Dynamic stabilizer: Biceps Brachii (short head only)
Mechanics: Compound
Force: Push
Starting position
Squeeze a weight plate between your palms.
Raise it to your chest, with your fingers pointing forward.
Pull your shoulders back and stick out your chest.
Raise your elbows so that your arms are parallel with the floor.
Execution
Exhale as you slowly extend your elbows and push the plate out in front of you.
Hold for a count of two and squeeze your chest muscles.
Inhale as you slowly pull the plate back in to your chest.
Repeat.
Comments and tips
Since your arms are horizontal, most of the movement should occur in the horizontal plane.
Because you have to constantly squeeze the plate, the Svend press puts your chest through an extended period of tension.
Instead of using one heavy plate, you can sandwich two lighter plates together.
The Svend press is not a major mass-building exercise. You can use it to warm up your chest at the start of a chest workout or to flush your chest at the end of your chest workout. You can also superset the Svend press with a primary chest exercise, such as the dumbbell bench press. In other words, as soon as you complete a set of the dumbbell bench press, perform the Svend press.
As with the dumbbell fly, the Svend press is believed to build your “inner” chest. It is not possible to emphasize your inner chest. The only ways to get more inner chest definition are to build your chest using major compound push exercises (such as the barbell bench press) and to lose body fat.
A similar exercise to the Svend press, known as the dumbbell squeeze bench press, can be performed while lying on your back (supine). The dumbbell squeeze bench press places emphasis on your pectoralis major and triceps brachii, whereas the Svend press places emphasis on your pectoralis major and anterior deltoid.
