I just tried it and I noticed that it uses more chest and less triceps/shoulders that flat bench.
I've been doing a decent amount of incline benching and overhead press in addition to flat bench so my shoulders feel like they never really recover.
I'm thinking that subbing flat bench for decline will allow my shoulders to recover a bit better.
Thoughts?
>>35163322
Check'd, nice numbers.
It's a fantastic exercise: do do it. Lately I just do decline then incline. The traditional flat bench is good, but I feel benching from either angle is more versatile and works more muscles. Allegedly reduces injury risk over flat benching.
dont care for it, feels like an alien movement
incline is the best, havent touched a flat press in 6 months and dont regret it
>>35163322
>subbing flat bench for decline will allow my shoulders to recover a bit better
That WILL actually help. Look it up.
>>35163322
Is that Dorian Yates?
>>35163350
Look what up?
>>35163386
Decline benching
>>35163352
Just a random pic I found from Google searching "decline bench press".
the further in a decline you go, the less your shoulders are involved. Likewise, the more you increase the incline, the more they're involved until you're basically military pressing. Shoulders fatigue pretty quickly, which is why you can probably do more decline than you can flat.
As anon said >>35163350 your shoulders will be less fatigued and it's a good compromise if you have an injury
>>35163842
Okay, thanks.
Seems people only like to do it because they can put up big numbers. Only works the bottom chest which will give you breasts. Weighted dips are a much better exercise at this angle.
>>35164312
>bottom chest
>breasts
no. There's no meaningful difference in innervation between sternal and clavicular heads and very few people have the insertions to actually see a separation.
>>35164312
OP says his shoulders have trouble recovering from his pressing.
>Recommends dips.
Kek.
Anyone here that has done decline benching do you feel your chest growing or is incline better?
>>35163322
Decline is just as good as flat bench. Just make sure you have a spotter. Because if you unrack heavy enough weight on a decline bench it will fuck up your shoulders you can't just unrack it by yourself like you do on a flat bench
>>35163322
No, it's a meme.
All it does is reduce the range of motion of the flat bench.
Everyone saying it reduces the amount of shoulder used are spouting bullshit.
>>35164485
Confirmed for never using the decline bench
I started adding it to chest day for about 4 months and it definitely made my chest more tit like. Switched back to flat and lots of inclines and everything went back to normal. People saying you won't get tits don't understand your pecs are multiple muscles.
>>35163322
It's the fedora tip of chest exercises.
>>35164485
nope
>The Anterior Deltoid tended to increase in activity as the bench inclination increased (Glass 1997, Trebbs 2010).
http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/BenchPress.html
>>35164638
different heads of the pec aren't strictly different muscles because they're all pec major
it's like saying that doing high bar squats gives you wide quads
>>35163322
I do it after I do regular bench so idk
>>35164859
Thanks for the link. That confirms what I observed.
>>35163322
It's shitty for both strenght AND aesthetic. Maybe lower volume a bit or change something else
>>35163339
There's pretty good evidence for it protecting the shoulders to some extent - its basically recreating the arch position people use to reduce shoulder stress when benching heavy.
Does come with its own downsides, but it generally is less rough on the shoulders than flat benching.
>>35165907
>downsides
I have a hard time believing that those downsides are as bad as some anons in this thread would have it.
I think I'm doing a good job by doing my declines, then the incline; I don't even do flat bench because as I see it, I'm hitting everything by doing those two versatile lifts.
Am I making a mistake?
>>35165951
They're not as bad as people make out - the primary ones are that you absolutely need a spotter (or a safety rail) for it and you can't really get as tight on most decline setups as you can on flat or incline. Some people also have issues with headaches/tension/blood rush from being head-down for an extended period but that's not exactly universal.
You're hitting everything with those two lifts. Hell, you don't even really need two bench variants for most purposes.
>>35165968
>hell, you don't even really need two bench variants for most purposes
I agree, would much rather do a high volume single exercise than fuck around trying to do multiple for low volume
>>35163322
I'm looking to get that really sharp delineation at the bottom of my pecs. A good example off the top of my head of someone who has it would be Bruce Lee, despite all the meme'ing he gets. Wondering if there's something I can do specifically to make that more clear, or if it just comes down to insertions/genetics.
>>35165968
Thanks m8. I'll continue as I have been. Always liked the decline bench even since highschool, and lately since getting back into lifting it was one of the first things I wanted to do.
>>35166179
low bodyfat would help define what insertions you do have
>>35163322
it gives you gorilla titties
>>35164312>>35166276
dat broscience
>>35166307
>says the guy with the gorilla titties
>>35166340
>Not wanting Gorilla titties
twink?
>>35166240
Thanks
>>35166340
there are only sternal and clavicular chest heads, not upper/middle/lower like broscientists propagate
you can't target your "lower" chest
with various incline angles, you can put more emphasis either on sternal or clavicular chest (the end result will be negligable for a natty lifter)
decline makes your pecs contract better, takes some of the stress off the front delts and reduces the range of motion (hence why most people can decline more than they flat bench)
it doesn't change your insertions to give you titties
now please post hodgetwins (or some other broscience) channel's video which says this is wrong
you're missing out on 15min anabolic window, anon
>>35163322
Idk about the risk of injury, I just do it anyway
Usless lift 2bh familia. Go focus on your lower abs instead
>>35166530
actually risk of shoulder (rotator) injury is reduced
but risk of decapitating yourself is much bigger if you don't do it in power rack (or with help of spotter)
you could always shake the weights off if you get in trouble https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGkRDcMeSTY
>>35164312
>weighted dips
>>35164638
>I started adding it to chest day for about 4 months and it definitely made my chest more tit like
well, now you know what horrible insertions you have, thats all
>>35163322
>decline bench
do it anyway
