I was talking with a buddy about what kind of exercises we do for chest and what weight we use. To make a long story I told him for one of my exercises I do incline press with 90lb dumbbells and do 3 sets of 10. He was floored by this and thought that was "a lot of weight" for incline press. I told him that many of the guys that workout around lunchtime at my gym are in the 80-100lb range on incline press. What is the general consensus on this board around what would be considered strong for incline press using dumbbells?

It depends on a number of things, like a person's size, area strengths, years of training, etc.

I'd also put a caveat for ROM on that exercise as well (OHP is the same way).

90 pounds for a 3x10 done putting the imaginary "bar" to where you're touching your chest is pretty impressive, stopping with you arms at a 90* (most commonly what you see in the gym) is still strong, but run of the mill meathead.

What golfer said. I am in the 90-100 lb. DB range, and I lower the weight until it is touching my pecs on each rep. It annoys me seeing people go halfway down; they're missing out on the most important area of the lift. But, I'm not "That Guy" who corrects them. As long as they aren't doing anything to hurt me, I leave them to their improper form.

You're only strong if you toss the dumbbells to the floor after your set instead of sitting up with them. Extra points for high-fiving your bro after that.

Beyond that I would say that 90-100 is the higher end of normal. 120-150 would be "strong" and 200 would be "holy crap."

My biggest limitation is getting the DB into position. I don't ever do incline presses but I know you are pretty damn strong so I'd say 90 is impressive.

So my 35's aren't impressing anyone?

Dude 90 LB dbell incline press is legit. I've gotten up to 90s on flat bench and that was doing maybe 3x5. Ill never get to that point again.

Start with the DB's on the ground.

Pick each up until you are in a standing position with the flat of the end of the DB resting on your thigh above your knee.

Sit down on the incline bench and get positioned.

"Kick" each DB up to your shoulder area, one at a time as you are sitting back on the bench.

Press up.

Once done, do a controlled drop, so you don't injure yourself (hang on to the DB most of the way down; i.e. don't throw the DB like the meatheads)

Anything over 100 is impressive to me. Most I ever did for reps was 110.

There are a huge number of guys at my gym who only go to 90 degrees on every pressing movement. Bench press, incline, doesn't matter. An exercise physiologist may say that is correct form, but I don't think so.

if you weigh 200+ then that's not all that impressive

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120-150 would be "strong" and 200 would be "holy crap."

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Some of you...anything approaching 90+ on incline is freaking good. 120+ is very strong considering everything that goes into the lift itself.

Your body weight is not as important as you think in terms of lifting a certain amount of weight. I've seen lighter guys lift more than heavy guys.

[This message has been edited by nu awlins ag (edited 11/7/2013 2:26p).]

90 lbs is a good amount of weight. Your body weight plays a role IMO. I'd expect a 200lb person to lift more than someone that weighs 175lbs. (assuming they relatively workout the same amount)

Incline DB press is usually my 1st workout on chest day. I then go to DB fly, DB flat bench, then to decline bar bench w/ some dips to burn out in the end. I usually work out in sets of 8's or 6's. I practically took the entire month of October off from the gym because I was working so much and just last week started getting back into it. I lost a ton of strength.

My weight fluctuates from 160-165 lbs. Prior to slowing down on my workouts I was doing 90lb 4X8 & 95/100 lb 4X 4to6. Last week I was struggling....BAD! I did 4 sets of 8 w/ 75lb DB's! Monday I was back up to 85lbs 4 sets of 6/8.

In my gym I see guys doing much more than that & many doing much less. We have all types. But the majority of guys that do that weight or more are guys that go to the gym rather frequently or heavier guys.

It depends on a number of factors. Dumbell presses are more difficult than barbell presses, but much depends on your weight. If your 150 lbs, then yeah, 90lb dumbells is great for that many reps. If you're 200lbs, then not so much. Stuff like that needs to measured based on the weight of the lifter.

My gym has only 1 100lbs, 1 105lbs, and 1 110lbs dumbbell...Woodlands 24hr...go figure. I either use the 105 and 110 and swap each set or use the 115's and get my spotter to help with the first one and then get 4-5 reps (do db after the 5x5 bench workout). It's annoying as crap that they won't get the replacement dumbbells...it's been 8 months!

I broke one each of the original REC 100 and 105 lb DB's back in about 2001. Welds popped where the grip tied into the DB end. Granted, they'd probably been dropped thousands of times and the welds were already cracking by that point, since they'd been in use for 6 years. I was just the lucky customer on each of those days.

They showed back up on the racks a week or so later, with about 2 extra pounds of metal on them where some monkey with little welding experience put them back together. The good thing is, they upgraded all the DB's to Irongrips shortly thereafter.

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My gym has only 1 100lbs, 1 105lbs, and 1 110lbs dumbbell...Woodlands 24hr...go figure. I either use the 105 and 110 and swap each set or use the 115's and get my spotter to help with the first one and then get 4-5 reps (do db after the 5x5 bench workout). It's annoying as crap that they won't get the replacement dumbbells...it's been 8 months!

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I tried to do incline after 5x5 but eventually my shoulders hurt too bad. You haven't experienced any shoulder pain?

[This message has been edited by mhc06 (edited 11/8/2013 2:41a).]

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My gym has only 1 100lbs, 1 105lbs, and 1 110lbs dumbbell...Woodlands 24hr...go figure. I either use the 105 and 110 and swap each set or use the 115's and get my spotter to help with the first one and then get 4-5 reps (do db after the 5x5 bench workout). It's annoying as crap that they won't get the replacement dumbbells...it's been 8 months!

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I tried to do incline after 5x5 but eventually my shoulders hurt too bad. You haven't experienced any shoulder pain?

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I've had zero shoulder pains with that routine. The only thing I get occasionally are elbow pains (assuming tendentious) but that's on tri day. I take a day to do tri's for 20 mins and then do 30 mins HIT.

90lbs is more than most guys can do on a full ROM. My limiting factor on incline db press is always getting into position with the db. I pick them up onto my knees and sit up with them against my chest then kind of sit back with them while kicking them up with my knees. The heaviest I have ever tried is 150, usually I use 140's and if I get them clear on the first rep I can knock out 5-6 touching the chest on each rep, but I may have to try a couple of times to sit back and get that first rep going.

[This message has been edited by HUEY04 (edited 11/10/2013 10:04p).]

I played around a little last Friday. With someone to help me get them in place, I was able to bang out a pretty easy set of 8 at 120.

What does one hope to accomplish in using absurd dumbbell weights on incline

What makes a certain weight "absurd" if one can safely hit their volume goals with it?

Bc I said it was, lol

Just curious...I remember back when I was somewhat going after different volume and weight goals. I just couldn't imagine working my way up to doing something like 120# 8 times. And I'm not in bad shape, strength wise. I would just never be able to motivate myself to reach that place.

My bad. I took you literally.

Most I did at that rep range was probably 80s.... My bench at the time was about 275 X2...my incline press was probably 225 X 3 or 4.

Goodness... I think at my strongest, I was using 90s?