Does barbell benching have its place in body building?

[davesah1]

Decline is the way to go. Its in perfect kinematic with the motion of the pec and away from shoulder injuries. I only do bench these days once in a while just to gauge where my "bench #'s" are at. Dorian Yates advice.

Yup, decline is purely chest work, probably why I'm stronger at that compared to flat and incline.

[Docd187123]

Yup, decline is purely chest work, probably why I'm stronger at that compared to flat and incline.

You're stronger in decline bench than flat or incline bc it artificially limits your ROM when compared to flat or incline.

[davesah1]

You're stronger in decline bench than flat or incline bc it artificially limits your ROM when compared to flat or incline.

Well, makes for a good pre-exhaust then, thus avoiding going super heavy on flat and protecting those precious shoulders.

[Docd187123]

Well, makes for a good pre-exhaust then, thus avoiding going super heavy on flat and protecting those precious shoulders.

In my opinion and experience decline bench press is a worthless lift. I personally choose more effective lifts to do and never do declines bench. To each their own though, if you like it, do it lol

[davesah1]

In my opinion and experience decline bench press is a worthless lift. I personally choose more effective lifts to do and never do declines bench. To each their own though, if you like it, do it lol

I do like it, gave me a really nice chest over the years. The missed part of ROM is for the outer pec right? which can be exhausted with full ROM flyes.

[Docd187123]

I do like it, gave me a really nice chest over the years. The missed part of ROM is for the outer pec right? which can be exhausted with full ROM flyes.

Not quite. You're hinting more towards primary and secondary movers and which muscles get activated or used during the lift. I'm talking specifically about range of motion. Think of the decline bench press as a half squat...you're basically limiting the actual bar path travel bc of the decline. The following is a quote by Mark a rippetoe which explains it much better than I can:

The decline press is a rather useless exercise because the angle of the body in the decline position shortens the distance the bar can travel, decreasing the amount of work done in respect to the distance the load moves. This has the effect of increasing the weight that can be used in the exercise by decreasing its difficulty. This leads to inflated perceptions of one’s ability, and is essentially masturbation, much like that which is possible with a 30 degree leg press or a half-squat. It gets recommended for its effects on the “lower pecs”; dips perform this function much more effectively, which at the same involving more muscle mass, more balance and coordination, and more nervous system activity… Declines are dangerous because if their point of contact on the lower sternum gets missed, the next stop is the throat. Couple this with heavy weight and a lousy spotter, and you might have a really bad “chest” workout.

Again, if you like the lift you shouldn't let anyone talk you out of it especially if you're still making progress. My point is basically that you should optimize your time in the gym and can do so by choosing other lifts IMO. As stated in the quote, dips are an excellent movement that targets "lower pecs" and you're not limiting ROM (unless you do half dips or something) while allowing the use of more muscles to perform the lift. Also my goals lean to strength as I want to compete in powerlifting whereas your goals may be vastly different than mine. Whatever you do, be safe and keep busting ass in the gym

[davesah1]

Not quite. You're hinting more towards primary and secondary movers and which muscles get activated or used during the lift. I'm talking specifically about range of motion. Think of the decline bench press as a half squat...you're basically limiting the actual bar path travel bc of the decline. The following is a quote by Mark a rippetoe which explains it much better than I can:




Again, if you like the lift you shouldn't let anyone talk you out of it especially if you're still making progress. My point is basically that you should optimize your time in the gym and can do so by choosing other lifts IMO. As stated in the quote, dips are an excellent movement that targets "lower pecs" and you're not limiting ROM (unless you do half dips or something) while allowing the use of more muscles to perform the lift. Also my goals lean to strength as I want to compete in powerlifting whereas your goals may be vastly different than mine. Whatever you do, be safe and keep busting ass in the gym

I'm going to go nerd right now and pull the Force=Mass x Acceleration formula out of my ass.
Acceleration is distance/sec and we'll call mass weight in this instance.
Less R.O.M. = less distance which = less force
So add more mass (weight) and we can come to a similar output of force used.
But working out isn't physics, its actually 10 times more complicated lol.
Nice post tho, good read!
I'm still going to keep doing them just because heavy flat bench is painful on my shoulder joints and so are dips.
Genetically, I was given a chest so I needn't worry too much.

Yeah my goals are solely tailored towards being large lol. I was never into powerlifting, the whole excessive rest and heavy weight and less pumps just turned me off. Oh and you only get to move heavy weight around in the gym, you get to look like you can all day.
But I am seeing more and more powerlifters looking good. Never liked most of those blobs on worlds strongest man moving around trains and planes