Incline benchpress vs Flat benchpress??

[eddie500]

I only do flat benchpress.. as I can't right now do incline.

But what exactly will happen if I don't do incline? I hear people say that incline works the top of your chest, and some people say it doesn't matter.

Bascially if I don't do incline benchpress.. will my chest form incorrectly and look bad?,,
LIke I'm worried about looking like I have tits, and not a flat chest..

[fixationdarknes]

No, your chest will not look deformed. It should grow normally. This has been a debateable subject for years now though. Basically, the reason I like to do Incline Bench Press is because it feels a lot tougher to me, and it's just a nice variation of a Flat Bench Press. Also, Inclines incorporate the delts more than Flat so it is great for indirect delt growth. It's really just up to your preference though. I'm curious, why can't you do Inclines? Do you not have an inclining bench?

[trfe]

His girly-man arms can't handle the sheer mass of the incline bar. You should start easy at home with a broomstick and some shirts on hangers on each side. You laugh but it works... damn you, it works!

(little hungover, sorry had to)

[trfe]

His girly-man arms can't handle the sheer mass of the incline bar. You should start easy at home with a broomstick and some shirts on hangers on each side. You laugh but it works... damn you, it works!

(little hungover, sorry had to)

Personally, i just got back into lifting a few weeks ago. When i flex my pec the area around the nipple and below is solid, but the area above it is a little soft. I figure that incline will make that area more muscle-bound. If it doesn't i don't know what would.

[randy1234]

First off you need to do incline. Flat bench is a big testosterone booster but incline will form your pecs. I have done a lot of research on this topic and people that say incline works the upper part of your pecs thats bull**** you cant work a specific part of your pecs. Also no matter what the shape of your pecs it's all genetics. Your pecs will always grow as a whole not specific parts.

[harv]

I only do flat benchpress.. as I can't right now do incline.

But what exactly will happen if I don't do incline? I hear people say that incline works the top of your chest, and some people say it doesn't matter.

Bascially if I don't do incline benchpress.. will my chest form incorrectly and look bad?,,
LIke I'm worried about looking like I have tits, and not a flat chest..

I wouldn't say that your chest would look bad without incline, but I will say that your pecs will look much better with inclines in your workout than without.

I'm just now starting to do inclines again after not doing them for a few years (got a new bench). Although my (flat) lift weights are much higher than they've ever been, my pecs don't look nearly as good as when I was hitting inclunes hard a few years ago.

[eddie500]

I gotta say that after I do flat benchpress, the upper part of my pec is more sore to the touch than the lower part. So it probably doesn't matter.

[eddie500]

I'm curious, why can't you do Inclines? Do you not have an inclining bench?

yeah don't have an incline bench.

[IZich]

i like how you have the support of numerous people who have no idea what they're talking about. The only one in here worth his beans is fixation, who is absolutely correct. The main reason for doing incline BP is not to work some "upper" or "lower" bull**** of the pecs, but for supporting muscle groups to develop as well, such as the delts.
its NOT a debatable subject, either - science has proved that you can't alter the structure of your muscles by attacking it from different angles. NOT. POSSIBLE.

you guys are just lucky i caught this thread before any of the bigger guns have.

[eddie500]

i like how you have the support of numerous people who have no idea what they're talking about. The only one in here worth his beans is fixation, who is absolutely correct. The main reason for doing incline BP is not to work some "upper" or "lower" bull**** of the pecs, but for supporting muscle groups to develop as well, such as the delts.
its NOT a debatable subject, either - science has proved that you can't alter the structure of your muscles by attacking it from different angles. NOT. POSSIBLE.

you guys are just lucky i caught this thread before any of the bigger guns have.

This is interesting for a couple of reasons.
You can work differnt parts of the muscle, for example reverse curls gets the lower part of your bicep, and horizontal curls gets the upper part. Is that not correct?

