To develop an impressive chest, no other tool compares to the barbell. Incline bench pressing is one of the cornerstones of an effective chest workout and when performed properly can lead to significant muscle growth.
Unrack and slowly lower the barbell until it rests just below your nips.
Incline Chest Press
The incline barbell bench press has long been a favorite among bodybuilders for chest building purposes. It provides an effective upper-body workout, targeting shoulder strength as well as chest and tricep strength – and with proper form you can use this exercise to build muscle without endangering shoulders or rotator cuffs.
While all pressing exercises target the pectoralis major, different angles of bench press movement have an effect on how that muscle group responds to training. Flat bench presses place emphasis on training the larger sternocostal head while incline and reverse grip bench presses focus more heavily on developing smaller clavicular heads of pecs. By including all exercises together in your chest workout routines, it helps ensure balanced pecs!
With an incline bench press, your bench is tilted at an angle between 30 and 45 degrees. As its angle increases, more focus will be directed at targeting anterior deltoids (shoulders).
Once your bench is setup, lie on your back with an arched spine while gripping a barbell with hands a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Unrack and slowly lower it towards your chest before slowly pushing back up to starting position – taking care not to bounce it as it drops as this puts extra stress on shoulders and can result in injury. If elbows flaring during this move, the amount of weight on the bar should be decreased accordingly.
Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
The incline dumbbell press can be an invaluable addition to your chest barbell workout, engaging upper pectoral muscles, front deltoids, and triceps more evenly than when using flat bench presses alone. Furthermore, this movement helps prevent shoulder injuries by relieving some pressure from shoulders during movement.
To perform an incline dumbbell press, lie face-down on an inclined bench with two dumbbells resting on your lower thigh. Kick up your knees to lift them higher towards your shoulders while resting your head and shoulders against the bench. Your toes can help drive part of the press but must remain stacked directly under your knees so as to prevent too much arch in your lower back.
As you press dumbbells up towards your chest, breathe out slowly while maintaining straight wrists throughout the movement. At its conclusion, both dumbbells should touch each other or be perpendicular to your torso – this ensures they will come down precisely as planned!
Lower the dumbbells to your chest while inhaling, then exhale as you slowly straighten your arms until they are just beyond full extension (but not locked out). Pause briefly at the peak before pressing back down into starting position for more repetitions. Repeat to reach desired goal number of repetitions.
Incline Chest Fly
This variation of the fly exercise is an effective way to target upper pecs. While traditional flat bench dumbbell fly may cause shoulders to shoulder more of the load, its incline version allows your chest and front delts to drive movement while simultaneously increasing range of motion and developing chest flexibility.
Beginning by lying on a flat incline bench with your head and back pressed against it and feet planted securely on either side. Place two dumbbells by your face with pinkies facing each other in both hands. Slightly retract your shoulder blades while bending slightly at your elbows by about 10-15% before slowly lowering weights back down onto sides while simultaneously contracting chest muscles to return them to starting position.
Incline flyes place more emphasis on the upper section of the pectoralis major muscle (clavicular head). Both exercises are effective, so including both in your chest day routine is crucial for total development.
Chest fly variations differ from most pressing movements in that they allow your muscles to work more naturally and can help relieve tightness, shoulder pain, improve posture and performance in other sports, build muscularity and enhance results from other chest exercises like bench pressing and push-ups.
Incline Incline Bench Press
The incline bench press can help those seeking to increase depth to their chest by targeting pectoral muscles at different angles than traditional flat presses and building strength on those presses alone. In addition, this form of exercise is safer on your shoulders and rotator cuffs than its flat press counterpart, making it suitable for anyone wishing to increase weight capacity while maintaining proper form.
Start with an empty barbell and slowly increase the weight until you can achieve your target reps for each set without compromising proper technique. To execute the movement correctly, hold onto it with hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart before slowly lowering it until it gently touches your chest – this will avoid bouncing off of it as that would reduce total-body tension produced by this movement and diminish effectiveness of chest contractions.
As you push the barbell back up, engage your core and squeeze your chest, using pectoral muscles to drive weight off of it and into an unlocked-out position in front of you. Be sure that when pushing back up you use an even motion rather than moving towards your feet; this ensures your arms work in unison on an equal plane reducing stress on elbow joints while helping lift more weight for greater gains.
Incline Dumbbell Chest Fly
The incline dumbbell fly is designed to work the pectoralis major more specifically by targeting its clavicular head (upper chest). While shoulder involvement still occurs during these movements, they do reduce it somewhat and could be an ideal way to limit shoulder injury on flat fly movements. In contrast to bench presses, incline dumbbell flys allow more weight movement which may promote chest hypertrophy similarly.
This variation differs from traditional dumbbell flyes only in that its incline angle changes the muscle focus slightly upward, targeting upper chest muscles directly and providing an effective alternative or supplement to traditional bench presses.
When performing incline dumbbell flyes, aim to place the weights a few inches apart for maximum chest compression at the top of each rep. Avoid lowering all of the weights at once to your sides as this could compromise shoulder health by shifting tension away from chest muscles and onto biceps instead.
At the top of each rep, avoid slamming the weights together as this can create an uncomfortable joint impact on your elbows. Instead, slowly drive them back up by reversing movement and turning your hands so pinkies face each other again – this should allow for a safe return to starting position for another set. Repeat the process up until your recommended number of reps have been completed.
Incline Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
Integrating an incline dumbbell press into your chest barbell workout is an effective way to build upper chest muscles, stimulate shoulders and elbows and correct any muscular imbalances. Adherence to form is the key to unlocking this exercise’s full potential.
Stand with your back to a bench, gripping two dumbbells as if you’re about to do an incline bench press, holding them above your chest and extending arms down in an arc to meet lower section of chest (chest flex). Invert the motion by pulling them back up together ensuring no disengagement at any time.
Although you can perform this exercise with a straight barbell, for optimal results it is preferable to use a curved barbell. Curved barbells require you to work harder by increasing range of motion and forcing pectoral muscles to stretch and contract throughout more of each movement cycle – thus demanding greater pec development from this muscle group.
As an added benefit, an angled barbell will also work your serratus anterior muscle – the primary shoulder stabilizer – with every rep in each set until fatigue sets in and your chest and shoulder muscles reach full range of motion for maximum growth. Aim to perform 8-12 reps before reaching muscle failure on any set if possible for best results.
