Decline Bench Press

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Peak_Power

New Member
Hi, allow me to introduce myself, I have been a professional fitness trainer for many years, so I am not a "noob" to hypertrophy or strength training, but I have only just recently discovered HST and have started applying its principles to my own training, and to clients interested in hypertrophy.

I have read some posts where people have said they get better results from dips and incline dench than from flat bench, I agree, but I was thinking what about decline bench? I was thinking of doing 1 set of incline bench and 1 set of deline bench, so I could hit the upper and lower pec regions. I have a bench here at my gym that goes to a decline angle of about 20 degrees lower than flat. Any advice?
 
Why? If you do dips, it will hit the lower pec quite adequately, and you can probably use more load than you bench with decline.

I don't know, I just don't like decline personally. It feels ackward and unnatural in comparison to dips. Also, I can use a ton more weight in dips when you count bodyweight plus what weight is added.
 
Welcome Peak!

Ditto what Tot said.

For me dips feel just about the most natural chest exercise that I can do but I know that some folks get shoulder pain doing them. By altering the depth of descent I have a great deal of control over how much stretch I allow and they are also fantastic for tris. Negatives are easy to accomplish with them too. If I had to pick only one chest exercise it would be dips.

Dips and incline presses (slight incline of around 10-20º) make a great pairing.
 
Yeah I get shoulder pain doing dips, maybe its my technique, but as the only employee here at my corporate gym who am I going to get to correct me? heheh...I am very inflexible in that area, so I've been doing a lot of stretching to help that.

I personally like decline bench press, maybe because its a bit of a complicated exercise just getting into the right position I don't know, I just like it. Anyway I might give it a try this cycle and then try dips next cycle and see if there's any difference. I have an assisted dip/pull up machine here so its quite good. Any advice on changing/improving technique on dips to reduce discomfort and improve hitting the chest (particularly lower chest)?
 
I was under the impression that itd been shown flat bench press with a wide grip is better for the lower chest than decline anyway ?
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<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">If I had to pick only one chest exercise it would be dips.

Dips and incline presses (slight incline of around 10-20º) make a great pairing.
</div>
Agreed.

I try to lean forward when doing dips to emphasize the chest and I've never had any shoulder problems. Maybe it's an individual thing and it won't help at all, but you can try it (if you haven't already done so).

Cheers,
Dimitris
 
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(JonnyH @ Aug. 23 2006,00:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I was under the impression that itd been shown flat bench press with a wide grip is better for the lower chest than decline anyway ?
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unfortunatley that is incorrect,yes flat bench does use the entire chest muscle but not to the degree decline does.
 
Dips can't really be beaten as the king of chest exercises, unfortunatelly in my case I don't have a dip station so I have to be content with decline.
 
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(Fausto @ Aug. 23 2006,09:47)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Dips can't really be beaten as the king of chest exercises, unfortunatelly in my case I don't have a dip station so I have to be content with decline.</div>
I've used the backas of two chairs, saw horses, even the handles of my stair machine to do dips. If you keep your knees bent, lots of things will work. A friend of mine does dips in a 90 degree corner of his kitchen counter.
 
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(etothepii @ Aug. 23 2006,16:46)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">A friend of mine does dips in a 90 degree corner of his kitchen counter.</div>
I do this too to while I'm waiting for my eggs to cook on off days! I can get 50 deep reps now. It knackers my wrists a bit though.
biggrin.gif
 
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(lcars @ Aug. 23 2006,09:35)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(JonnyH @ Aug. 23 2006,00:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I was under the impression that itd been shown flat bench press with a wide grip is better for the lower chest than decline anyway ?
wow.gif
</div>
unfortunatley  that is incorrect,yes flat bench does use the entire chest muscle but not to the degree decline does.</div>
This is what im basing it off:

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">The Sternocostal Head

One of the most common assumptions in the world of iron is that the decline bench is the best for developing the lower pecs. However, this familiar premise may be nothing more than another unfounded gym myth. According to the Barnett EMG study, the flat bench produced much more electrical energy in the lower pecs than did either the decline or incline positions. &quot;I agree with this research&quot; says NPC National Champion and pro bodybuilder Jay Cutler, &quot;The flat bench is much better for lower pec development than the decline.&quot;

But what is the best grip to use? EMG studies have also shown that when doing the flat bench, the muscle fibers of the lower pecs are activated the most when using a wide grip. &quot;This is very much true,&quot; adds Fred &quot;Dr. Squat&quot; Hatfield, Ph.D. &quot;A wide grip with the elbows out will cause much more lower pec activation.&quot; However, whether you choose to use a wide or narrow grip, we can assume that using the decline position to target the lower pecs is just not justified. Eddie Robinson, IFBB pro bodybuilder states, &quot;I feel the flat bench press, with a wide grip is best for over all pec development, but you do not want to go so wide with the grip that you over stress the shoulders.&quot; </div>

This is the barnett study :
http://nsca.allenpress.com/nscaonl.....CO%3B2

Am i missing something? the study also says the clavicular head wasnt anymore active during the incline bench than the horizontal one which i know lotsa people here disagree with ?
 
