GEORGE SPELLWIN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS
Enlightening Men about Anabolic Steroids and Bodybuilding for over Two Decades
|
 Elite Fitness Bodybuilding, Anabolics, Diet, Life Extension, Wellness, Supplements, and Training Boards
 Anabolic Discussion Board
 DEBATE: FLAT BENCH VS INCLINE BECH
|
| Author | Topic: DEBATE: FLAT BENCH VS INCLINE BECH | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder 
Posts: 56 |
WHICH DO YOU GUYS PERFER DOING. I ALWAYS LIKED FLAT BUT IT SOMETIMES HURT MY DELT. I GROW FOR THE EXERCISE AND GET POWERFUL BUT FEEL INCLINE IS FAR MORE GROWTH ENHANCING CHEST EXERCISE-FOR ME. HOW DO YOU GUYS FEEL?     | ||
|
Elite Bodybuilder 
Posts: 721 |
I did flat as my primary mass builder for years and never grew properly until I switched to inclines. I also hear of a lot of shoulder injuries from flat. | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 70 |
incline and flat hit two different portions of your pecs. personally i do both every time i train chest, rotating them with dumbells. i have had a great improvement in size and strength from that. | ||
|
Pro Bodybuilder 
Posts: 384 |
i recently switched to working incline first in my routine instead of flat. The results have been dramatic. My chest is looking much fuller at the top...poeple have noticed. | ||
|
Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 642 |
Both!!!! Flats first, you can use more weight on them. Try doing bottom position inclines. They will absolutely fry your chest. B True | ||
|
Cool Novice 
Posts: 18 |
Need to do all 3, flat, incline and decline rotating barbell/dumbells to develop a good chest. Try on your chest day to hit all 3 parts of the chest. Example: flat barbell, incline dumbell and decline (barbell, dumbell or cables/machine if tired). You will see the difference in your chest!! Later... | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 106 |
Flat bench is a far superior chest excercise when compared to inclines, but the best of the best is the decline barbell bench press! In fact, I completely stopped doing all incline movements about a year ago because only my uper pecks were getting slightly sore after the workouts and it was putting to much stress on my shoulders. Since I stopped doing inclines my pecks have become, MUCH, MUCH fuller and thicker! Don't buy into the myth that inclines are better for upper chest because they're not; flat and especially decline hit the uper pecks just as hard as the lower pecks while incline only hits the upper pecks (and not as well). I know most people will disagree, but that's ok, we are all entitled to our opinions and my opinion is that inclines are a waste of time! ------------------ | ||
|
Pro Bodybuilder
Posts: 302 |
I like both. Just give priority when needed. | ||
|
Freak 
Posts: 1606 |
If I had to choose one I would take the flat-bench. ------------------ | ||
|
Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 842 |
I always start my chest day with inclines, I have noticed a large improvement over the last year of doing inclines first. Total chest development is much more balanced. | ||
|
Pro Bodybuilder
Posts: 324 |
I guess everyone just grows differently. This will sound stupid, I'm sure. A few years ago, I got injured in the gym just warming up. Every since then, it hurts a spot on my back when I do flat bench. Needless to say, I haven't done a flat-bench press in 3 years now. I normally do incline dumb-bell presses, and go up to about 120 lb. dumb-bells. My chest grows like mad from the incline dumbell presses. | ||
|
Cool Novice
Posts: 41 |
I am not flaming you JuanDeLaCruz, but how does a decline movement stimulate your upper chest better than incline movement? What do you base this on? | ||
|
Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 851 |
I completely stopped doing those worthless flat bench presses and started doing primarily all incline movements. My chest has never been bigger or stronger. Flat bench press = most overrated movement in weight lifting. Period. -TG | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 141 |
Anyone with great pec developement has superior uppers. Bodybuilding is all about the art of illusion. Your upper chest carries your whole pec area so it stands to reason that inclines are the superior excersise. Flat bench is far over rated and does little to enhance your chests appearance. I do incline dumbell presses and incline flys with flat bench after to burn my chest out. Also, dips are the superior movement for lower pecs. I have yet to see a guy who I can say WOW look at those lowers. Additionally, concentrating on your uppers will enhance your shoulder workouts as well. LOL | ||
|
Pro Bodybuilder
Posts: 324 |
I'm with the Ghost on this. I love doing incline bumb-bell presses. Oh yeah, good post 'punch'. | ||
|
Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 810 |
