Dumbbell incline champagne press is a valuable exercises for upper chest development. It’s similar to a neutral grip dumbbell bench press and can be done both on flat and incline bench. The main difference between the neutral-grip dumbbell incline bench press and the incline dumbbell champagne press lies in the fact that in the first mentioned exercise the palms of your hand will be facing each other during the entire movement without touching together and without rotating inward. This is, however, not the case with the incline dumbbell champagne press.
Exercise Instructions
- Position yourself on an incline bench while holding a dumbbell in each hand so that your palms are facing each other (dumbbells touching together just slightly above your chest).
- Rotate the dumbbells like you’re about to drink from them (so that you pinkies are above your thumbs).
- Press the weight using your chest muscles upward and back, bringing the dumbbells parallel to your chest.
- Squeeze your chest at the top of the movement and press your thumbs towards the ceiling to activate maximum upper chest muscle fibers.
- Slowly lower the dumbbells back down to the starting position.
Incline dumbbell champagne press video demonstration
These videos are designed to show you exactly how to perform dumbbell incline champagne press using perfect technique so you can get the most from this great upper chest exercise.
Additional tips & key points for incline dumbbell champagne press
- Use the weight (dumbbells) you can easily stabilize while rotating your hands inward.
- Keep the dumbbells pressed together throughout the duration of the set.
- The key is to keep the dumbbells parallel while lowering to your chest.
- Keep your elbows tight to your body during the whole range of motion.
- In this exercise it is very important to choose the “own” angle of inclination of the back of the bench. Usually it is 30-45 degrees. The lower the back, the less emphasis is placed on the top of the chest, so there is no point in setting the angle at 15-20.
- Instead of pushing the dumbbells straight up, push the dumbbells over your head initiating the upper chest. This isn’t a dumbbell pullover where you push it straight back, you push it up at a forty-five degree angle towards the top of your head.
Muscles Engaged
These are the muscles engaged while performing dumbbell champagne press:
- Main muscles: pectoralis major (clavicular area – upper pectoralis major), triceps, deltoids (anterior)
- Secondary muscles: deltoids (medial), coracobrachialis, serratus anterior, subscapularis
- Antagonists: latissimus dorsi, biceps, deltoids (posterior)
Variations
- Perform the exercise using a flat exercise bench instead of incline.
Incline dumbbell champagne press substitutes
There are many other pressing exercises to target your upper chest area, apart from DB champagne press. Each exercise works the upper pecs and supporting muscles slightly differently. Remember, specificity requires that you choose exercises that reflect your needs and goals. Visit our upper chest exercise database to find those exercises.
- Incline barbell bench press
- Incline dumbbell bench press
- Smith machine incline press
- Machine incline press
Closing thoughts
Incline dumbbell champagne press is perhaps one of the most effective methods to turn a flat chest into massive mounds, because it is the top of the chest that determines the visual impression of it. The bigger it is, the bigger the whole chest seems. You’ll probably want to put this movement somewhere in the middle to the end of your workout.