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(Lol @ Aug. 22 2006,22:48)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Dips and incline presses (slight incline of around 10-20º) make a great pairing.</div>
I wondered something...

I only have a 4 way bench at home which (90, 45, flat, decline)

as you suggest 20 degree approx.. would I be better doing flat and decline instead of 45 and decline? (since 45 could put too much emphazis on shoulders..?)

thanks!
 
As a professional fitness trainer I would say never go above 20 degrees, 45 put too much stain on your shoulders/traps imo and not really work the chest, you could put your flat bench on a step, thus creating a 10-20 degree incline.

(PS how do you do the little degree circle thingy? Anyone know the ascii code?)
 
Jonny

As usual the research does not include what we are insisting on, DIPS, it only covers falt vs. decline, so...according to the results flat is better than decline.

The same thing happened when they did research showing that a little alcohol is good for your herat but forgot to check what it does to the immune system, it reduces the capacity of T-cells to eliminate germs by phagocytosis to such an extent that one glass of wine reduces this capacity by 1/2
wow.gif
 
As many of the guys here in the past have suggested, you should drill a new hole in your bench. I did the same thing a long time ago, because mine goes from 0 to 30 to 45 to 90, and I wanted 15. So now I have a 15 degree incline and all it took was 30 seconds of drilling and 20 seconds of sweeping up the metal shavings.
 
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(Totentanz @ Aug. 24 2006,08:57)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">As many of the guys here in the past have suggested, you should drill a new hole in your bench.  I did the same thing a long time ago, because mine goes from 0 to 30 to 45 to 90, and I wanted 15.  So now I have a 15 degree incline and all it took was 30 seconds of drilling and 20 seconds of sweeping up the metal shavings.</div>
The way my bench is made, drilling wasn't an option, but some scrap lumber and nails made a nice spacer that gave me 15 degrees of incline.
 
<div>
(etothepii @ Aug. 24 2006,10:04)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">The way my bench is made, drilling wasn't an option, but some scrap lumber and nails made a nice spacer that gave me 15 degrees of incline.</div>
same for me.. the way my bench works is the bar behind it sits into spacers.. I would have to try to figure something out, like welding something..
 
<div>
(Peak_Power @ Aug. 24 2006,00:25)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">As a professional fitness trainer I would say never go above 20 degrees, 45 put too much stain on your shoulders/traps imo and not really work the chest, you could put your flat bench on a step, thus creating a 10-20 degree incline.

(PS how do you do the little degree circle thingy? Anyone know the ascii code?)</div>
now that's and idea i'd like to try..thanks!!
smile.gif
 
<div>
(JonnyH @ Aug. 23 2006,13:18)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(lcars @ Aug. 23 2006,09:35)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(JonnyH @ Aug. 23 2006,00:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I was under the impression that itd been shown flat bench press with a wide grip is better for the lower chest than decline anyway ?
wow.gif
</div>
unfortunatley  that is incorrect,yes flat bench does use the entire chest muscle but not to the degree decline does.</div>
This is what im basing it off:

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">The Sternocostal Head

One of the most common assumptions in the world of iron is that the decline bench is the best for developing the lower pecs. However, this familiar premise may be nothing more than another unfounded gym myth. According to the Barnett EMG study, the flat bench produced much more electrical energy in the lower pecs than did either the decline or incline positions. &quot;I agree with this research&quot; says NPC National Champion and pro bodybuilder Jay Cutler, &quot;The flat bench is much better for lower pec development than the decline.&quot;

But what is the best grip to use? EMG studies have also shown that when doing the flat bench, the muscle fibers of the lower pecs are activated the most when using a wide grip. &quot;This is very much true,&quot; adds Fred &quot;Dr. Squat&quot; Hatfield, Ph.D. &quot;A wide grip with the elbows out will cause much more lower pec activation.&quot; However, whether you choose to use a wide or narrow grip, we can assume that using the decline position to target the lower pecs is just not justified. Eddie Robinson, IFBB pro bodybuilder states, &quot;I feel the flat bench press, with a wide grip is best for over all pec development, but you do not want to go so wide with the grip that you over stress the shoulders.&quot; </div>

This is the barnett study :
http://nsca.allenpress.com/nscaonl.....CO%3B2

Am i missing something? the study also says the clavicular head wasnt anymore active during the incline bench than the horizontal one which i know lotsa people here disagree with ?</div>
yeah i could proberbly find ten studies that say decline recruits more of the chest muscle than any other movement

http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/mark4.htm

also interesting

http://nsca.allenpress.com/nscaonl.....CO%3B2


dips are best and i can handle more weight than flat so that tells me they are better,each to their own,whatever works.
 
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