How come no one does decline bench press?

[ColdCut]

Is the decline bench not good for anything?? i want a good "square" chest.....basically pecks come together and touch in the middle chest and the lower is straight, not curved or circular.

Does this mean i shouldn't focus on getting a huge chest as that will defeat the purpose and make my pecks look like huge circular man boobs? How would i keep it not too small - not too big but "full" enough to have square pecks

 

[Dave949]

" Square " pecs is a genetic thing. You can make a muscle bigger and stronger and with diet can make it more defined and cut but you cannot change the shape of it.

Decline bench is a very good movement. It minimizes shoulder involvment. However.... it will not give you square pecs.

 

[breathinbleedout]

I do declined bench once in a while, most people don't do it is because after flat, and incline bench doing declined becomes a pain in the butt. A good substitue to declined bench is dips.

 

[WalkingBeast]

Shape is genetic IMO as Dave said. Though you can bring out certain portions of the chest more. I believe incline presses definately bring up the upper chest more so then the flat bench. Flat and incline seem to cover the entire chest area fine for me. It seems if my chest coud develop lower, it would have atleast some mass in that area after all these years, but it doesnt. So I think the muscle thats there is already all showing, just needs to get bigger.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Less range of motion.
Dips are better.
Blood rushes to my head, I don't like 'em.

 

[super_rice]

not a lot of ROM i find, and the blood also rushes to my head.

 

[athlete0185]

hurts my shoulders more than flat bench. i guess there are too many other good chest exercises i dont really incorporate this into my routine.

 

[anthrax]

I try to do decline from time to time

Instead of flat bench press

 

[TheOak84]

cuz dips are better

 

[njlw226]

decline

there was a thread on here about a month ago about a studying that was done with decline. it showed that most people use decline to hit the lower part of their chest. this experiment showed that flat bench actually hit the lower chest better than decline did. thats why i stopped the decline.

 

[psychedout]

Have you ever seen a pro do any decline work???

Nope.

 

[guldukat]

Have you ever seen a pro do any decline work???

Nope.

I have, actually (Dorian), but the way most bodybuilders do declines, I also think they're better off with good old flat bench.

 

[wend]

I don't use it because if I have to bail and drop it on the pegs, there isn't quite enough room for my head, which gets slightly squished. That, and I have to reach back a little to get it off the rack, so it's hard to go heavy without hurting my elbows. I was using dumbells, but they're hard to position without a spotter.

I use the decline press Hammersmith machine now. I would love to do dips, and I will, when I'm stronger. The weight-assisted dips are lame...you're body doesn't sit at the right angle on your knees...same with the pullups.

 

[Omegasox]

I like doing decline, but I never feel any burn from it. I've recently cut it out in favor of more incline work.

 

[onerepmaximum]

I do decline, but only with dumbells. I get a good stretch at the bottom and bring the the dumbells up and touch them end to end, but I rotate them so that the end I touch are by my pinkies and not my thumb. Make sense? I think if you are going to do decline, you should use dumbells otherwise you won't get a good range of motion at all.

 

[guldukat]

I do decline, but only with dumbells. I get a good stretch at the bottom and bring the the dumbells up and touch them end to end, but I rotate them so that the end I touch are by my pinkies and not my thumb. Make sense? I think if you are going to do decline, you should use dumbells otherwise you won't get a good range of motion at all.

Interesting thought.

I guess you could try to take the bar lower, as in closer to your neck, but that sounds awkward and definitely not so shoulder-friendly!