The Dumbbell Incline Chest Fly is a beginner-friendly dumbbell strength exercise that targets the chest. Here's how to do it right — and what to stop doing.
Primary musclesChest
Secondary muscles—
EquipmentDumbbell
LevelBeginner
TypeStrength
3D demo in the EGON app
01 Execution
How to do the Dumbbell Incline Chest Fly
Set a bench to a 30 to 45 degree incline and sit with a light dumbbell resting on each thigh.
Lie back with a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing each other, and arms pressed straight up over the chest.
Set a slight bend in the elbows and hold that bend fixed for the rest of the set.
Lower the dumbbells out to the sides in a wide arc until you feel a deep stretch across the upper chest.
Pause briefly at the bottom with the chest open and the shoulder blades pinned back into the bench.
Squeeze the chest to bring the dumbbells back together overhead, stopping just short of touching.
02 The payoff
Why it earns its spot
Isolates and builds the upper chest with minimal triceps assistance.
Loads the chest through a deep stretch for hypertrophy stimulus.
Improves the mind-muscle connection on a press-dominant chest day.
03 Don't do this
Common mistakes
Bending the elbows mid-rep, which turns the fly into a sloppy press and loses the chest isolation.
Going too heavy, which forces the elbows to collapse and stresses the front shoulders.
Crashing the dumbbells together at the top instead of pausing for a controlled chest squeeze.
Pulling the shoulder blades off the bench, rolling the shoulders forward and risking shoulder strain.
EGON Put it on record
Track it in EGON.
Log every set of the Dumbbell Incline Chest Fly, get your PRs detected automatically, earn aura for the work — and climb five leagues of statues, from Stone to Ego.
