# Chest Training - Incline only?



## BSF James (Sep 29, 2003)

I dont have the exact quote to hand, but I've been reading through sly stallones new book and in the training section he said roughly the following:

"Its best to train chest only on an incline - that way you get more slab like pecs rather than the overhanging bulk of a typical bodybuilding physique which may lead you to be mistaken for a silverback gorilla. As you get older the physique will hold up better. Look at some of our more famous bodybuilders - who's chests now closer resemble overgrown feedbags."

I also remember reading someone like Steve Reeves or Reg Park saying the same thing and also that overbearing pecs make the body look unsymmetrical and detract from the shoulders, arms and core.

Any thoughts?


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

I have seen this written numerous times, but your pec major is One muscle, with its fibres aligned to pull all in one direction not two. THere is also no inner and outer pec, another BBing myth, look here: http://www.rad.washington.edu/atlas/pectoralismajor.html

Whether you train incline or flat, it is the amount of adduction (drawing in) of your humerus (upper arms) that will define how much your chest muscle is activated instead of your anterior (front) deltiod (shoulder) and your triceps. Inclining may only serve to rob the pec of effort by making the front delt do the work, hence it is usually a lower weight.

So I will go against the grain here and say flat bench is best, but dont let those elbows come below your midline or your anterior shoulder compartment will take a severe beating from your bench weight.

Dare I say that bech isn't actually the best chest exercise. period!!!! Yes it is compound and should be at the start of any chest programme but there are better ways to work those pecs by far......

Try This:


Stand in a cable x-over,

put the cables at shoulder height,

grasp handles with each hand, left handle in left, right in right.

Now draw those handles across your body keeping them really close to your chest and abdomen, crossing one over the other.

Hold and release, repeat till burning with searing acid pain 

Basically you are drawing your upper arms in together! that is all the pec does!

The other chest muscle Pec Minor, doesn't even help with bench, so if you have heard as I have that flat works one and incline the other, that is all tosh too









Hope all this helps or at least provokes some thought 

SD


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## Great White (Apr 4, 2003)

I agree with Sports Doctor

But i do Flat bench / Laying chest pull overs one week and inclince bench with cable-x overs the other week, just for some variation

Paul


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## BSF James (Sep 29, 2003)

Interesting. I too have also read that the idea of being able to hit the upper, lower, inner, outer chest separately is not realistic and in fact its a case of the whole pec contracting or not contracting.

I tend to do abut 60:40 flat:incline chest work myself.

I just found the view point quite interesting and I would say that a lot of guys do overdevelop their chest in comparison with the rest of the upper body.


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## Great White (Apr 4, 2003)

My chest is by far the best muscle group in my body.

I train it twice a week, along with triceps and biceps.

Its not over developed, just better than anything else on me  And at 50" its cool


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

You forgot to mention your cup size Pauly (DD) 

SD


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## DB (Oct 31, 2003)

yeah dorian was a firm believer of incline only for chest

i tend to do mainly incline aswell to be honest


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

*Inlcine Press*
​
*Purpose of Exercise:* A basic exercise for developing size and power in the middle and upper pectoral muscles plus the front deltoid.

Got that complete load of tosh from the ministry of fitness .com lol middle & upper pec 

SD

Edit: May not be complete Tosh see my last post!


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## Danny boy1436114499 (Mar 1, 2005)

Does anybody see any point in doing decline bench or dumbell press i used to do it each chest workout, havent done it for months on end and havent really noticed a difference in shape my chest work out

4 sets flat bench

3 sets incline bench

4 sets weighted dips

any body think there is any point in including decline bench into this routine or swapping it


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## big (Sep 14, 2004)

Danny boy said:


> Does anybody see any point in doing decline bench or dumbell press i used to do it each chest workout, havent done it for months on end and havent really noticed a difference in shape my chest work out
> 
> 4 sets flat bench
> 
> ...


11 work sets for your chest, you might be overtraining, especially if you're not noticing any difference in months. Is your strength going up each session?


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## Danny boy1436114499 (Mar 1, 2005)

yeh im getting stronger just wondering about decline bench press and is it worth adding to my routine or will i get the same benfits from dips


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## big (Sep 14, 2004)

Danny boy said:


> yeh im getting stronger just wondering about decline bench press and is it worth adding to my routine or will i get the same benfits from dips


I wouldn't do any more work there personally. You could always alternate between dips and decline bench though each session.


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## Danny boy1436114499 (Mar 1, 2005)

cheers mate ill give it a wirl


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## Cookie (Sep 14, 2009)

SportDr said:


> I have seen this written numerous times, but your pec major is One muscle, with its fibres aligned to pull all in one direction not two. THere is also no inner and outer pec, another BBing myth, look here: http://www.rad.washington.edu/atlas/pectoralismajor.html
> 
> Whether you train incline or flat, it is the amount of adduction (drawing in) of your humerus (upper arms) that will define how much your chest muscle is activated instead of your anterior (front) deltiod (shoulder) and your triceps. Inclining may only serve to rob the pec of effort by making the front delt do the work, hence it is usually a lower weight.
> 
> ...


