Incline/decline dumbell press

[Aggression]

I read that if you have shoulder impingement syndrome that incline dumbell presses and decline dumbell presses are better than flat dumbell presses. Is this true?

[bluethunder]

If you have a shoulder problem presses of ANY kind may aggravate it however, some may be better for you depending on what part of shoulder & serverity of impingement. Realize inclines (especially if the incline is >45deg) places more stress on the shoulder area. Declines may have less travel shorter depending on angle and arm length therefore may stress the shoulder less to some degree. Best bet is lighter ,controlled form,and do what your body is telling you....if it hurts bad then stop..

[wannagrow]

I have found personally that i can do incline barbell, but must do flat dumbell. i used to have severe pain when benching so swapped to flat db and it went away. after 2 yrs of doing it this way, i tried flat bench bout a month ago as a warmup with only about 150 lbs and the pain came straight back.

I figure i'm just not meant to do flat bb bench.

You just gotta experiment, some people find the opposite, incline hurts or can't do dumbells.