Another thing is when you do incline benchpress you lift less weight than when you do flat benchpress. So overall you are using less muscle to lift that weight and that should theoretically give you less overall gains. I can be totally ass wrong here though..

That is why squats is a recommended for mass gaining, becuase you use the most muscles in a squat and therefore the most weight. That is why overall it will give you the most muscle weight gains for the single exercise. Make any sense?

[Nito]

You cannot isolate your clavicular head (upper chest) or any head of a muscle. And no you cannot isolate parts of your bicep.

[body]

This is interesting for a couple of reasons.
You can work differnt parts of the muscle, for example reverse curls gets the lower part of your bicep, and horizontal curls gets the upper part. Is that not correct?:

Incorrect.
You may be getting mixed up with the brachilous(SP?) rather then lower bicep?

Another thing is when you do incline benchpress you lift less weight than when you do flat benchpress. So overall you are using less muscle to lift that weight and that should theoretically give you less overall gains. I can be totally ass wrong here though..

That is why squats is a recommended for mass gaining, becuase you use the most muscles in a squat and therefore the most weight. That is why overall it will give you the most muscle weight gains for the single exercise. Make any sense?

Its not so much total weight. But the amount of resitance on the muscle.
eg i can bench far more than i can fly. However flys can pu t a lots resistance on the pecs.

[Canadian Crippler]

Switching the angles you bench press at is a good way to "shock" your muscles and attempt to get over any plateaus. I do recommend doing some type of variation (between flat, incline and decline) for these reasons, however it is true that you cannot isolate certain heads of a muscle.

[Gutz981]

Man do both...the way I think of it...Flat bench builds strength and incline builds shape...So I mean I failed math but its an easy problem Flat+Incline=Strong and good looking...so I mean thats my take on it...I see more delopment when I do incline...but now i just do both

[Canadian Crippler]

Incline doesn't build "shape". Nothing builds shape, it's determined by genetics.

[Bohizzle]

i agree with the people who said that u cannot train certain parts of ur chest or other muscles unless the muscle fibres are going a different direction... for that matter... SEARCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there's gotta be like 10 different threads on upper/lower chest bull****.

Andrew

[Mr Joshua]

First off you need to do incline. Flat bench is a big testosterone booster but incline will form your pecs. I have done a lot of research on this topic and people that say incline works the upper part of your pecs thats bull**** you cant work a specific part of your pecs. Also no matter what the shape of your pecs it's all genetics. Your pecs will always grow as a whole not specific parts.

Dude, was this supposed to make any sense whatsoever?

[harv]

i like how you have the support of numerous people who have no idea what they're talking about. The only one in here worth his beans is fixation, who is absolutely correct. The main reason for doing incline BP is not to work some "upper" or "lower" bull**** of the pecs, but for supporting muscle groups to develop as well, such as the delts.
its NOT a debatable subject, either - science has proved that you can't alter the structure of your muscles by attacking it from different angles. NOT. POSSIBLE.

you guys are just lucky i caught this thread before any of the bigger guns have.

Izich - you need to quit bashing other members and assuming they don't know what they're talking about because you don't agree with them.

I was lifting weights before you were born and currently warm-up with more than your max.

I've done chest workouts WITH inclines for a couple years and I've done chest workouts WITHOUT inclines for a couple years. There is absolutely no question that my chest looked bigger-better-fuller while doing inclines. I don't care about your upper/lower chest theories...I've experienced it first hand.

Ther original question on this post was if his chest would look better with inclines, and I can say without any question that my experience says "yes".

[body]

Izich - you need to quit bashing other members and assuming they don't know what they're talking about because you don't agree with them.

I was lifting weights before you were born and currently warm-up with more than your max.

I've done chest workouts WITH inclines for a couple years and I've done chest workouts WITHOUT inclines for a couple years. There is absolutely no question that my chest looked bigger-better-fuller while doing inclines. I don't care about your upper/lower chest theories...I've experienced it first hand.

