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Exercises

Inner chest exercises with dumbbells: squeeze presses and flies

Published October 19, 2026

The best inner chest exercises with dumbbells are the squeeze press, where you press the dumbbells together the whole set, and the flat, incline and decline flies held for a second at the top. The inner chest is the part of the pec next to the breastbone, and it gets its hardest work when your arms come together across your body. A heavy flat press still belongs in the session, because a bigger chest fills in the middle too.

  1. Incline Dumbbell Squeeze Press Chest
  2. Dumbbell Chest Fly Chest
  3. Flat Dumbbell Press Chest
  4. Incline Dumbbell Fly Chest
  5. Decline Dumbbell Fly Chest
  6. Dumbbell Floor Fly Chest
  7. Decline Dumbbell Press Chest

Dumbbell presses for the inner chest

Presses build the most chest, and you aim them at the middle line by finishing each rep with the dumbbells close together over your chest. The squeeze press goes further and keeps them pressed together the whole time. Put one press first in the session, while you are strong.

Inner and upper chest, squeeze press

Incline Dumbbell Squeeze Press

Chest

Pushing the two dumbbells into each other for the whole set keeps your pecs contracting sideways while they also press up, which is the closest thing to loading the inner chest directly. The incline adds the upper fibers near the collarbone. Use about half the weight of your normal incline press.

How to do it

  1. Set a bench to around 45 degrees and sit back with both dumbbells, palms turned in.
  2. Bring the dumbbells together over your lower chest so the heads touch, and press them into each other hard.
  3. Press them straight up until your arms are almost locked, never letting a gap open between them.
  4. Lower them back to your chest the same way, still touching, and repeat.

Cues

  • Crush the dumbbells together
  • No gap at any point
  • Elbows stay close to your ribs

Common mistakes

  • Letting the dumbbells drift apart near the top: if you cannot keep them pressed together, the weight is too heavy.
  • Pressing toward your face: the dumbbells travel straight up over your lower chest.

Swap for: Incline Dumbbell Press, Flat Dumbbell Press, Single-Arm Incline Dumbbell Press

Build a session with Incline Dumbbell Squeeze Press

Whole chest, flat press

Flat Dumbbell Press

Chest

No exercise on this page builds more chest overall, and the inner chest grows with the rest of the muscle. Dumbbells also let your hands travel in toward each other as you press, so the pecs finish the rep shortened, which a barbell cannot do.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up on a flat bench, a dumbbell held over each shoulder, feet planted.
  2. Lower the dumbbells to the sides of your chest, elbows about 45 degrees from your body, until you feel a stretch across the pecs.
  3. Press up and slightly inward so the dumbbells finish close together over your chest.
  4. Pause a beat at the top without letting the dumbbells clang, then lower again.

Cues

  • Press up and in
  • Stretch at the bottom
  • Shoulder blades pinned to the bench

Common mistakes

  • Stopping the lowering halfway: the bottom of the press is where the chest works hardest.
  • Flaring your elbows straight out wide: tuck them to about 45 degrees to spare your shoulders.

Swap for: Alternating Dumbbell Bench Press, Dumbbell Floor Press, Decline Dumbbell Press

Build a session with Flat Dumbbell Press

Lower and inner chest, decline press

Decline Dumbbell Press

Chest

A slight decline lines your press up with the lower and middle fibers that run along the breastbone, and most people can press a little more weight here than on the flat bench. It pairs well with the incline squeeze press so both ends of the breastbone get trained.

How to do it

  1. Set a bench to a gentle decline and hook your feet under the pad, holding a dumbbell at each shoulder.
  2. Press the dumbbells up over your lower chest until your arms are nearly straight.
  3. Lower them to the sides of your lower chest with elbows tucked at about 45 degrees.
  4. Press back up, bringing the dumbbells toward each other as they rise.

Cues

  • Press over the bottom of your chest
  • Bring the dumbbells together at the top
  • Feet locked in

Common mistakes

  • Getting into the bench with heavy dumbbells unsafely: sit, set the dumbbells on your thighs, then lie back and kick them up one at a time.
  • Bouncing the dumbbells off your chest: take two seconds on the way down.

