Bench Press

[hecad84]

Hi guys, quick question or two. I'm looking for what works better, or what your preferences are. Flat bench press or incline? If incline, how much of an incline? It seems like every exercise book and website out there has a different instruction for how much of an incline to use, and I've seen the extremes from just barely off of horizontal, all the way to over 45 degrees. Maybe you guys can tell me what actually works!

[buffdoc]

quick answer is you need both flat and incline. for incline between 30-45 is best in my opinion.

[glammaman2000]

...too much more vertical than 45 degrees is a shoulder exercise.

[pdxflex]

I do agree with previous about needing both, though I think if you had to pick one, go with incline. Incline works the chest muscles a bit more (though of course, you still need shoulder and triceps), and it's a little harder to cheat.

Another tip I would recommend would be dumbbells over the bar. Personally, I feel like I get a much better range of motion with DBs. The barbell doesn't allow you to make the natural arc (think hugging a tree), and this can put unnatural stress on your shoulder joint. I have seen so many guys with shoulder injuries because of the barbell.

Of course, tied to this is the "macho" thing of lifting too much weight. There are four guys in my gym who do nothing BUT chest, I swear. They want four plates on each side to "show off" for each other, never mind their form is terrible. Arched backs, only slight movements, bouncing off the chest, you name it. Interestingly enough, no size change in two years.

OK, I'm off my soap box.

[brent]

I give another vote to both. The flat bench works your Pectoral Majors J(the bulk of the chest muscle), and the incline works the Pectoral Minors (the upper part f the chest that makes them "pop".) If you can only do one, do the flat bench.

[ethernet_jock]

Just to voice another opinion...

the correct answer really is: Both. But if I had to pick one, I would pick incline. It's generally the more difficult to do (and more difficult to do correctly with good form) and seems to be more effective and making my pecs "pop".

Make sure you mix it up with dumbbell flies on all 3 angles too (incline, fat, and decline). Flies hit your pecs in a completely different way and will give you that extra pump. The most important thing of all, of course, as mentioned above is to keep the weight reasonable so that your form is good. I couldn't help but crack up momentarily reading pdxflex's post about the 4 bench queens that never get any stronger. That reminds me of all those kids in H.S. who used to go around saying "yah, I can bench 350 dude, what can you do?" and you'd watch them to find out... it's all back, shoulder, and tricep! Ouch... I don't want that guy's shoulder problems when I'm 35.

[brent]

Yeah, I don't want the shoulder problems of those bench queens either. There are plenty of them down here too! Bad form is as painful to watch as it is for the person doing it...

[wbhunk]

Double that, Brent. Bench press has always been an exercise I hated for some reason -- I do 'em, but I sure don't like 'em.

The funny thing is seeing these guys walk around that are all chest with little tiny pipe-cleaner legs. It always reminds me of a turkey, for some reason.

[Steen]

Have to agree with what's been said - I use both, but I do tend to do an incline movement (mainly dumbell, but sometimes barbell in my routine). Also, as has been said above, don't go too high on the incline. I use 30 degrees; any higher and I feel most of the effort going into my shoulders and triceps. Hope that helps.

[OUstud82]

I always do flat barbell bench presses and then combine them with barbell incline or barbell decline, depending on the week. Then I finish with a fly of some sort (dumbell, machine or cables). It usually gets me pretty sore and I feel pretty good about it the next day.

The only thing is, I've been benching about 160 since October (i can do 165 with the barbell) and I can still only get about 7 reps per set... I'm really ready to move on to 170. Any suggestions??

[brent]

Originally Posted by OUstud82

...
The only thing is, I've been benching about 160 since October (i can do 165 with the barbell) and I can still only get about 7 reps per set... I'm really ready to move on to 170. Any suggestions??

Are you eating enough? By that I mean: enough food, enough protein, and often enough.
Are you getting enough rest?
Are you taking you vitamins? I find a cheap multi-vitamin really helps me.
Do you have a partner, so you can go past failure?

Hopefully we can get you biggering yourself here very soon!
Brent.

[glammaman2000]

Only do 1 warm-up set before 165.Use 135lbs.Try to get 20 reps.Initially,it'll make you weaker for the 2nd set(165)but eventually;165(&175-185!)will be easy!

[Mdlftr]

Originally Posted by pdxflex

I do agree with previous about needing both, though I think if you had to pick one, go with incline. Incline works the chest muscles a bit more (though of course, you still need shoulder and triceps), and it's a little harder to cheat.

Another tip I would recommend would be dumbbells over the bar. Personally, I feel like I get a much better range of motion with DBs. The barbell doesn't allow you to make the natural arc (think hugging a tree), and this can put unnatural stress on your shoulder joint. I have seen so many guys with shoulder injuries because of the barbell.

Of course, tied to this is the "macho" thing of lifting too much weight. OK, I'm off my soap box.

I agree with ALL of the above, especially the preference for DBs and incline press (especially to start off). Tall guys, like yours truly, really have a hard time with the bar bench press and shoulders. DBs give you more control, help develop the stabilizer muscles and really get that stretch.

NOTE: ALWAYS, always do rotator cuff/shoulder joint exercises/ warm ups before you bench. Examples: uneven pushups, lying side lateral db raises with low weights and high reps (e.g., 5-10#, X15) seated db raises where you put your arms out at shoulder height, with forearms pointing down to the ground (your arms will form a 90 degree angle to your body). Rotate your shoulder slowly (with a light weight, say 5-10#) as you bring your forearm from pointing down to pointing up. Your upper arms should stay level and raised out flat to shoulder level while your fore arms are moving.

I've been doing this after a loong winter's nap...er..."lay off" and it is really helping me to ease back into lifting without injury.

Mdlftr

[brent]

Originally Posted by Mdlftr

...
I've been doing this after a loong winter's nap...er..."lay off"
...

The winter is the perfect time for adding bulk, so you are bigger each Summer. While I agree with everything you say, especially warming up your rotators before bench presses, but I do NOT advocated taking all Winter off.

Good luck getting back into it.