Flat Vs Incline (Which Is Better?)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 เม.ย. 2024
- Curious about whether flat bench or incline press is more effective? Learn about the study that compared the two for pecs growth. I also share which incline angle I like the best for upper chest growth.
Study mentioned: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32922... - บันเทิง
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Jeff doesn't take a poop without researching a study about it first.
I bet he dumps with excellent form. nice straight back, strongabdominal bracing
@@Lucas_Jeffreykeep the chin up!
Just changed my form from this comment @@Lucas_Jeffrey
@@ssonicdeafmonkeychin down is proper form
@@Lucas_Jeffrey I'm literally taking a dump right now, but why the hell did i just do everything you mentioned 😂
Incline press keeping you big as hell
Lol 😂 incline ftw
This time it literally is keeping you big as hell
Except actually, though. Incline bench rules.
wrong guy 😂
Naah bro you’re everywhere 💀😂😂
1year ago I totally changed from just flat to just inclined benching because of this study, and I can "confirm" this. It's anecdotal, so it isn't worth much, just sharing my experience.
Why not incorporate both in your workout
@@jasonolafami4528it’s just a better version, plus there are other completely different movements like flys you have to also focus on (I don’t know shit)
I haven't completely stopped flat pressing but I did incorporate a lot of incline work for 2-3 years and upper pecs have grown quite a bit but it's not like the rest is lacking. I feel like 70%-30% on the side of upper is best.
Point to be noted- the study was on untrained young men....
I started putting a lot more emphasis on incline movements, including flyes, and I've been seeing way better upper chest gains. I'm genetically gifted in chest anyway so I thought I wouldn't see much results, but my chest is much "taller" and looks a bit bigger from the side. I guess it's different for different people but I would'nt call it worthless
The incline helps a lot of people keep the shoulders down and back, which inherently increases the pectoral activation. It’s harder to cue that in a flat bench, this is why if you had a choice it should be incline for most people.
I get the most insane pec stretch from incline bench, but my right shoulder feels really uncomfortable during it. I've been trying to fix it with stretches but so far it just keeps acting out. It's a shame personally because it just feels so much better in my chest compared to flat bench.
@suomen, you work with a trainer? It’s likely a form issue you can’t see. Experience: muscle tear causing winging from bad plank & push up form
If you really want an insane stretch, use dumbells or do deficit push-ups with your hands elevated 3-5 inches.
@@SuomenPaskatry hanging from a bar for 2 minutes daily fixed any issues I was having in my shoulders and some neck problems too
@@SuomenPaska bro same, but with my left shoulder. I thought it was just form issue but it is also from my overdeveloped left shoulder taking over. Squeezing my shoulder blade as tight as possible helps.
Jeff and “I saw a recent study” go together better than butter and toast
That’s why he doesn’t even have that great of a build he’s just puffed up with supplements lol there’s no studies that covers all humans it’s impossible but he act like it does lol
@@primejay9975 obviously the study doesn't cover all humans do you even know what a study is? brother i guarantee his build is a lot better than yours
@@nocturnalbulk exactly a studyyyy , why does he speak like it’s facts? Everything you’re saying is not even the way this guy speaks or teaches …I’m lean and strong the most logical way to maintain, but his foos all puffed up he probably can’t even maintain anything without a gym and the certain weights that were created to help disabled ppl 😂🤡🤡😂
@@nocturnalbulk the fact that your saying it doesn’t cover all humans is literally in my favor to what I said 😂😂slow ass comment 🤡🤡
@@primejay9975 he never said it was facts, he was literally just saying incline won't disregard growth for mid and lower pecs. i don't see an issue with him being big he's also pretty short so it shouldn't be that crazy that he's just large, you honestly just sound jealous
At the end of the day it comes down to numbers for most people. They lift less on incline and don’t wanna do it.