Swap for: Decline Dumbbell Neutral-Grip Press, Flat Dumbbell Press, Alternating Decline Dumbbell Press

Build a session with Decline Dumbbell Press

Chest and triceps, floor press

Dumbbell Floor Press

Chest, Triceps

When you have no bench, pressing from the floor still trains your chest with a heavy pair. The floor stops your elbows before the deepest stretch, so finish strong at the top: press up and in until the dumbbells nearly touch.

How to do it

  1. Lie on your back with your knees bent, holding the pair with upper arms resting on the floor.
  2. Press the dumbbells up over your chest, bringing them together as your arms straighten.
  3. Lower them until the backs of your arms touch the floor lightly.
  4. Let your arms settle for a moment, then press again.

Cues

  • Upper arms rest, do not crash
  • Finish with the dumbbells together
  • Knees bent, feet flat

Common mistakes

  • Slamming the elbows into the floor: lower slowly so the floor is a stop, not a rebound.
  • Pressing with the dumbbells wide apart at the top: bring them in over the middle of your chest.

Swap for: Single-Arm Dumbbell Floor Press, Flat Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Floor Fly

Build a session with Dumbbell Floor Press

Dumbbell flies for the inner chest

Flies bring your arms across your body, the movement the inner chest exists for. Pick the bench angle for the part of the middle line you want: flat for the center, incline for the top near the collarbones, decline for the bottom of the breastbone. Hold every top position for a second.

Inner and middle chest, flat fly

Dumbbell Chest Fly

Chest

The fly does what presses cannot: it moves your upper arms across your body with the elbow fixed, which is the main job of the pec. The top of the rep, where your hands meet over your chest, is where the inner chest works, so squeeze there instead of resting.

How to do it

  1. Lie back on a flat bench holding the dumbbells above your chest, palms in, elbows softly bent.
  2. Spread your arms wide, keeping that elbow bend, until your chest is stretched.
  3. Sweep them up along the same arc as if hugging a large barrel.
  4. Squeeze for a second as they meet over your chest, then open again.

Cues

  • Hug a barrel
  • Squeeze at the top for a second
  • Elbow angle never changes

Common mistakes

  • Bending the elbows more on the way down until it becomes a press: lighten the dumbbells and lock the angle.
  • Lowering past the point where your shoulder feels strained: stop when your upper arms line up with the bench.

Swap for: Dumbbell Floor Fly, Incline Dumbbell Fly, Decline Dumbbell Fly

Build a session with Dumbbell Chest Fly

Upper and inner chest, incline fly

Incline Dumbbell Fly

Chest

The incline fly trains the inner edge of the upper chest, the part just below the collarbones where the two pecs meet. Combined with the flat fly or the squeeze press, it rounds out the middle line of your chest from top to bottom.

How to do it

  1. Set the bench to about 30 degrees and lie back with the dumbbells over your upper chest, palms facing in.
  2. Open your arms wide with a slight bend in the elbows until you feel a stretch near your shoulders.
  3. Arc the pair up until they meet over your upper chest.
  4. Hold the squeeze for a second, then lower again.

Cues

  • Low incline, not steep
  • Wide arc out, squeeze in
  • Chest up toward the dumbbells

Common mistakes

  • Setting the bench too steep so your shoulders take over: 30 degrees is enough.
  • Clanging the dumbbells together at the top: stop just before they touch and squeeze the chest instead.

Swap for: Stability Ball Incline Dumbbell Fly, Dumbbell Chest Fly, Incline Dumbbell Press

Build a session with Incline Dumbbell Fly

Lower and inner chest, decline fly

Decline Dumbbell Fly

Chest

On a decline bench the fly pulls your arms down and across toward your waist, the direction the lower inner fibers run. It is the fly to use when your chest looks full at the top but flat near the bottom of the breastbone.

How to do it

  1. Hook your feet in on a decline bench and lie back, arms spread wide with the dumbbells and a slight elbow bend.
  2. Sweep both arms up and inward until the dumbbells meet over your lower chest.
  3. Hold a one-second squeeze at the top.
  4. Let them travel back out slowly, keeping the elbow bend, until your upper arms line up with your torso.

