Necessary To Do Decline AND Flat Bench?

[El Jugo Buen0]

or can you pick one or the other. I read somewhere on the board that a study was done and decline actually best targets your chest, so if I incorporated that into my workout could I removed flat?

[MartyMcFly]

I personally hate decline. I don't think it helps me at all. I love the incline bench. I think it develops my chest better than anything

[nirish_mark20]

just do dips, you ever seen anyone with an under developed lower pec??

[El Jugo Buen0]

yea i hate decline as well but I read somewhere and actual study was done with EMS i think and it showed the chest was most stimulated with this exercise.

[timtim]

if you want to grow you should use exercises from every angle, decline, flat, and incline. this applies to all muscle groups with most exercises.

[tretch187]

if you want to grow you should use exercises from every angle, decline, flat, and incline. this applies to all muscle groups with most exercises.

....or just eat more

[hardgainer12]

i do decline 1 week and incline the next then decline etc....

Monday:
flat bench
decline dumbell press
decline flys
pec dec flys

next monday:
flat bench
incline dumbell
incline fly
cable flys

repeat

[timtim]

....or just eat more

alot more to it than that. if i were simply to eat more while not stimulating as many muscle fibers throughout my body as i could what would all the excess food do? add fat imo.

[JAYROD]

i just believe that everybody's development doing a particular movement will never be the same. my chest has grown more when i discovered supersetting chest+back and doing heavy flat db flyes. i think you should just try everything imaginable and you will find what works best for you.

[Doc.Sust]

yea i hate decline as well but I read somewhere and actual study was done with EMS i think and it showed the chest was most stimulated with this exercise.

i read the same study, but motor fiber recruitment has litle to do with training for size/hypertrophy IMO. ever notice that you can press more on decline? this is the reason why,also the shorter travel distance of the bar helps.flat bench works both pec major and minor, you can choose to only use flat, as a powerlifter, i never use incline or decline

[kaptainkeezy04]

i never do incline bench press because i find it works my shoulders and triceps way more than my chest...i do flat and decline though because i can actually feel my chest doing the work.

[primetime1]

Gain
Foolproof Pec Blasting
Build an impressive chest with this total program
By Dr. Clay Hyght

"Decline Dumbbell Presses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMG studies (which measure the activity of a muscle) show that the decline dumbbell press is the single most effective exercise for stimulating the primary muscle of the chest--the pectoralis major. This is thought to be due to the fact that shoulder muscle, specifically the anterior deltoid, is taken out of the movement, placing virtually all the load on the pecs. After one set I believe you'll agree to the effectiveness of this exercise.
Starting position
Begin by setting a bench to a declined angle between 15 and 30 degrees. Lie flat on your back on the bench with a dumbbell in each hand and your palms facing your feet. Your arms should essentially be straight up and down, which will put the dumbbells over your lower chest area."



just the exert (sp) of the original. the whole article is in novastepps chest tread

[kaptainkeezy04]

Gain
Foolproof Pec Blasting
Build an impressive chest with this total program
By Dr. Clay Hyght

"Decline Dumbbell Presses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMG studies (which measure the activity of a muscle) show that the decline dumbbell press is the single most effective exercise for stimulating the primary muscle of the chest--the pectoralis major. This is thought to be due to the fact that shoulder muscle, specifically the anterior deltoid, is taken out of the movement, placing virtually all the load on the pecs. After one set I believe you'll agree to the effectiveness of this exercise.
Starting position
Begin by setting a bench to a declined angle between 15 and 30 degrees. Lie flat on your back on the bench with a dumbbell in each hand and your palms facing your feet. Your arms should essentially be straight up and down, which will put the dumbbells over your lower chest area."



just the exert (sp) of the original. the whole article is in novastepps chest tread

100 percent agreed!!! i would pick dumbell presses over barbell any day for chest. the fact that you can bring them in and really squeeze the chest makes a lot of difference plus i get a better mind-muscle connection.

[Doc.Sust]

100 percent agreed!!! i would pick dumbell presses over barbell any day for chest. the fact that you can bring them in and really squeeze the chest makes a lot of difference plus i get a better mind-muscle connection.

agree with you,but when you get to a point that your lugging around 100lbs dbells trying to get on a decline press, it becomes an issue of safety, imo it snt worth it, for lighter movemnts the dbell are great, but once your press get high it makes training with dbelss very hard

[kaptainkeezy04]

agree with you,but when you get to a point that your lugging around 100lbs dbells trying to get on a decline press, it becomes an issue of safety, imo it snt worth it, for lighter movemnts the dbell are great, but once your press get high it makes training with dbelss very hard

thats where a training partner comes in.

[primetime1]

i get hundos on decline all up and set up by myself.. once you are able to handle them weights i dont think there should be an issue gettin them ready to press.
now the 150s on flat.. they are some akward mofos to do solo.. next time ill have em handed to me or something..

[Phreak101]

agree with you,but when you get to a point that your lugging around 100lbs dbells trying to get on a decline press, it becomes an issue of safety, imo it snt worth it, for lighter movemnts the dbell are great, but once your press get high it makes training with dbelss very hard

I'm inclined to agree here as well. The stabilizing muscles involved, at least for me, have a very hard time trying to keep anything over 120lb dumbells when I'm doing flat DB presses. I feel a lot of strain in my shoulders and my elbows trying to get it into position, and really repping out the sets becomes even more difficult as my chest begins to tire.

Just my 2c's, I'll stick with barbells for really heavy weight.