Damn good point never considered that as a reason
I don't understand why this even matters. Your bench pr is flat anyway
@@marken816 it’s ego nothing more or less
You’re goddamn right
Once you go back to flat you’ll lift so much. My flat bench blew up after doing just incline for 5 months
Jeff one week later: new study says incline is killing your gains
That's more likely to come from the other Jeff.
@@asprinklingofcloudsexactly
wrong jeff
that’s jeff cavaliere
Noo don't say his name we just call him the other jeff@@noname91784
Tbh I might aswell just ditch flat bench entirely and swap it out for incline bench at this point
is it so that you can tell people you don't bench when they ask you for your max?
I have and I can confirm my chest has never been more aesthetic and fuller, been training for 5 years now.
Once in a while just to keep it at 225
@@davidzazueta1471If you only do incline your flat is still gonna get stronger my guy if your progressing on incline
@@slideman1249Yeah you're incline will more than likely catch up to your previous flat bench PR after a while but flat will definitely still go up along side it.
Totally valid. I stopped doing flat a year ago due to injury. Strictly incline now and my chest and shoulders have completely changed.
lower and mid grow?? especially lower ...Honest answer to this 18 years man please
@@user-pr6uu7kt3othere are other exercises that stimulate more lower pec growth anyway. Dips and cables can hit lower chest better than the normal bench can, and also I find that I get a better stimulus from dumbbells on the flat bench.
@@user-pr6uu7kt3o as someone who has only done incline bench every since i started around 2 years ago, both my lower and mid pecs have grown quite nicely
@@user-pr6uu7kt3o just do incline and flys and u will be fine broda
Since most men have a little fat in their lower part of the chest, incline movements for chest will create a fuller more square pec. So it makes sense to focus more on incline movements. There are cable flys if you desperate need to do a flat movement
Incline bench , parllel bar dips and 1 cable will do just wonders . People are nowadays doing insane amount of volume with 10 different exercises for chest !!! . I guess that would make one super saiyan 😂.
I refuse to train lower pecs. I don't want man titties. I want PECS.
i personally wouldn't take advice from soneone who steals from the bakery
can you explain this one?
@@aariludvig9845 Jeff has a dumpy
Whos dumpy
@@aariludvig9845cos he’s got all the cake
@@Shmoolik69what?
I find that doing incline bench with a smith machine provides a great mind to muscle connection which can give you more gains by focusing more on the chest rather than triceps and shoulders taking over.
Mind muscle connection has no correlation with hypertrophy
@@maurizioarrivabene8182 Yes it very well does. Lots of research on it.
It does@@maurizioarrivabene8182
@@maurizioarrivabene8182Wtf are you talking about💀
@@justinfung4351 if you do an exercise with perfect form and progress over time while eating right, your muscle will grow, wether you feel the muscle, or not. Thats scientifically proven "💀"
Switched to Incline bench like 5ish weeks ago & I'm seeing lots of progress. Went from struggling with 225X10 to hitting 235X10 today in only 2.5 weeks. Chest feels a better stretch aswell.
*Edit hit 295 x 1 pretty easy last week & 225 X 10 paused today*
Bro can you share angle of bench from ground, thx in advance
@@tushargupta1968 30-35 degrees
If you are doing barbell incline, it's not all because of progressive overload. Some gains may be because of learning the movement and getting the coordination for the exercise.
@@joe-bw6wy also proper training & nooby gains, always neglected it before but not anymore. And I've had good form/coordination from the start.
You improved but dont forget you used to start with flat bench (if i understand correctly) so when you did incline you were fatigued and didnt reach your potential.
So its hard to tell i guess..
But if you tested it before by starting woth upper chest then congrats u got stronger 😃
A flat, an incline, and a fly is all the chest you need in a single session to hit all parts of the chest.