Cues

  • Arc up over the lower chest
  • Slight elbow bend, fixed
  • Slow on the way out

Common mistakes

  • Letting the dumbbells drop fast at the bottom: the stretch is safest when you control it.
  • Going so heavy the arms bend into a press: this is a light, high-rep exercise.

Swap for: Dumbbell Chest Fly, Decline Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Floor Fly

Build a session with Decline Dumbbell Fly

Inner chest exercises without a bench

On the floor, the fly loses its deepest stretch but keeps the part that matters most here: the squeeze at the top. An exercise ball gives you back an incline for the fly if you have one.

Inner chest, floor fly

Dumbbell Floor Fly

Chest

Lying on the floor turns the fly into the safest version there is: the floor stops your arms before the shoulder can overstretch, so you can push to failure on your own. The work concentrates in the top half of the rep, which is where the inner chest contracts hardest.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up on the floor with the dumbbells held above your chest, palms in, elbows a touch bent.
  2. Open your arms out wide until the backs of your upper arms touch the floor.
  3. Sweep them back up and together over your chest without changing the elbow bend.
  4. Squeeze for a second at the top, then open again.

Cues

  • Touch the floor, do not rest
  • Squeeze up top
  • Same elbow bend all set

Common mistakes

  • Letting the arms drop and bounce off the floor: lower them slowly and keep tension when they land.
  • Turning it into a floor press by bending the elbows: keep the arms in the same soft arc.

Swap for: Dumbbell Chest Fly, Dumbbell Floor Press, Stability Ball Incline Dumbbell Fly

Build a session with Dumbbell Floor Fly

Upper and inner chest, ball fly

Stability Ball Incline Dumbbell Fly

Chest

With your upper back on an exercise ball with your hips held up, you get an incline fly without an incline bench, and a deeper stretch than on the floor. Holding your hips up also makes your glutes and trunk work through the set.

How to do it

  1. Sit on the ball, then walk your feet forward and roll down until your upper back rests on it, knees bent at 90 degrees.
  2. Drop your hips slightly so your torso slopes up toward your chest, and hold the dumbbells over your upper chest, palms facing in.
  3. Open your arms wide with soft elbows until your chest is stretched.
  4. Return the dumbbells up and together over your chest, squeezing at the top.

Cues

  • Hips low, chest high
  • Feet wide for balance
  • Squeeze where they meet

Common mistakes

  • Using weights so heavy the ball rolls: start lighter than your bench fly.
  • Letting your hips sag all the way to the floor: keep them just below level so the angle stays an incline.

Swap for: Incline Dumbbell Fly, Dumbbell Floor Fly, Dumbbell Chest Fly

Build a session with Stability Ball Incline Dumbbell Fly

Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in. Open one in the session builder to change a pick, price it from a recent set, and add it to RIRLift.

Session 1

An adjustable bench and a few pairs of dumbbells

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets19 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentDumbbells, Flat Bench, Incline Bench, Decline Bench

You have an adjustable bench and enough dumbbells to press reasonably heavy, and you want your chest to look fuller down the middle.

A heavy flat press comes first because it adds the most muscle to the whole chest, the inner part included. Then the squeeze press and two flies load the middle line from the incline and the flat angle. Each session has 12 working sets, with the presses at 1 to 2 reps in reserve so you keep adding weight, and the flies at 0 to 1, because their short top squeeze is easy to hold as you get tired.

Chest A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Flat Dumbbell Press1 warm-up set firstPress up and in. Dumbbells finish close. 4 × 6–10 2 2:30 min
Incline Dumbbell Squeeze PressDumbbells pressed together the whole set. 3 × 10–15 1 90 s
Dumbbell Chest Fly1 s squeeze at the top. 3 × 12–15 1 1 min

Open Chest A in the session builder

Chest B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Decline Dumbbell Press1 warm-up set firstGentle decline. Press over the lower chest. 4 × 8–12 1 2 min
Incline Dumbbell Fly30 degrees. Squeeze 1 s. 3 × 12–15 1 1 min
Decline Dumbbell FlyLight. Slow on the way out. 2 × 12–20 0 1 min

Open Chest B in the session builder

How to run it
Do Chest A and Chest B once each per week, with at least two days between. Use the same dumbbells for both flies so you know where you stand.
How to progress
When every press set reaches the top of its range at the target reps in reserve, move up one dumbbell step. For the flies, add a second to the top squeeze before you add weight.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

At home on the floor, no bench

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets22 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentDumbbells, Exercise Ball

You train at home with dumbbells and floor space, maybe an exercise ball, and no bench.

