Incline vs. Flat Bench Press

Incline benching focuses as much on the shoulders and triceps as it does on the chest muscles.

Flat benching focuses more on the chest muscles than it does on the shoulders and triceps.

The body is mechanically inclined to push out and down. That's why you can usually decline bench more than you flat bench, flat bench more than you incline bench and incline bench more than you seated shoulder press.

Stay Strong,
Sean Katterle
Hardcore Powerlifting



thanks dude, i would alwats favor incline
 
Isn't that basically a military press?

Except your sitting down and your laying back 20 degrees. Other than holding a barbell, no, not really. It lets you load up more weight and absolutely crush all of your pressing muscles.
 
i find incline press is funner to do, i like flat but incline bp is just a funner type
 
Funny, but football seems to be one of the only sports where doing BP would seem to be worthwhile - develop muscles for pushing things away from chest and you can push things away from your chest well, go figure.

Anyway - most of us don't need to BP for anything other than improving our BP max.

Since Incline helps develop shoulders more than BP, it would seem to be a better exercise for most of us.

Not sure if you can sub OHP for Incline or the other way around.

I may be the only person in the world who can incline more than he can flat bench, but my shoulders are crap right now and only the flat bench plane seems to really aggravate them.

If any of you make it this far:

What is everyone's ROM for incline? All the way to the chest every time?
 
*bangs head against wall*

There is no such thing as the upper pec. Try this: Flex just your "upper pecs". I bet you can't because the chest muscle that you have is all the same mother fucking muscle. Pectoralis Major mother fucker. The Minor is a tiny little triangular muscle under the Major.


So you can't isolate or work a different part of the same muscle by doing it slightly different?
It's just like doing preacher curls to get the peak in your biceps.
(I don't do curls, just throwing that out there)
 
SOHP>Any form of Bench all day long

I agree, but I like to be diverse. I'll definitely say that overhead pressing makes my shoulders feel like they are on fire more than any other movement which I love.
 
So you can't isolate or work a different part of the same muscle by doing it slightly different?
It's just like doing preacher curls to get the peak in your biceps.
(I don't do curls, just throwing that out there)

I'm not a kinesiology expert but I would imagine that you could potentially work certain muscles differently by doing different exercises but that wouldn't apply to your chest since the pectoralis major is all one piece. Something like the bicep or tricep (which have 2 and 3 heads each) maybe. Someone with more knowledge could probably clarify.
 
Incline vs. flat:
There are so many variables to bench pressing, changing the angle of your spine in relation to the extended arm is only the most obvious factor.
The bottom line with either movement is how you perform it relative to:
1)the position of the body (in specific the arch of the spine and position of the shoulder blades ).
2)the mechanics of the decent of the bar (eccentric phase), specifically the position of your elbows, and where the bar is placed at the bottom of the movement.
3)how you initiate the concentric phase (what muscles you use to start motion of the bar off the chest).
4)at what point in the ROM you again switch the eccentric phase
5)the tempo you use in performing the movement
6) breaking the concentric/eccentric cycle or going for continuous tension

without getting more technical, doing either movement is better than doing nothing, but the movement that is best for you is based more on your goals than on the the angle of you spine.
 
So you can't isolate or work a different part of the same muscle by doing it slightly different?
It's just like doing preacher curls to get the peak in your biceps.
(I don't do curls, just throwing that out there)

Biceps have two heads as the name implies...

My understanding is no, you can't isolate one part of the same muscle.
 
you cannot isolate, but you can focus on and emphasize one region over another.
 
Back
Top