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Are inclines overated ?
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diesel rip
New member
flat bench targets more of your inner and outter area of your chest...decline is outter and lower area...incline is outter and upper and yes alittle of your anterior delt but in all i think every movement has its advantage and dissadvantage. choose what works for you
kansasfarmman
New member
Incline barbell presses are the best pressing exercise for the chest IMO. I have been using them for 12 years and had much better strength gains and development since I dumped the bench press in 1997.
To build a big strong chest, inclines and weighted dips are all you need.
Inclines and weighted dips will build the chest, delts, and triceps, so you won't need to waste time adding additional exercise for these three muscle groups.
Remember, it takes years to get big and strong. Results don't come over night.
To build a big strong chest, inclines and weighted dips are all you need.
Inclines and weighted dips will build the chest, delts, and triceps, so you won't need to waste time adding additional exercise for these three muscle groups.
Remember, it takes years to get big and strong. Results don't come over night.
n8ive_stylez
New member
kansasfarmman said:
Depends on what you're on.. lol..
But I do agree with Kansas, you need to work inclines and weighted dips into your workout to see good gains in your chest development.. By far 2 of my favorite exercises..
Tom Treutlein
New member
diesel rip - No. That's entirely false. There is no "inner" and "outer" chest. You have the sternal and clavicular chest muscles (lower and upper, respectively), and that's it. The incline bench press simply puss less emphasis on the lower chest. In reality, flat bench presses will stimulate the lower and upper pectoral muscles as optimally as possible. Incline bench takes away from the stimulus on the sternal head of the chest muscles.
I couldn't disagree more. If you want well rounded delts, you MUST have a well rounded shoulder routine that hits all 3 heads. Otherwise you'll end up with that "hunched forward" look...huge front heads, and no rear heads. And the same goes for triceps. There's 3 heads there that need to be hit from different angles.kansasfarmman said:
As far as incline press goes, I get more stimulus in my chest by using a wider grip than most. I'm only 5'9" (short arms) and my index fingers are just outside the rings on the bar. I've noticed far less pressure on my shoulders, and more on my chest with this grip. And I almost always do inclines first, and I alternate every other week w/ DBs on inclines.
Tom Treutlein
New member
A wider grip isn't going to do much besides irk your rotator cuffs. Don't fool yourself into thinking it's going to develop your chest more. Also, the three heads of the tricep don't need to be hit with individual exercises. More bullshit being passed around. As for the deltoids, no need for isolation work. Bentover rows and pullups will get your rear deltoids developed so you won't have to worry about that "hunched" look.
Now this may not be true for all bodybuilders who want their rear deltoids jutting outward, but you needn't worry about isolating them otherwise.
Now this may not be true for all bodybuilders who want their rear deltoids jutting outward, but you needn't worry about isolating them otherwise.
The wide grip puts a huge pump in my chest after a few sets, and I've seen some growth on myself and others by using this method. It's not my imagination friend.Tom Treutlein said:
And I never said the word "isolate" for individual delt heads. But, you won't have well-rounded delts just from chest n back workouts alone. If you never do any shoulder work, at least military presses, your delts will look silly compared to the rest of your uper body.
R
roidpuple
Guest
if you feel it mostly in your shoulders thy different angles...
like said above... 30 degree.. going down think stretch... <--wide grip gives more of a stretch... better stretch will allow more blood to enter.. going up think flex..
like said above... 30 degree.. going down think stretch... <--wide grip gives more of a stretch... better stretch will allow more blood to enter.. going up think flex..
psychedout
New member
I do not think incline presses are overated. They help both your flat bench and standing overhead presses. My chest doesn't fill out as well when I focus more on flat movements.
Not too mention, they are just damn fun, and everyone in the gym is pussies when it comes to doing them. Honestly, anything over 2 plates on incline (with proper form) impresses me.
Not too mention, they are just damn fun, and everyone in the gym is pussies when it comes to doing them. Honestly, anything over 2 plates on incline (with proper form) impresses me.
Tom Treutlein
New member
A pump means nothing for growth, so I don't know what the hell you're talking about. And as for seeing growth with said method chi, ever think that you're performing the same movement, albeit with more of a stretch and also more susceptibility to injury of the rotator cuffs, as a regular incline bench? No wonder you saw growth! You didn't go back in time and try one method to see if it were superior over the other, so you can't even argue the point that by lowering to your neck that you would see more growth.
You didn't say isolation, but you implied it. You spoke of how people neglect their rear deltoids, and through incline benching and military pressing, they overdevelop their anterior deltoids, giving a "hunched over" look. You said that you must have a well-rounded shoulder routine to hit all three heads. You tell me what hits the medial/rear deltoids without isolation, and still retains the name of a "shoulder exercise". None.
Bentover rows are known for the back. Do they hit the rear deltoids though? Yep. Standing military presses also work the medial deltoid, though not as much as the anterior. In any case, you don't need to do direct shoulder work unless, as I said, you wanna be a bodybuilder and tweak certain areas.
You didn't say isolation, but you implied it. You spoke of how people neglect their rear deltoids, and through incline benching and military pressing, they overdevelop their anterior deltoids, giving a "hunched over" look. You said that you must have a well-rounded shoulder routine to hit all three heads. You tell me what hits the medial/rear deltoids without isolation, and still retains the name of a "shoulder exercise". None.