You should include two workouts per muscle group to just stick to cable fly and incline bench
While you can hit all parts of the chest with 2 exercises, there is no particular reason you have to stick with exactly 2 exercises per chest workout. You could spread it out more across the week with 1 exercise each day or even hit all 3 areas with an incline chest fly (through this would lack variety and my be lower overall stimulus vs a press).
I used to only do incline and decline. Cut out flat completely. Now only doing incline because of shoulder issues, chest is big as it was at my peak.
I think the loose consensus is that there's no reason to do decline over flat, because the muscle activation for lower pecs is the same between the two for some reason.
Decline is a waste of time
I do closer grip barbell incline bench press & closer grip decline bench press. Sometimes I do closer grip feet up flat-bench press .
I like to feel the pec, not only mine but other people’s as well.
“Its just one study” - continues to make conclusions from one study
Yeah lmao this 5'1 dude is straight up cherry picking a study to fit his narrative 😂😂😂 short dudes are weird they have to make gym their whole identity to feel good about themselves
@@gaiusvaleriuscatullus3474wdym narrative? He's literally sharing the info, hes not trying to indoctrinate you or anything.
And like, 1 study is infinitely better than zero
But he's not wrong is he, 1 study showing its the same vs 0 studies showing it isn't?
this guy made a good living from reading cherry picked studies and running his mouth...
It wouldn’t be an issue if the study was done well. This guy admitted in another video that all he does is read the abstract. Of course, the more studies confirming a hypothesis is better than one, but if they’re all done poorly (most COVID studies) then they’re all garbage.
From personal experience this tip was life changing. I only do incline press now
I can confirm this.
After a shoulder injury years ago, I could not do flat or decline without pain. Incline=no pain. So, I primarily did incline benching for a long time. Massive chest growth.
My first chest exercise on chest days, followed by a fly and then machine chest press. Simple and adequate for me😊
I can confirm. My chest has become fuller since doing more incline bench press!! Thanks Jeff!!
Me bringing my geometry set 📐 to the gym after watching Jeff
How are you today?
Jeff: there was a study
I do 15%. Only 15%. Not flat not 30% and definitely nothing above 30% (least for chest). I have No shoulder pain- the entire pec feels amazing and is activated.
If you don't arch your back that's fine but if you do then it becomes a flat bench again, I just choose the safe side and do a higher incline (30°-45°) and then arch so it's still incline bench
Flat for barbell, slight incline for dumbbell >>
This is my exact preference! Incline barbell just doesn't feel right to me.
Find someone who doesn’t do this exact thing.
i do incline barbell just cuz i maxed out ny adjustable dbs at home
Oh cool, not just me
i do incline smith and weighted dips for chest@@pucebracelet2214
Between 15-45 is the thingy!
So 30 degrees is best.
Try it - love it!
I do 15 for “flat” and 30 for incline
@@kwiwj17731 👍🏼
Love this info! Thanks for having your stuff based in science.
completely switched from flat to incline myself and have seen great results as well
I saw Jay Cutler say this in a video a while ago. Glad to see it’s science based.
do you still have a link to that video by any chance?
As a strongman who does mainly incline bench instead of flat its good to know that I'm not gonna lose my pec size
I switched to a slight incline (one notch up on REP adjustable bench) about 4 months ago. Tested my max flat bench recently and it increased by roughly 15 percent. Anecdotal of course.
I have seen insane growth in my upper pecs with prioritising incline press first in my push days. Freaking veins popping out from my pecs, never thought I'd see that.
This has been known for decades. Dorian Yates said he never did flat bench. Always put it on a slight incline for better chest growth.
I can confirm from my own experience (started before that study), that the Pecs grow from only incline bench. I never do flat bench and my lower and mid pec grew just fine.
11 months doing only inclined benching (injured left shoulder), I agree with this study
I've been doin slight incline dumbell press as my dominant chest exercise for years. Way more comfortable on my shoulders, better contraction, in my experience
ive always had a better mind muscle connection with the incline bench press so thats what i do.