I would have to disagree slightly in that if you/I do a different angled exercise for chest I feel the soreness the next day in a different area compared to the previous movement, ie if I do wide grip dips the outer & lower areas of my chest are contracting and are sore the next day if I do benching to the neck my chest is sore in the upper region with some soreness on the outer(flair) portion.....

Now if I were to do cable cross overs for chest when I did a rep going to the low position all the pec would contract as expected but when doing a rep to the point directly out in front of me(arms at 90%) only the upper portion of my pec contracts..this can be mimicked with just using your arm and you can feel that the lower pec are is not contracting at all but around the middle the pec starts to tighten up(contract) and if I run my finger along the starting point of the contraction you can fee a definate line of were it is.

IMO


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## samurai691436114498 (Jan 6, 2005)

ONE SMART COOKIE said:


> I would have to disagree slightly in that if you/I do a different angled exercise for chest I feel the soreness the next day in a different area compared to the previous movement, ie if I do wide grip dips the outer & lower areas of my chest are contracting and are sore the next day if I do benching to the neck my chest is sore in the upper region with some soreness on the outer(flair) portion.....
> 
> IMO


Have to say i agree with that too a degree



ONE SMART COOKIE said:


> Now if I were to do cable cross overs for chest when I did a rep going to the low position all the pec would contract as expected but when doing a rep to the point directly out in front of me(arms at 90%) only the upper portion of my pec contracts..this can be mimicked with just using your arm and you can feel that the lower pec are is not contracting at all
> 
> IMO


Tried that and agree too, to a degree


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## Pete1436114491 (Nov 3, 2003)

Well pointed out OSC. Although the pec is all one muscle I find different exercises do make it sore in different places.


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## Ironball (Sep 22, 2004)

I agree with that different exercises do make different parts of the chest work. I have done incline presses but with no spotter and no machines I started to find it hard to clean the weight up my body to do inclines. I decided about a month ago to try flat presses slightly differently. I did them right to neck as high as possible and the next few days my upper chest was sore:lift: . I never get this soreness with regular benching or inclines. Now I do 2 sets normal bench to nipple area and then 2 sets with reduced weight to neck. Great stuff. Try it out.

Stallone probably more does incline aswell because of his interest in boxing. Incline benching can help to improve punching power:axe:


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

Your Pec Major is one muscle you can no more contract a single part of it independantly than you could flex a single head of a bicep or tricep.

That being said I can see the logic in a muscle, being pulled more in one direction than another, having to contract more in its upper or lower portion but it wont be independant of the whole muscle and will depend entirely on if that muscle has the motor units spread around to allow that sort of movement so that more recruitment can take place in a certain portion. A smaller muscle with few motor units is going to have to contract all at once.

The Pec is big so I don't see why not?

SD

Edit: Confirmed it, the PEc Major has two nerves:

Nerve:



lateral pectoral nerve, C5,6,7 to clavicular portion


medial pectoral nerve, C8,T1 to sternal portion

So effectively works as two portions and therfore possibly can work independantly so I am gonna go eat some humble pie (diatia friendly).

SD


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

Danny boy said:


> Does anybody see any point in doing decline bench or dumbell press i used to do it each chest workout, havent done it for months on end and havent really noticed a difference in shape my chest work out
> 
> 4 sets flat bench
> 
> ...


Bearing in mind that as I have found out today your Pec Major has two nerves so could be considered two muscles you could do decline.

I believe:

Flat Bench hits both sternal and clavicular portions.

Incline Bench hits mainly Clavicular portion. (but uses anterior delt more)

Decline Bench hits mainly Sternal portion.

So I think it depends on your chest development as to what angle you want to hit your Pec from.

Stick to 9-12 sets total for chest, less if you are a beginner.

The Pec performs shoulder flexion, humeral medial rotation and humeral adduction. Use exercises that utilise all of these movements in your routine for best development and functionality.

Choose from:

The three benches

Cable x over high , low, middle

Wide Dips.

Pullovers do jack for chest IMO.

SD


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## Cookie (Sep 14, 2009)

SportDr said:


> Edit: Confirmed it, the PEc Major has two nerves:
> 
> Nerve:
> 
> ...


Nice to see your honesty.......(rep points given)(typical wont let me,lol)

Can I now go and gloat for being "smart" and having a total lack of education other than "experiance experiance & more experiance"


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## Cookie (Sep 14, 2009)

> Cable x over high , low, middle


Try doing these three movements all in one set...so crossover at the top then middle then bottom = 30 reps per set.



> Pullovers do jack for chest IMO.
> 
> SD


Totally agree with this,all lats and stomach wall stretching(distended stomach syndrome)


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## Ironball (Sep 22, 2004)

ONE SMART COOKIE said:


> Totally agree with this,all lats and stomach wall stretching(distended stomach syndrome)


Aren't pullovers supposed to do something to the diaphragm, not directly work the chest? I think they are used to stretch and make stronger the diaphragm and this then has some kind of effect to make the chest appear better.


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## Cookie (Sep 14, 2009)

Ironball said:


> Aren't pullovers supposed to do something to the diaphragm, not directly work the chest? I think they are used to stretch and make stronger the diaphragm and this then has some kind of effect to make the chest appear better.


The old idea was that it stretchd the ribcage and surrounding cartledge hence the bigger looking chest,just look at some old timers and you notice huge ribcages but very little pec muscle.


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