Lagging upper chest even after building a strong incline press fountation?

[BrotherMaynard]

I've always had a flat upper chest. I've concentrated on inclines over the last year to balance things out, but the upper chest hasn't filled out even though my incline pressing has become damn near as strong as my flat bench.
I have a feeling my shoulders are doing most of the work in these inclines since my delts seem to grow faster than my chest.
Am I doomed to have a flat upper chest? Has anyone else worked through this problem?

 

[Debaser]

I've always had a flat upper chest. I've concentrated on inclines over the last year to balance things out, but the upper chest hasn't filled out even though my incline pressing has become damn near as strong as my flat bench.
I have a feeling my shoulders are doing most of the work in these inclines since my delts seem to grow faster than my chest.
Am I doomed to have a flat upper chest? Has anyone else worked through this problem?

This is why I argue with all of the people who think incline presses are some magical upper chest exercise. They work the shoulders more, and the lower (sternal, I believe) pecs less. They actually don't work the upper chest (a much smaller portion than most think) any more than a regular ol' bench press.

How much do you incline press and flat bench press out of curiousity? The reason I ask is because, depending on your genetics, this part of the chest is often the last part to grow. Many people have the tendency to fill out the lower portion first. How my chest is, the upper inner pec fills out at apparently a slower rate. It has nothing to do with inclines, because the mid-outer upper pecs are filled out. This has something to do with the shape of the muscle bellies closer to the sternum, I believe.

 

[RusPA81]

I've always had a flat upper chest. I've concentrated on inclines over the last year to balance things out, but the upper chest hasn't filled out even though my incline pressing has become damn near as strong as my flat bench.
I have a feeling my shoulders are doing most of the work in these inclines since my delts seem to grow faster than my chest.
Am I doomed to have a flat upper chest? Has anyone else worked through this problem?

What is the angle of your incline. If it is to steep then you would be using much more shoulder then chest. I find that 30-45 degrees work best. Another problem could be how you are pushing the weight. If you have your elbows in similar to PL stlye on flat bench, you will place a lot of emphasis on your shoulders. As a final option you may just have a genetic predispostion to not be able to pack a lot of mass on your upper chest.

 

[BrotherMaynard]

Debaser,
To answer your question, at one point I was inclining 275 for about 4 during a bulking cycle. I switched to flat and was pressing 275 for 6. I use to have a much larger gap between the two lifts before concentrating on inclines.

RusPA,
I only do a 30 degree incline. I actually tried several different styles of pushing (elbows out, elbows in, etc) and felt that flaring the shoulders out put less emphasis on the shoulders.

I have a feeling that ONLY doing inclines shifts the load onto the shoulders enough that the chest doesn't get a good enough workout. When switching back to flat after a long while, I didn't feel as strong as I thought I should, maybe because the inclining built shoulders that overpowered my chest? I'm sure a lot of this is genetic, i just wish there was a way around it in my case.
I'm just hitting flat heavy now to try and build the WHOLE chest and hope it balances out.

 

[Prime Rib]

As Deboner stated, you may be fighting genetics.

I was somewhat in the same boat. I NEVER did Inclines, and then got very disappointed with my chest growth after about 1 yr of nothing but flat pressing movements. Switched to inclines, and within 3 months I could see a HUGE change in the shape, size, & mass of my chest...HOWEVER, my upper chest will never look like I want, even though my incline is getting stronger than my flat bench. Ole Pops never had an upper chest, so i'll be fighting that the rest of my life...Just something we have to deal with an accept I guess...

One thing you can try is doing higher reps with more intensity. Such as 4x10, with only 1 minute rests times. It's going to work the shit out of your chest, and might stumbled onto some new growth. This is what I did for about 1 month, and it worked great. Something to think about..

Josh

 

[SlavikHavik]

Although im not sure i entirely believe this, ill have to see how my progress with flat bench goes.

but apparently incline pressing dosent hit your upper pecs (pectoralis minor) any more than flat pressing, in fact it hits that group less, and puts more emphesis on your shoulders.

Although i always seem to see the guys who just do falt bench ending up with pecs that look like mellons as apposed to plates.

 

[Prime Rib]

Although i always seem to see the guys who just do falt bench ending up with pecs that look like mellons as apposed to plates.

This is very true. Most guys in my gym with well developed pecs do inclines only. One guy in particular looks like somebody drew his chest on his body, it's that chisled and he HATES flat bench movements...

Josh

 

[Debaser]

As Deboner stated, you may be fighting genetics.

If you keep acting this childish, you will be on the fast track to getting banned, I assure you.

 

[punch]

Doing flat bench only is no different than just doing squats. Yes, you will develop mass, however not a full, well developed muscle. You need the various angles on benching to develop your muscle entirely. Remember your muscles are 3 dimensional, train them as such.

Oh, and for what its worth. Flat benching is the most over rated excersize in bodybuilding. It is not the end all be all. If I had to guess, I would say grip, angle, genetics would be the culprit before dismissing Inclines. I have developed a large, striated chest w/ emphasis on Inclines for years.

My last point is this... Flat bench, Inclines all put emphasis on your shoulders. If you are concerned about this. Pre exhaust your chest w/ flyes before hitting Inclines again. Also hit the dumbells every other workout or so. When I began dumbell presses, especially when I started lifting heavier dumbells my chest filled in very quiclky. I attribute that to the free range of motion dbls provide. Do em all bro, be patient. Keep me posted as to your progress. Peace

 

[PIGEON-RAT]

Debaser, from what you described, it sounds like your chest structure is similar to mine. I have a good deal of thickness on my outer and outer/lower pecs, but inner are almost non-existant.

I really think that with somelike like bench you can't find an exercise that's universally effective. I did flat bench like hell and saw minimal growth, all the while putting tons of unnecesary stress on my shoulders. flat bench destroyed my shoulders.

i've actually been seeing progress on incline presses and i don't have shoulder issues at all with them. i prefer even decline presses over flat bench.

but other people will see tremendous results with flat bench and hate incline. it's a matter of preference, not to mention genetics.