Ther original question on this post was if his chest would look better with inclines, and I can say without any question that my experience says "yes".

have you got any pic to show the difference between before and after doing the incline so we can see the difference to your chest.

[Max-Mex]

I only do flat benchpress.. as I can't right now do incline.

But what exactly will happen if I don't do incline? I hear people say that incline works the top of your chest, and some people say it doesn't matter.

Bascially if I don't do incline benchpress.. will my chest form incorrectly and look bad?,,
LIke I'm worried about looking like I have tits, and not a flat chest..

Are you a 225+ lb pro BB'er? If yes, then it "MIGHT" be a good idea to do inclines. If you aren't a pro, then don't worry about it.

Oh, and thank you body. Just what I was about to say. Post up some pics to back up your claim.

[harv]

I wish I did because I know sometimes a pic is worth 1000 words. It's been several years since I hit incline hard so I don't have any pics from then.

Here's what I can do...I just started hitting incline again last week - I can take a pic now (before) then another later (after...most likely several months) to show the difference. If I can't produce a difference then I'll retract everything I said.

[Bohizzle]

harv, i agree that u should post some pictures, but remember that many other things can affect the growth of ur "upper pecs", such as a change in diet, routine, test levels, stress, and so on. with all due respect, can u search for something along the lines of "upper chest or upper pecs" and just read the 3 or 4 main threads about it, and you will see that the most knowledgable people on this site give studies and physiological evidence to back up the claims that upper chest will not fill out significantly with inclines, unless as stated above by Max-Mex you are a sub 8% 220+lb bodybuilder (then in essence it will be working your pectoralis minor not major anyways). and i know you warm up with double my max, so on, but just read those threads and see if that doesn't change ur mind. if it doesn't so be it but at least u'd hear both sides. (not trying to disrespect or anything, just trying to explain the other side's viewpoint)

Andrew

[harv]

Bohizzle,
First off - no disrespect taken, in fact you post is a prime example of how to RESPECTFULLY disagree w/someone IMO.

I hear you and realize that many posts on this board are somewhat to the contrary to what I posted, therefore I wouldn't have even considered posting it if I haden't already experienced it.

You're right - there are other factors...for me, diet wasn't one of them but one that might be is workout duration / # of sets. When I was hitting incline hard, I was bombing my chest with many more sets/workout than I am now.

The only thing that will change my mind is if I fail to produce any changes in the way my chest looks after several months of inclune. If so - I'll be the first to admit that I was wrong.

[body]

Bohizzle,
First off - no disrespect taken, in fact you post is a prime example of how to RESPECTFULLY disagree w/someone IMO.

I hear you and realize that many posts on this board are somewhat to the contrary to what I posted, therefore I wouldn't have even considered posting it if I haden't already experienced it.

You're right - there are other factors...for me, diet wasn't one of them but one that might be is workout duration / # of sets. When I was hitting incline hard, I was bombing my chest with many more sets/workout than I am now.

The only thing that will change my mind is if I fail to produce any changes in the way my chest looks after several months of inclune. If so - I'll be the first to admit that I was wrong.

we wait and see. when i see this thread bumped in several month it will be nice to see your progress regardless of whether you are right or wrong.

[AKraut]

Another thing is when you do incline benchpress you lift less weight than when you do flat benchpress. So overall you are using less muscle to lift that weight and that should theoretically give you less overall gains. I can be totally ass wrong here though.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you are 'totally ass wrong'. The amount of weight on the bar has little to do with how 'many' muscles you are using. The reason incline bench is more difficult is simple, there is more RANGE OF MOTION. Sit in your chair and press both arms straight out, then extend the down like a decline press, and then extend them upward like an incline press. This is a reason I never decline press. I can throw more weight around if I slop on the form, but doing the movements correctly with lower weights will give you better gains since you're not risking injury or cheating the muscles you're trying to utilize for the movement.