One study… it tells a lot, yeah
Thank you mike mentzer. these kids owe you,
What so scientific study, it's a normal sense, even a beginner can feel that it targets the whole chest majorly upper, btw thanks for these shorts as well
There was a recent study that concluded people who say “there was a recent study” a lot, are wrong 75% of the time.
All you have to do is wait enough time and they’ll release a study contradicting the old study 😂 lift how you enjoy. Optimizing is for dweebs
How is it possible that they have a net positive in growth? If one grows more, then another has to grow less (assuming same volume, technique, etc and just a different angle)
Leg extensions won’t necessarily grow your quads more than squats and if anything squats will additionally grow your glutes (and low back) as well. That doesn’t mean anything is lost in your quads, the exercise simply engages more muscles and produces sufficient stimulus for them to grow.
@@iwatchdemvids but those are completely different movements
The bench and incline bench are the same but at different angles
I always mix incline, flat and flys into my chest workouts.. switching between dumbbell and barbell … also throw in some tricep dips and extensions for the ultimate pump.
BASED!!! I experienced that myself and agreed 💯
i do only incline i stop doing flat
If that’s the case why even bother with the flat?
Because it's cooler
It targets the mid chest more & for most people the incline is there weaker bench so the flat bench will make your incline bench stronger
Flats just easier too
@@cremdeniro237 he says incline targets the mid chest the same as flat
Flat bench still serves its purpose. It probably still provides slightly greater volume to your mid chest. This video is just suggesting that incline press can still target mid and build on your upper chest for more volume.
I've been solely doing incline for a year now and have seen a change. This is just my experience though. Do whatever works for you.
It’s not an total isolation exercice, so yes, it doesn’t target the upper pecs only, the exercice every muscle of the pecs to work together.
But the emphasis is put more on the upper than the lower ones for example.
That is why we have the terms:
« primary muscle(s) » and « secondary muscle(s) ».
Facts I get compliments on my chest development.Incline barbell and incline dumbbell press is my go to.
of course it works the whole chest but it will favor the upper more if incline
How is that possible?
That means that incline press is just a way better exercise.But why do people do flat bench then?
You can push more weight on flat bench
@@Guhnn and science. We're most likely wrong regarding most of what we think we know, but it will take science to develop over years, decades, and centuries for us to realize it.
Powerlifting, and it’s fun
We ****ing love you, Jeff.
Super cool, thank you!
what about decline?
messes up your shoulders
Useless. It has no more activation than normal bench or incline.
dips are better
Decline is a waste of time
Flat bench is overrated
A slight increase in bench angles with a proper back arch is a great combo.
I couldn't imagine a life without incline press
Mike Mentzer was ahead of time
Theres no "upper, mid, lower pec" its just pec
Are you stupid? There is literally a pec major and minor
There's major and minor but yeah you're right in all essentiality
Nope. Look at Andrew Tate for example, he mostly works out his lower pec, which is evident in how his chest looks soggy from the side. Meanwhile, if you make sure you do incline bench, you'll train both upper and lower, making your chest look aesthetic
Yes there is…
You couldn’t be more wrong
I ONLY do incline but I do chest flys for the mid chest and have noticed the difference frfr
To help simply the validity: anatomically and physiologically speaking, any chest movement is going to recruit upper,mid and lower fibers. Doing incline places more focus on it however the upper pec contains less muscle fibers in comparison making it harder to make stand out. If you only focus on upper chest it’s not that your upper chest would necessarily grow larger than the rest but it would be at least symmetrical because it will grow at a much more rapid pace and be much stronger but the mid and lower will grow along side it and just appear to be equally as developed. So realistically, all pressing movements for chest should be with the intention of prioritizing upper chest to obtain optimal results
Doctor of bodybuilding.
i used to exclusively do incline dumbells as a free weight alternative to flat bench i also just preferred incline (also with cables and machine flys) but now that i’ve shifted to building strength specifically on flat bench the crossover has been good
Look Coach Jeff,l completely agree with ur opinion.lncline bench at 30-45 degree is absolutely perfect for d growth of whole pec.
