Incline Bench Press

The incline bench press is no doubt the 2nd most popular chest movement BB’ers do in search of pec size. With the bench press of course holding the number one spot. Whether done with a strait bar, or dumbbells, it is a wonderful lift to shift the emphasis somewhat to the upper pecs, and provide different neural and muscular stimulation from the same old, same old bench press. Now comes the down-side. MOST of the equipment that is setup for this movement is all wrong and makes what could have been a good chest move into a so-so front delt movement. Most of the fixed incline benches are set at 45 degrees, some even higher. This is truly much too high too keep your pecs in the game optimally. Yes, there will still be some upper pec stimulation at the degree of incline, but it is much less than if the bench were set lower. Electro-magnetic imaging studies show the flat bench press hits all areas of the pectorals…..and hit them hard. Inclines, done on electro-magnetic imaging studies show the upper pecs are well stimulated, but the lower pecs are either not hit very hard, or barely at all—dependent on incline angle.

You don’t need a tall incline to make an incline bench press a great upper chest movement. 15-30 degrees is about right for most people. God know front delts are the most abused body-part and making the incline bench just another front delt move is surely not the intent of doing inclines for most people. Look at your equipment and adjust if needed, and if possible. I used to workout at a gym that had one incline bench that was fixed at about 60 degrees—great. That’s what happens when you let some engineer that has never lifted a weight design equipment.

Iron Addict