which bench press?

C

cnegotiator

New Member
I have time for all three benches, which should i focus on or which should i not waste my time on? I dont do bb because of an injury, but i can do db (has to do with equally stablizing my muscles).

Last cycle I focused on incline and reg equally and saw great results. Someone told me if i did decline, i would see better results and others told me decline wouldnt have mattered.

Suggestions please!
 
Regular Bench Press

DB's do help your stabilizers, but you are suspect to injury when putting the weights down!
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Decline verus flat doesn't matter, but generally you'll want to include at least some incline work. I prefer flat over decline, I don't care about what the studies say. Muscle activation in those conditions doesn't translate into the real world, especially considering the differences between lifters.
 
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(Totentanz @ May 15 2006,16:14)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Decline verus flat doesn't matter, but generally you'll want to include at least some incline work. I prefer flat over decline, I don't care about what the studies say. Muscle activation in those conditions doesn't translate into the real world, especially considering the differences between lifters.</div>
I agree 100% with Totentanz. especially since there is a tendency to arch ones back during flat, which puts the chest at a partial decline angle anyway. I usually do some core lifts for flat, then move right to upper chest incline BB or DB. Also, when ever I do fly's, they are always done as incline. Stick with a focus in upper chest &amp; forget decline. You'll likely never find a bodybuilder that says he has too little lower chest development, but almost ALL will say they wish they had more upper.

Omega
 
&quot;You'll likely never find a bodybuilder that says he has too little lower chest development&quot;

I have too little a lower chest. One side is even super uneven(improving though).

When I start doing dips next cycle I hope those to act as a decline bench to some extent.
 
i use to have flat bb bench in my routine all the time, it was a way to measure progress on the same exercvise over the years.

however i made the switch to incline bench (BB or DB) and dips. the combo of the two gave me my best results ever, but was a bit harsher on my shoulders (probably due to the incline and amount of weight)
 
No doubt about it. Incline (bar or DB's) and weighted dips at a slight inward angle to de-emphasize the triceps.

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Welcome back, Old and Grey. Dips are great for chest development, especially when paired with incline bench - however, I think it is even more important to include the 15s if you are doing dips, since they can potentially mess up your shoulders. Last time I did dips, when I got into negatives, it felt like my collarbone was going to splinter. Hah. But I finally grew a chest. I'm going to start doing them again after this cycle, but I'll be reintroducing them slowly and with plenty of warmup, which I may have neglected in the past.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> Last time I did dips, when I got into negatives, it felt like my collarbone was going to splinter.</div>

That's why I do dips on a machine. I also have the seat setting up higher than normal so my shoulders will not get messed up.
 
I use the weighted dip machine too. I usually warm-up using the machine to assist my weight for a set of 10. Then I do another warm-up set of 5 reps with my BW. Then I can do my set of weighted dips. So far so good.

I prefer flat bench too. Incline is too rough on my shoulders for some reason. Overhead press and incline press both are hard on my shoulders but I am okay with flat bench and dips.

Keystone
 
I am most glad, Old &amp; Grey is back on-line! GRRRRREAT!
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Agree with TOT, O&amp;G and Colby.

Decline is very much second to Dips but an alternative if you can't do dips!
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First of all, welcome back O &amp; G!!! You should know that we really missed you. It's great to have you back aboard!

Now, to the matter at hand. I had my best results with the weighted dips - (slightly) incline bench combo, so I would certainly reccomend that. I think it was the weighted dips that made the difference, but this is subjective. So, I suggest that you stay with the combo Bryan recommends.

Regards,
Dimitris
 
I used to have some problems with my shoulders on flat bench presses. when I started angling my bench up the shoulder problems went away. I now only do the slight incline press and weighted dips.

Just my 2 cents.
 
weighted dips done strict and correctly are the best imo,dumbells are great for the stabilisers and for a good stretch they can also help to balance muscles out,but the more weight that is used(correctly)the more development youll get and thats why heavy barbell can give the best gains imo.but one things for sure everyone responds different to stimilus so its best to find what works for you.
 
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