try fitiing both in if not i guess i would side with incline | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 79 |
as most of the guys above have mentioned, the key is to hit all parts of the muscle being trained. In this case, flat bench will help with the width of your chest, followed by incline to build the upper pec and give it the form/pumped look and then decline for the lower lip of the pec... personally, i go for dumbells for incline and decline as it takes more control and helps build more since you are rotating the weights at the top of the exercise. just my .02 worth. ss | ||
|
Guru 
Posts: 4665 |
both but mostly incline i feel it more than flat. yes my form is good | ||
|
Pro Bodybuilder
Posts: 345 |
Everybody's body is deifferent. I didn't start having decent chest development until I introduced incline/flat dumbell flyes and presses. I almost entirely only do those now. I've found that across bench pullovers also help with the upper chest as well as seated front military presses. ------------------ | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 232 |
I too recently switched to doing incline first. I loved the results. Now I do one month incline first, then one month flat first. My strength increased quickly and my chest looks great. ------------------ | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 106 |
Work2Bbig, that's a fair question and I understand where you are coming from because you have never heard anything from people and magazines that inclines work upper chest, flats work middle chest and declines work lower. I used to believe all that stuff too but it's simply NOT true. First of all there is no such thing as middle pecs just upper and lower. Second of all, basically what you are believing is that wherever the bar touches your chest when you lower it is the part of the chest that it's going to stimulate, but if you think about it this idea is nonsense. The total pec region works together as a unit to push the weight (they can't be completely isolated). When you try to isolate an area it puts the muscle at a mechanical disadvantage and therefore leads to less fiber stimulation which leads to less growth. Next time your in the gym try decline barbell bench presses in the squat rack with a very low declin and see how strongly and completely your pecs contract during the lift...and decline flys are even more intense! ------------------ | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 106 |
Work2Bbig, that's a fair question and I understand where you are coming from because you have never heard anything else from people and magazines besides that inclines work upper chest, flats work middle chest and declines work lower. I used to believe all that stuff too but it's simply NOT true. First of all there is no such thing as middle pecs just upper and lower. Second of all, basically what you are believing is that wherever the bar touches your chest when you lower it is the part of the chest that it's going to stimulate, but if you think about it this idea is nonsense. The total pec region works together as a unit to push the weight (they can't be completely isolated). When you try to isolate an area it puts the muscle at a mechanical disadvantage and therefore leads to less fiber stimulation which leads to less growth. Next time your in the gym try decline barbell bench presses in the squat rack with a very low declin and see how strongly and completely your pecs contract during the lift...and decline flys are even more intense! ------------------ | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 262 |
Inclice barbell first then flat dumbbells and finish off with a fly movement. If and only if I'm trying to look real strong will I do any decline. . | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 192 |
I do both also ------------------ | ||
|
Cool Novice
Posts: 20 |
Incline first, flat second, decline last. Then do flat & incline fly's. | ||
|
Cool Novice
Posts: 17 |
Incline!!! Incline and militaries really hit the upper pecs. I always do 2 incline movements and one flat. Typically incline press, flat press and incline flyes. I feel decline is completely detrimental to shoulder health! Guys love decline, because they can handle monster amounts of weight. Decline has no place in BB, dips are where it's at for the lower pec (and they can be hard on the shoulders too), but who really needs to emphasize the lower pecs, they are typically developed too much when compared to the overall chest/shoulder region. My opinions. | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 106 |
WHAT, DECLINES HAVE NO PLACE IN BODYBUILDING!!! YOU MUST BE JOKING!!! Decline barbell presses and decline flys are the ultimate bodybuilding chest excercises ever developed...period!!! ------------------ | ||
|
Cool Novice
Posts: 35 |