The floor press is the heavy lift here and the floor fly the squeeze, because both work without a bench and the floor makes them safe to push hard alone. The ball fly brings back an incline angle for the top of the middle line. With the stretch cut short on the floor, every set goes to 0 to 1 reps in reserve to make up for it, across 11 working sets.

Floor Chest
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Dumbbell Floor Press1 warm-up set firstElbows touch lightly. Finish with the dumbbells together. 4 × 8–15 1 2 min
Dumbbell Floor FlyArms touch the floor, then squeeze up. 4 × 12–20 0 1 min
Stability Ball Incline Dumbbell FlyHips low, chest high. 3 × 12–15 1 1 min
How to run it
Do this session twice a week. With no ball, do a fourth set of floor flies in its place.
How to progress
Add reps until you reach the top of every range, then add a three-second lowering. Move up a dumbbell step when you can do the slow lowering for the whole range.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

Ten-minute finisher after your regular chest day

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts1× a week
  • Working sets6 a week
  • Per workout~10 min
  • EquipmentDumbbells, Incline Bench, Decline Bench

You already press heavy on chest day and want a short block at the end aimed at the middle line.

Your main presses have already trained the whole chest, so this block skips them and puts two squeeze-focused moves back to back: a squeeze press for load, then a decline fly for the bottom of the breastbone, as a superset to save time. Just 6 sets, taken to 0 to 1 reps in reserve because the muscle is already warm and these lifts are low-risk close to failure.

Inner Chest Finisher
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
A1 Incline Dumbbell Squeeze PressSuperset with the fly. 3 × 10–15 1 30 s
A2 Decline Dumbbell FlySqueeze 1 s at the top. 3 × 12–20 0 90 s
How to run it
Do it once a week right after your last chest press. Alternate the two exercises with 30 seconds between them and 90 seconds after each pair.
How to progress
Keep the weight until you reach 15 reps on every squeeze press set, then go one step heavier. Leave the fly weight alone and add reps.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

Can you target the inner chest with dumbbells?

Partly. The pec is one muscle, so every chest exercise trains its inner part, and the inner chest gets fuller as the whole chest grows. Exercises that end with your arms crossing toward the middle under load, like the squeeze press and flies held at the top, put a bit more of the work there.

What is the best inner chest exercise with dumbbells?

The squeeze press. Pressing the dumbbells into each other keeps the pecs pulling inward for the entire set, while the press lets you use real weight. Pair it with a fly that holds the squeeze at the top for a second.

How do I build the inside of my chest?

Grow the whole chest with a heavy press, 10 to 20 hard sets a week, and finish every press rep with the dumbbells close together. Add one squeeze press and one fly per session, and pause at the top of each fly rep.

What is the best exercise for the middle line of the chest?

The middle line is the gap between the two pecs where they attach to the breastbone, and it fills in as the pecs get bigger. The flat dumbbell press builds the most size, and the squeeze press and flat fly add tension right at the center.

What are the top 5 dumbbell chest exercises?

The flat press, the incline press, the decline press, the flat fly and the squeeze press. Pick one or two presses and one fly per session and you have covered the whole chest, inner part included.

How many sets for inner chest per week?

Count it as chest: 10 to 20 hard sets a week across two sessions. Make three to six of those squeeze presses or flies with a held top position, and the rest heavy presses.

Can I train my inner chest without a bench?

Yes. Use the floor press, finishing with the dumbbells together, and the floor fly with a one-second squeeze at the top. An exercise ball gives you an incline fly if you have one.