Bentover rows are known for the back. Do they hit the rear deltoids though? Yep. Standing military presses also work the medial deltoid, though not as much as the anterior. In any case, you don't need to do direct shoulder work unless, as I said, you wanna be a bodybuilder and tweak certain areas.
I won't be baited into an arguement. I've tried inclines from diff grips and I use the one that works best for me. And I don't "lower my neck" to look at my chest TYVM. I use a tape measure. And for shoulders, I do what works best for me. We all have diff genetic make-ups. I'll continue w/ what gives me results, and good luck to you w/ your routine.Tom Treutlein said:
As I said...I won't be baited into an arguement.
The Red Dragon
New member
Inclines, I only feel it in my shoulder/triceps...
Flat, I can feel it in my chest
And different parts of the muscle can be activated (the purpose of neural motor units) but whether or not they're distributed equally along the surface area of the chest...
Flat, I can feel it in my chest
And different parts of the muscle can be activated (the purpose of neural motor units) but whether or not they're distributed equally along the surface area of the chest...
psychedout
New member
I read somewhere before that the actual difference in activation of pectoral muscle fibres from a flat bench to 30-degree incline is only 8-9%. Not sure of the validity of the claim, but I would not be surprised if it was true.
Schutzhund1
New member
I find most fixed incline benches have too steep an angle to correctly stress the chest. In my opinion they hit the shoulders and triceps too much. I like to use an adjustable bench set at the first incline position (around 25 degrees in my case).
Tom Treutlein
New member
Who said anything about lowering to your neck to "look at your chest"?
Ripped2Shredds
New member
I have a friend whose dad was a poerlifter in the 70's/80's and he got us inclining young, around 14ish, they increse explosiveness as well as push power really good. A line mans favorite upperbody lift.
M
Mr_MAX
Guest
the 1st year i lifted i only did bench.. i could tell a big difference from incline..
Id say inclines are greatly underrated. Most trainees seem to flat bench alot more then they incline, or do very little incline work. I reached a point where I was flat benching more then inclines also, but even at that point I still had a seperate day for them and hit atleast 8 sets on the incline bench alone, then cybex inclines and some additional chest work along with shoulders. Ive always kept a good amount of incline work in my routines. I feel it helps with flat bench strength as well. I definately feel more strain in my upper chest area with the movement as well. Though Ive never gotten my upper chest as thick as Id like, despite repping 315 and hitting 375 on inclines. Perhaps the shape is somewhat "genetic" also. But I believe with enough chest mass the problem will be corrected. I also like the shoulder stress I get from heavy incline presses. Definately one of my favorites.
wnt2bBeast
New member
threads like these accomplish absolutely nothing..
as far as those that are saying upper inner outter chest thats all complete malarchy and stems from reading too much flex magazine..
Im almost positive there are only 1 or 3 people on this board who should be focusing on isolating moves for the pec only after doing compund work..
personally my chest grew better from heavy inclines..
i think most people should stress either inclines or flats for awhile along with some other work..
i agree with walking almost everyone in my gym starts on flat with to much weight and only move the bar as if they were doing a 5 or 6 board press..well guess what your pretty much only gonna work your tris..same as squats my gym has quite a few 405 squatters who only like to work their squat lockout lol
as far as those that are saying upper inner outter chest thats all complete malarchy and stems from reading too much flex magazine..
Im almost positive there are only 1 or 3 people on this board who should be focusing on isolating moves for the pec only after doing compund work..
personally my chest grew better from heavy inclines..
i think most people should stress either inclines or flats for awhile along with some other work..
i agree with walking almost everyone in my gym starts on flat with to much weight and only move the bar as if they were doing a 5 or 6 board press..well guess what your pretty much only gonna work your tris..same as squats my gym has quite a few 405 squatters who only like to work their squat lockout lol
wnt2bBeast said:
Yea I always like to get a pretty full range of motion on most all movements. Unless Im doing 160lb+ preachers I might cut the range to 3/4's as I feel certrain stresses can be damaging. Sometimes cutting range slightly short could be useful for bodybuilding purposes to keep constant tension, but I usually train with full range. Ive seen some people move the weight an inch, or a few inches and that seems quite useless, aside from training rack lockouts. If you can only move the weight partially then Id suggest less weight. Most people seem to hate incline work and always call it thier weakness. I think because Ive trained my incline hard always, and equal to my flat bench for many years, its stayed pretty balanced. My incline has never been too far behind my flat bench.
wnt2bBeast
New member
Neo22 said:
im sure its not horrible..honestly it may be a diet problem..not enough cals and you wont grow no matter what you do..
also have your weights been stedily going up?
whats your routine look like?
Saint V
New member
Chi town said:I couldn't disagree more. If you want well rounded delts, you MUST have a well rounded shoulder routine that hits all 3 heads. Otherwise you'll end up with that "hunched forward" look...huge front heads, and no rear heads.QUOTE]
Not if you're training back properly!
M
Mr_MAX
Guest
Neo22 said:
what about dip work and declines?? do you do decline?? your chest is made to push out and down.. like when you flex your chest.. notice where your arms are... also think of an ape standing on his nuckels..
to work your chest best.. you should push out and down.. like decline and dips... ..... Do you have big shoulders??? since your incline is more than bench??
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