Incline Bench Pressing vs Flat Bench Pressing: Which Is Better For Chest?
The following are some of the benefits of incline pressing versus flat bench pressing:
1) Increased Range Of Motion (ROM).
With incline pressing, your arms move farther forward than with flat bench pressing. This allows you to perform more reps without feeling fatigued or soreness in your shoulders.
2) More Stability.
With incline pressing, your upper back stays stable during the movement. You don’t have to worry about having to keep your lower back from rounding forward while performing these exercises.
3) More Strength.
With incline pressing, you can lift heavier weights due to greater stability and strength in your upper body muscles.
4) Greater Muscular Development.
With incline pressing, you develop more muscle mass because of increased stability and strength in your upper body muscles.
5) Improved Posture.
With incline pressing, your posture improves because of improved balance and stability.
6) Less Risk Of Injury.
With incline pressing, you’re less likely to injure yourself if you do fall down or overdo it during the exercise. If you need to stop doing an exercise, you won’t get hurt since your upper body is stable and strong when using an incline bench press machine.
7) Improved Performance.
With incline pressing, you’ll perform better than with a flat bench press. You’ll be stronger, more stable, and less likely to get hurt.
8) Stronger Upper Body.
With incline pressing, your upper body will be stronger and more stable than if you were doing flat bench pressing. This will help you in athletics as well as real life activities.
9) More Muscular Development In Your Chest.
With incline pressing, you’ll develop greater muscle mass in your chest than with flat bench pressing.
10) More Movable Joints. With incline pressing, you have more freedom to move and adjust your body during the exercise than you would with flat bench pressing.
This helps you perform the exercise better while stimulating more muscle fibers.
NOTE: There are many variations of incline bench presses such as decline, reverse decline, low inclines, high inclines, etc…
Flat Bench Pressing vs Incline Bench Pressing: Which Is Better For Chest?
The following are some of the benefits of flat bench pressing versus incline pressing:
1) Less Pain In Your Rotator Cuffs.
With a flat bench press, you can lift heavier weights without experiencing pain in your shoulders.
2) Better For Your Rotator Cuffs.
With a flat bench press, you can avoid irritating your rotator cuff injuries.
3) More Chest Development.
With a flat bench press, you can develop your chest muscles better than with incline pressing.
NOTE: There are also many variations of flat bench presses such as regular, wide, close grip, etc…
Conclusions On Incline Pressing VS.
Flat Bench Pressing: Which Is Better For Chest?
Both flat bench pressing and incline pressing can be used to develop your chest muscles. Each style has its own benefits and each style has exercises within it that allow you to target different parts of your chest.
In general, use both types of benching but start off with the style (incline or flat) that you feel more comfortable with. Over time and as you grow stronger, you can incorporate the other style into your program to maximize your chest development.
So, incline pressing is superior to flat bench pressing for chest development.
Best Articles on Incline Pressing VS.
Flat Bench Pressing: Which Is Better For Chest?
Incline pressing is one of the best chest exercises that can be done at home or at the gym. The following articles will provide more information on incline pressing:
1) Best Chest Exercises – This article lists the best exercises for your chest and includes incline presses.
2) How To Build Muscle At Home – This article shows you how to build muscle at home with little equipment and without exclusively relying on free weights.
3) How To Get Six Pack Abs – This article shows you how to get a ripped midsection, also known as a six pack.
4) How To Lose Stubborn Fat – This article provides advice on losing that annoying fat that won’t go away, even with exercising and diet.
5) Best Abdominal Exercises For Men – This article lists the best abdominal exercises for men.
Your personal trainer, coach, and fitness advisor,
Richard permanent link: Incline Pressing VS.
Flat Bench Pressing: Which Is Better For Chest?
How To Incline Pressing: Which Is Better For Chest?
By Richard Ketchum
Incline Pressing VS.
Flat Bench Pressing: Which Is Better For Chest?
1) Your rotator cuffs can better sustain heavy loads with incline than with flat bench pressing.
By inclining your body, you’re decreasing the range of motion at which you lift the weight. This means that you can use a heavier weight than you would with a flat bench press.
With heavy weights, your rotator cuff muscles have less of a tendency to be strained or torn because they’re not required to work as hard to keep the weight moving.
2) Using an incline bench allows you to prevent shoulder impingement.
Shoulder impingement occurs when your rotator cuff muscles and tendons that surround your shoulder become pinched and damaged as you lift a weight directly out in front of your body. This is common among weight lifters.
With an incline bench, you’re lifting the weight at an angle, which reduces the risk of shoulder impingement.
3) Training on an incline allows you to fully concentrate on working your chest muscles.
With a flat bench press, the shoulders and arms are involved in lifting the weight as much as the chest muscles. This can lead to fatigue in the smaller supporting muscles in the shoulders and arms before your chest is sufficiently fatigued.
By using an incline, you’re able to focus all the work on your chest.
4) Training on an incline takes stress off your lower back.
During a flat bench press, your lower back is naturally rounded. However, inclining your body during the bench press brings your lower back into a safer position with the natural curvature of the spine.
This can reduce lower back pain and injury potential.
5) Bench pressing on an incline puts less strain on your shoulders.
Heavy weights are more easily handled by your chest muscles when lifting them at an incline.
Sources & references used in this article:
An electromyography analysis of 3 muscles surrounding the shoulder joint during the performance of a chest press exercise at several angles by AA Trebs, JP Brandenburg… – The Journal of Strength & …, 2010 – journals.lww.com
by Andrew Heming| 10/09/19 by PBTY Haven’t – t-nation.com
Adjustable incline traveling platform exercise apparatus by N Jacobsen – US Patent 5,906,564, 1999 – Google Patents
Adjustable bench by DL Keiser, WA Peterson – US Patent 7,331,912, 2008 – Google Patents
Upper extremity injuries associated with strength training by HA Haupt – Clinics in sports medicine, 2001 – Elsevier