I always do flat bench with the barbell then go to incline dumbell presses, then some flat bench flys or the butterfly machine. I always mix it up every week doing flat bench first one week then incline first the next week. Works for me. | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 70 |
I like the feel of inclines better. You get a better sqeeze at the top. I feel like my chest is taking the majority of the workload on inclines, while I feel my delts in flat bench more. If I had to choose one or the other, I would go incline, but I would never give up flats altogether, that was the exercise that made me fall in love with weight training in the first place. Actually I usually do both on chest day followed by some isolationary movement for maximal contraction like one-armed pec deck or cable crossovers. I never used declines much...I just don't like the movement or get much of a pump from it...I've always prefered dips. ------------------ | ||
|
Cool Novice
Posts: 41 |
ok JuanDeLaCruz, are you admitting that the stress actually is on the upper pec, but this does not allow for best fiber stimulus? If that is true, then you are saying that all weak point training is false. We use different grips, stances, etc to sculpt our bodies the way we want, but you are suggesting that that concept is impossible and that the indirect stress, or more accurately, the less stressed fibers are going to grow more. Forgive me if I am confusing your argument, but I disagree. | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 111 |
I do inclines first. I think the illusion of having a great chest leans more toward upper chest mass. When I started doing them it took awhile for the strength to come up, but once it did my pecs started to grow. I feel they are more visually impressive now that my "Uppers" are a little better. | ||
|
Novice 
Posts: 9 |
Dips seem to be very underrated as a chest / shoulder excercise. I do a couple of sets after finishing with a flat bench (either hammer strength or dumbbell press). Militaries are also good. I feel that fixating on increasing the poundages you can handle with shoulder movements helps the overall look of the upper body and also helps you avoid injury when benching. Variety is good. Finish with pushups. Why not? Flyes are overrated, since they overwork the pec and don't give the triceps the needed load to allow them to increase in strength. Do them, but for most guys it's probably better to push some serious weight, not dick around with flyes. I suppose this is different for very advanced BB's. Just some opinions I've picked up from a few places - seem to have been borne out by experience. | ||
|
Novice
Posts: 5 |
ARNOLDS PECS ARE CONSIDERED THE BEST EVER IN BOBYBUILDING, HE NEVER USED DECLINE, IN FACT HIS CHEST ROUTINE NEVER CHANGED MUCH THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER. FLAT BENCH, INCLINE BENCH, DUMBELL FLYES AND WEIGHTED DIPS, THEN FINISHED WITH PULLOVERS. I THINK YOU HAVE TO DO BOTH FLAT AND INCLINE. AND DECLINE IS UNECESSARY. | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 65 |
Incline works great for me. I do incline bench presses first, then I do incline dumbell presses/flys... then I do flat. I only do declines once in a blue moon. I feel that the flat bench presses are good enough with lower pec development, although I will be leaning more towards adding in some declines in the future (just in case).. Now, when you do inclines, I feel it the best when I'm benching on a moderate incline.. like a 30 degree incline, it feels so much better than flats! I think the incline haters are thinking about benching at a 60 degree angle or something, but in my opinion, I'll stick with inclines. | ||
|
Cool Novice
Posts: 29 |
need to hit all of them. It's like Bruce Lee says, there is no one way to the truth.In other words, hit all of them a lot. | ||
|
Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 295 |
Inclines by far. My chest is big and full. I tend to strain my shoulders when I do the flat bench. BB ------------------ | ||
|
Cool Novice
Posts: 49 |
I have always done both.....with a preference for inclines. Probably im almost as strong on inclines as flat. Recently I bagan to do declines and for the first time ever my pecs are actually exhausted before my triceps and shoulders are. Im getting a much better pump in my chest and strength is going up. I think the decline is way underrated and am going to be starting out with it from now on. I already have decent upper chest development but lacking in the lower and outer which helps you look much bigger. ------------------ | ||
|
Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 1233 |
I have to agree with Big Boy! I love inclines! Flat Bench hurts my shoulders (rotators) and isn't a very effecient exercise. My chest workout is Incline Bench or Inc Dumbell 3 sets of 8 This is based and Dorian's Chest routine ------------------ |
All times are ET (US) | |
 |
|
|
posted January 16, 2001 11:39 AM
