Exercise guide · Intermediate · Compound

Dumbbell Incline Twisted Flyes: How to Do It & Muscles Worked

The dumbbell incline twisted flye is a chest exercise performed on an incline bench, targeting the upper pectorals with an added wrist rotation for increased muscle activation.

Primary muscles
Chest
Secondary muscles
Shoulders , Triceps
Equipment
Dumbbell
Level · type
Intermediate · Compound
Demonstration of the dumbbell incline twisted flyes
Front view: muscles worked by the dumbbell incline twisted flyes. Primary: chest. Secondary: shoulders and triceps.
Back view: muscles worked by the dumbbell incline twisted flyes. Primary: chest. Secondary: shoulders and triceps.
Primary Secondary

How to do the dumbbell incline twisted flyes

  1. Step 1: Set an incline bench to a 45-degree angle and sit on it with a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing each other.
  2. Step 2: Lie back on the bench and press the dumbbells up to the starting position, directly above your chest, with your arms extended.
  3. Step 3: Lower the dumbbells out to the sides in a wide arc until you feel a stretch in your chest.
  4. Step 4: As you lower the dumbbells, rotate your wrists so that your palms face forward at the bottom of the movement.
  5. Step 5: Reverse the motion and bring the dumbbells back up to the starting position, squeezing your chest muscles together at the top.
  6. Step 6: Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Sets, reps and programming

Suggested sets, reps and rest for the dumbbell incline twisted flyes by training goal
Goal Sets Reps Rest Effort
Strength 3–5 3–6 3–5 min 1–3 reps in reserve
Muscle growth 3–4 6–12 2–3 min 1–2 reps in reserve
Muscular endurance 2–3 12–20 1–2 min 1–3 reps in reserve

Ranges follow the ACSM position stand on progression in resistance training. Muscle grows across a wide range of loads when sets end close to failure (Schoenfeld et al., 2017), longer rests between heavy sets support strength and size (Schoenfeld et al., 2016), and stopping a rep or two short of failure works about as well as training to failure (Grgic et al., 2022). Estimate your working weights with the strength calculators.

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