arm and the forearm. This will be your starting position.
3. Now bring down the weights slowly to your side as you breathe in. Keep full control of the dumbbells at all times.
4. As you breathe out, push the dumbbells up using your pectoral muscles. Lock your arms in the contracted position, hold for a second and then start coming down slowly. Tip: It should take at least twice as long to go down than to come up.
5. Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
6. When you are done, place the dumbbells back in your thighs and then on the floor. This is the safest manner to dispose of the dumbbells.

Cues

• Bench at 30 degrees.
• Palms facing each other.
• Lower to the outer chest.
• Press up, not back.

Common mistakes

• Bench too steep.
• Bouncing at the bottom.

Where to start

A starting point, not a law. Pick a weight you could lift two or three more times than the top of the range. Tempo is seconds down, pause, up. When every set hits the top of the range, add a little weight.

Swap for