What Muscle Does The Incline Dumbbell Press Work?

The incline dumbbell press works your chest, shoulders and triceps. You get an assist from your back and biceps, which provide stability during the lift. This exercise works the same muscles as the incline bench press, but you can achieve a greater range of motion. You cannot use as much weight as in the incline bench press, but you have no worries about dropping a bar on your chest. Consult a health-care practitioner before beginning any strength-training program.

Chest

Your pectoralis major adducts your humerus. The muscles of your chest work to pull your upper arms into the center of your chest. The greater the range of motion, the more they have to work. The greater the load, the harder they have to work. A heavy incline dumbbell bench press will work your chest through a large range of motion under a heavy load, providing a good training stimulus to build strength and size.

Shoulders

Your deltoids, or shoulders, consist of three parts, or heads. The middle and back — lateral and posterior, respectively — do little when pressing. The posterior deltoid stretches as you lower the dumbbells, but does not contribute power to the incline dumbbell press. The front of your shoulder, or anterior deltoid, works heavily in this exercise. Your anterior deltoid not only works to raise your arm, it also works with your chest to bring your arm into the middle of your body.

Triceps

Your triceps — the muscles on the back of your arms — extend your elbows. Every time you straighten your arm, you recruit your triceps. All forms of pressing exercise, and any pushdown or extension, including overhead work, all train your triceps. Punching and pushing both recruit your triceps to generate power. The greater the range of motion in the incline dumbbell press, the more your elbow has to straighten, resulting in more work for your triceps.

Back and Biceps

The wide muscles of your back — the latissimus dorsi — contract to stabilize your torso during pressing exercises. These muscles can also provide a small amount of power to help you at the start of the lift as you shove the weights up from the bottom position. Your biceps functions to stabilize your elbow joint. The recruitment of both of these muscles is insufficient to provide any real training stimulus.