Incline Bench

[SWOLL UP]

Wuzzup,

I was wondering why most of the big boys in the gym work the incline bench press and not the flat bed? I also heard from someone that Chris Cormier also only does incline bench pressing and not any flat bed. Also I was wondering if it is true that by working the Incline pressing more that your flat bed bench press should go up?

Please reply

[Padawan]

I believe it has to do with developing the upper chest. Most guys don't have any trouble building good lower pecs, but the upper chest can look smooth and flat. Doing inclines will fix that. Or so I am told.

[cookie16]

i have that problem. its hard for me to build my upper chest. i guess that makes sense to do alot of incline. matbe i should stqrt trying that. but are you supposed to stop flat entirely? or just not do it as often. also will your strength decrease on flat?

[Butch]

I always do incline first. And I have noticed that when I do flat bench after, that I can lift more. Not a whole lot more. It's helped build my upper chest up. If I had to pick between incline or flat, I would pick incline hands down. I feel like I get a better stretch.

[The French Curler]

Do all forms of bench press, not just incline or flat. You must do both to develop the chest! It might seem tough, but that is the reason why we are different from everybody else. As for decline, I've never found it to be helpful, flat seems to develop the "lower" chest just as well.

[Butch]

I like to alternate decline and flat. I also try to keep it to two pressing exercises for chest.

[vielbistdu]

Cause it looks really bad on stage when you don't have that type of mass on top. I usually do more incline than flat so my chest is well-developed. I know a lot of guys that don't do bench press at all. They prefer to declines or dips, but everyone responds differently. For some people flat bench mostly hits their shoulders, so they shy away from it.