Shallow Incline has helped me improve my press strength without triggering my shoulder injury/ pain
In a chest workout I always do both
Flat with dumbbells then incline with bar, or switched
I prefer incline dumbbell press it gives more strech to pecs and helps in stabilizing rotater cups naturally
I get regular massage therapy and I’m petite, 5’2, 120-125 and exercise regularly but nothing crazy at this stage.
My LMT is a competitive rugby player - bigger guy but lots of training and cardio.
During a massage the other month he made a comment and told me that my physique reminded him he HE needed to start doing more incline bench press. I was very flattered 😂
I stopped doing flat bench about half a year ago and started to do more excercices that focus on the upper chest - all in all, more of my chest workout focuses on the upper rather than the lower chest. As a result, my chest has become significantly fuller and looks a lot better as a whole. The way I see it, most people have underdeveloped lower pecs in comparison to upper pecs, so targeting those more often will result in a better chest overall.
The shallower the better. The more you raise it the more shoulders involved
I think it's important to mention how much of an arch you use in your back when considering the bench angle
Yes. Great point. I used to use a slight incline but my arch made it a damn flat press anyway. Very important to note the arch great point!
@@MattFlyFisherso do you arch when doing the incline then?
A slight incline and slight decline DB or barbell press work great for me
Incline Smith is underated for Chest Hypertrophy. You get then burn you would get from a fly or a machine but you also get the heavy tension of having to move a lot of weight
I barely even do flat bench anymore. I feel my pecs WAY more in incline dumbell press. My new favorite excersize.
switching from flat to incline slowed my lower pec grow
I've been only doing incline since early 2022. Best choice ever as flat bench hurts my shoulders
honestly if you only wanted 1 channel to listen to, Jeff is the one.
completely agree
I’ll try that today
i use incline for triceps and flat for chest. i also include flys and then one other chest stimulating workout depending on what i feel like doing as the extra
I like incline dumbbell because I get a great stretch and I can go to failure without a spot.
Have a great physique bro and awesome information
Oh gawd another study
Just 1 click up on a bench and i start to feel a tiny bit in my shoulders so i stay there and love it, i use dumbells now which i like too
That “shallow” incline is the sweet spot for me
This is very interesting for a number of reasons.. I've always preferred incline.. but can we get a video that explains why incline is harder to push more weight than flat and decline?
I prefer incline bench press because I feel way more control during the use of it
I intuitively felt it would be better to change to incline and generally focus on upper chest on chest day.
My personal experience is very positive.
The key thing is hit all the chest, inclines declines and mids personally I get more chest activation from decline, my shoulders take over more during incline presses… do what works best for you in terms of isolating muscle. Experiment with your body and your workout
Decline push-ups and dips is all i need
The decline press is also a mega chest exercise
"There's a recent study"
This dudes entire channel
Somethigs right bout it. I can feel chest way better while doing incline 😁
I only do incline pushups and ive noticed growth in both “lower and mid” pecs, as well as my clavicular head.
Push is simplified in 7 moves
OHP( I like barbell)
Incline bench ( BB or DB )
DIPS
Dumbell or peck deck fly
Overhead triceps extension
Lying cable ( bench level ) lateral raises
Push ups
This dude wearing the same shirt Captain America wore to stop the helicopter 😂
I do both flat bench and guillotine press since my setup doesn’t allow for incline press. Works pretty well for me
for the same reasons. decline pushups are goated
I can agree my chest got bigger with incline vs when I was flat benching
changed from flat to incline abt 6 months ago and huge difference same chest growth i was experiencing with flat bench but upper chest blew up
Well ya, when doing any exercise directed for chest, it contracts as one. May be able to get a bit more stim from one area over the other but it call contracts the same.