Same here, I have only done dumbbell for flat and incline… never done decline. Is doing decline a necessity?
My chest results improved dramatically when I switch majority of my emphasis to incline bench only. I hit incline bench hard twice a week and then every other week do 1-2 sets of bench. My flat bench gets stronger every time. My shoulders used to be busted as fuck and now the pain is gone COMPLETELY. Absolutely no pain at all.
The way I see it is if you can incline bench press 400 lbs even if you never flat bench press your flat bench is still going to be strong as hell.
Seemed like to me that incline felt easier than flat bench… maybe because the shoulders come into play more?
[quote]RedBaron1981 wrote:
Seemed like to me that incline felt easier than flat bench… maybe because the shoulders come into play more?[/quote]
Certain people are stronger at incline than flat press but they are the exception and not the rule. My best friend can incline 25 lbs more than he can flat bench press.
I’ve been doing the same thing over the last few months. I spent so much time chasing 225+ on the flat bench, that I had severely neglected my upper pecs. I’ve been doing incline work only and I’m starting to get that “armor plated” look across my entire chest.
I used to have a very well developed upper chest from doing Incline Press as my main exercise. My advice: don’t do it. It more or less makes it look like you have no chest at all. My chest only looked good in one pose, and it was not a compulsory. Because of this I would say, that to this day my Chest is still catching up.
Dorian used Declines as his main chest exercise until he could not anymore. He still recommends them as the main exercise for those who can do them.
I was told by an accomplished bodybuilder that he had never seen a bad chest on someone who could bench 300 lbs. I got to 340 at 20 years old, my chest sucked. Haven’t benched since then.
Declines is where it is at, EMG testing says Declines are the best for the Pec Major. Inclines are the best for the Pec Minor. I can attest to this, because since I’ve switched over my Chest has grown significantly, although still not equal with everything else. That will take time.
I think a paused bench either kind would show the highest activation.
Actually, sicne this thread has been revisited, I always felt a really good overall contraction with 15 degree decline work. I rarely did any flat work when I was competing, instead focusing on the slight decline (3 olympia plates under one side of a bench) to hit my pecs and not my front delts.
S
[quote]tuttle wrote:
I used to have a very well developed upper chest from doing Incline Press as my main exercise. My advice: don’t do it. It more or less makes it look like you have no chest at all. My chest only looked good in one pose, and it was not a compulsory. Because of this I would say, that to this day my Chest is still catching up.
Dorian used Declines as his main chest exercise until he could not anymore. He still recommends them as the main exercise for those who can do them.
I was told by an accomplished bodybuilder that he had never seen a bad chest on someone who could bench 300 lbs. I got to 340 at 20 years old, my chest sucked. Haven’t benched since then.
Declines is where it is at, EMG testing says Declines are the best for the Pec Major. Inclines are the best for the Pec Minor. I can attest to this, because since I’ve switched over my Chest has grown significantly, although still not equal with everything else. That will take time.
[/quote]
Glad this thread came back up. I am doing GVT right now and have been doing mostly low inclines on chest day. I am going to rotate low declines in as well and scrap flat bench all together.
Just because…
(and not one flat bench was pressed)
Hate incline press. It does nothing for me, but tear up my rotators.