Inclined to press some more?

Last week, Stickie demonstrated the bench press.  This week, she has decided to work slightly different muscles, so she chose to model incline presses.  It may not be apparent in the picture, but she, like many people, finds that she needs to use slightly lighter weights when doing incline presses.

Before sitting down, Stickie adjusts the back of the bench to an appropriate angle.  Some benches have lots of choices and some have one or two.  Either way, it is very difficult to adjust the bench once one is sitting on it.

As always, Stickie uses her best posture.  Her lower back retains its natural curve, neither smashing itself into the bench nor creating a tunnel for the transcontinental railroad.  Her shoulders are relaxed away from her ears and her head is centered between her shoulders, not tilted to one side or the other.  She begins the movement with her arms at her shoulders.  As she exhales, she presses the weights straight up in the air by straightening her elbows.  On the inhale, she lowers them slowly back to her chest.

As with the bench press, she does not let the dumbbells touch at the top of the movement because she is all about getting the most out of her workout.  She often does three sets of ten repetitions at a weight that is heavy enough that the last rep of each set is challenging to complete.  (Sometimes she is not sure what that weight is, so she may adjust the weight between sets to keep to the rubric.)

Between sets, she drinks water, gives herself a hug stretch, or extends her arms out to the sides of the bench to stretch her chest.