Angle for the Incline Bench?

[Primal]

Hi everybody! My upper pecs is my biggest lagging body part, and I'm trying EVERYTHING to help bring it up (but that's a topic for another post). I think everybody has the incline barbell bench press seats at 45 degrees. You can't change it in my gym at least... Whenever I do it at this angle however, I feel it way to much in my shoulders and nothing in my chest at all! I have tried lowering the weight to get the MMC and tried doing 2-3 heavy reps to see if my chest responds better but both don't seem to work! I have tried the same with the dumbbell presses too. I think the problem is the angle of the bench because you can't really go wrong hitting chest right? Even if you do it wrong, you're still going to hit and feel it in the pecs... I have recently heard from some other bigger guys that they have been unable to feel it in their upper pecs too. They suggested that you lower the bench to a 20-35 degree angle. I'm going to try this out next chest day but I just want to run it past you guys to see what you thought of it. Has anyone had success with a smaller incline?

Please note that the target spot I want to hit is the upper portion of the pectoral (yes I know that it is one whole muscle).

Thanks!

-Primal :flagC

[cog]

But the pectoral muscle attaches in many different places.

[Primal]

But the pectoral muscle attaches in many different places.

...Yes that is true... So do you think it's a good idea? Does it work for you any? My lower pecs is coming along just fine, but when you get up to the sternal and clavicular head region, I have no muscle there and it looks flat. I'm just trying islolate this section a little more whenever I work my chest to actually get it to grow. Cause it looks flat at the moment.

-Primal

[Praetorian]

The incline should be very low...45 degrees is way too high and will put more emphasis on the front delts. A 20 to 25 degree angle is ideal...but it is very difficult to actually find an incline barbell bench press with that angle so you may have to use the rack to create your own.

P

[Primal]

The incline should be very low...45 degrees is way too high and will put more emphasis on the front delts. A 20 to 25 degree angle is ideal...but it is very difficult to actually find an incline barbell bench press with that angle so you may have to use the rack to create your own.

P

Yes! This is what I thought! Everyone seems to love the 45 degree angle though... Great I will try the 20-25 degree angle on my next chest day. I also heard some people say that using the smith machine works a lot better for incline than with just a regular barbell. I don't see how it would help any, in fact I see it as more detrimental in the time sense (setting up the bench perfectly). What do you say to this?

-Primal

[Hosehead]

Yes! This is what I thought! Everyone seems to love the 45 degree angle though... Great I will try the 20-25 degree angle on my next chest day. I also heard some people say that using the smith machine works a lot better for incline than with just a regular barbell. I don't see how it would help any, in fact I see it as more detrimental in the time sense (setting up the bench perfectly). What do you say to this?

-Primal

From all the anecdotal evidence I've seen over the years an over reliance on Smith machine for heavy movements increases the likelihood of injury due to a reduced involvement of assistance muscles. Is it true that the Smith can help ? Obviously. Just don't become a Smith machoine warrior. A buddy of mone tore his pec recently doing flat bench on the Smith machone because that's all he ever does. I say use free weights most of the time. I actually warned him of this several years ago. If you wanna build up the area around the clavicle go with Prae's advice and lower the angle , which I think you can do by using an adjustable bench inside of a power rack so you are still using a barbell. Also , work on your traps and rear delts more. That will pull your shoulders back and chest up. My upper pecs appears fuller now because my shoulders aren't rolled forward any more.

[TT Eric]

Lots of 45 degree incline took a freaking toll on my shoulders, I did not do BB incline BP since a very long time, I do low DB incline bench press though. It's really weird that are still making the same bad angle on those bench since forever. Recently I began to do decline Bench press and the angle is too low, so I put plates under the bench to reduce the angle, it work very well.

Eric

[Praetorian]

As hose says as well...stick to free weights...barbell in a rack if you need to adjust the incline height. The smith is fine for lighter weights and higher reps..ie 20 but going heavy on it will definitely increase shoulder injury risk.

P

[Primal]

From all the anecdotal evidence I've seen over the years an over reliance on Smith machine for heavy movements increases the likelihood of injury due to a reduced involvement of assistance muscles. Is it true that the Smith can help ? Obviously. Just don't become a Smith machoine warrior. A buddy of mone tore his pec recently doing flat bench on the Smith machone because that's all he ever does. I say use free weights most of the time. I actually warned him of this several years ago. If you wanna build up the area around the clavicle go with Prae's advice and lower the angle , which I think you can do by using an adjustable bench inside of a power rack so you are still using a barbell. Also , work on your traps and rear delts more. That will pull your shoulders back and chest up. My upper pecs appears fuller now because my shoulders aren't rolled forward any more.

Hahaha! Smith Machine Warrior! That would actually be a really good spreadshirt idea... Interesting info about working on the rear delts and traps, it makes sense but I didn't think about it before! Thanks a lot Hosehead!
@Eric TT I will also try the plates under the bench, I can see how this would reduce the angle. Thanks for the input!

-Primal