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Incline bench

B

Brick

Well-known member
Good afternoon internet creepos -

After only overhead pressing for most of this year I been starting to play around with some benching. I cannot flat bench without irritating my shoulder however I can incline bench pain free and doesn't seem to be causing any of the bullshit clicking etc.

I am benchind 2 x week on the incline at present for decent volume.

Does anyone think this may be detrimental, I seem to be able to setup better really pinching my shoulders in hard and engaging the lat.

How do you peeps think this'll effect my flat bench?

I want to compete in powerlifitng again and would love to bench 3 wheels aside, anyone think this can be done if I just strong as all shit over head pressing and doing heaps of incline work?
 
Do you follow Paul Carter at all? He cant seem to put shit together at a meet but his incline press is ridiculous. He does more incline work than flat bench.
 
Brick, if you can work up to a big incline bench then it's a safe bet that your flat bench, if you choose to go back to it, will be bigger also.
 
DREADLIFT said:
Do you follow Paul Carter at all? He cant seem to put shit together at a meet but his incline press is ridiculous. He does more incline work than flat bench.
Click to expand...

Yeah I lurk LRB, He has a bullshit BTN too.

I'm thinking if I can incline 2.5 plates aside I should put up 3 plates aside on the flat bench pretty easily.

Darkoz said:
Brick, if you can work up to a big incline bench then it's a safe bet that your flat bench, if you choose to go back to it, will be bigger also.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's pretty much my logic, just wondering if anyone sees any flaws in it?
 
I do incline bench every week, has a good carryover to my raw bench, i think you will lose some efficiency with the actual bench press movement, but a 4 week sheiko cycle would probably fix that quick smart.

If you can't bench without pain, can you use a close grip?
 
lkt004 said:
I do incline bench every week, has a good carryover to my raw bench, i think you will lose some efficiency with the actual bench press movement, but a 4 week sheiko cycle would probably fix that quick smart.

If you can't bench without pain, can you use a close grip?
Click to expand...

Yeah tried all manner of grips with no love.
 
Silverbacks comment wasn't insulting.. it's an appropriate question. because if the answer is no, then forget flat bench.

There are numerous articles around as to why incline is a better choice for chest development while being safer for the shoulder and surrounding muscles.

If you do compete, then I'd at least do a couple of reps/sets of flat to maintain your form.
 
Here is a thought.
Would it be wise to do all forms of pushing (different planes) for a power lifter?

Seeing how tough flat benching can be on the shoulder

The closer to a meet the more emphasis on flat benching should be?

I gotta add I'm really weary about posting in this section these days lol.
 
Silverback said:
Here is a thought.
Would it be wise to do all forms of pushing (different planes) for a power lifter?

Seeing how tough flat benching can be on the shoulder

The closer to a meet the more emphasis on flat benching should be?

I gotta add I'm really weary about posting in this section these days lol.
Click to expand...

When did you start competing?
 
I think you'll find that the more experienced guys actually have an OFF SEASON so to speak.

They'll spend that time doing hypertrophy/bodybuilding type work in terms of reps/sets/variations of the lifts and drop the heavy triples or singles etc.

Most of them also do incline bench or floor press as accessory work for bench as part of their say 11 week prep to a comp.
 
Silverback said:
Here is a thought.
Would it be wise to do all forms of pushing (different planes) for a power lifter?

Seeing how tough flat benching can be on the shoulder

The closer to a meet the more emphasis on flat benching should be?

I gotta add I'm really weary about posting in this section these days lol.
Click to expand...

I like this idea.

After trying all sorts of things for my flat bench, I think I'm just going to do overhead and incline predominantly and work on flat bench technique mainly.
 
I found training on incline I could do 90x10 or 90x11. I think I could have done 120x1 but when I went back to flat I couldn't do 140. 3 weeks later I did, though. I think I built up a lot of strength from incline and I just had to train the movement pattern/arch for flat. I used a low incline, too.

Now I find incline too stressful on the right shoulder for some weird reason but flat is ok. Just do what feels allright.

edit: it is a different movement. WHen you go back to flat you will probably try to drop it too high on your chest and fail at low weights. A few weeks of smolov of flat benching will fix that imo.
 
Last edited:
Why not do them all.

I do military press, incline, flat (linear progression), Flat (5*5), Flat (shirted once every 3 weeks), db presses, floor presses and close grip each week ;).
 
jzpowahz said:
I like this idea.

After trying all sorts of things for my flat bench, I think I'm just going to do overhead and incline predominantly and work on flat bench technique mainly.
Click to expand...

I like it too.
A long time friend from the states Dan Martin would often point this out.
 
Ideally in the "off season" you want to be pressing from every fucking angle imaginable.
There are many reasons for this that I don't really care to go into right now.
If you're not competing in the near future you need to be benching from every angle, every grip, reverse grip of the above, dips, overheads and so on

You need to be good at well, pressing weights. Not benching, not shoving weights overhead- pressing
 
lkt004 and Oni are right. Bench more to get better at benching, and also vary the types. My Bench routine consists of Heavy Flat Bench, Incline Bench, Incline DB's, Military Press, Bench with Bands, Chains, Speed Bench, Close Grip, Floor Press's, Dead Press's, Slingshot Bench, Chest Supported Hammer Rows (opposite movement of bench). There is so many ways to help your overall bench it's not funny.

I always found Incline Bench to more harsh on the shoulders than flat bench, and that was not going anywhere near as heavy as my flat bench.
 
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