Dumbbell Bench Press with Neutral Grip

Chest · Dumbbell · ×2 dumbbells

You hold two: the weight you log is ONE dumbbell's, and volume counts both.

How to do it

Lie on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand, feet down and shoulder blades pinched. Keep your palms **facing each other** the whole way: that grip tucks the elbows towards the torso and takes load off the front of the shoulder, which is the whole point of this version. Lower the dumbbells beside your ribs until you feel the stretch, pause and press without clanging them at the top. You will feel more triceps and inner chest than with the normal grip. The classic mistake is letting the palms rotate forward on the way down; if they rotate, it is just a bench press.

Variants

The drawing shows one way of doing it, and the technique above describes that one. Almost every exercise has variants — standing or seated, the grip, the bench angle — and is still the same exercise: if you do it another way, write it in the exercise note and you will have it every time you train it.

Also works: Shoulders, Triceps

See all 907 exercises