Minimized Shoulder Stress: Decline bench pressing decreases shoulder stress by reducing your range of motion and shifting the focus to the lower chest. This takes the pressure off of the muscles at the front of your shoulders that are most commonly used during the standard bench press.
The decline barbell press is a fantastic compound exercise that effectively targets the chest, triceps, and shoulders all at once. By incorporating this lift into your routine, you can promote muscle growth and strength development in these key areas, ultimately enhancing your overall upper body performance.
The decline press is a rather useless exercise because the angle of the back in the decline position shortens the distance the bar can travel, decreasing the amount of work done by decreasing the range of motion.
Although the decline bench at your gym may have cobwebs on it from being left alone for so long many bodybuilding and fitness experts recommend doing this exercise if you want to achieve greater pectoral development because they feel it focuses on the chest more than its flat or incline counterparts.
Yes, training your lower and upper chest with different exercises can be beneficial. Each area of the chest has distinct muscle fibers, and targeting them specifically can help you achieve a more balanced and well-developed chest.
You may have enjoyed a brief ego boost after pressing max weight or convinced yourself you got an amazing pump in your “lower chest,” on the decline bench, but if you're working to build muscle and strength, this variation is probably the least useful of any bench press approach.
“Most people neglect their lower chest simply because they don't train it directly,” says Adam Enaz, an expert sports nutritionist and coach focused on men's health. “The problem is that most common chest exercises—like the standard bench press—primarily hit the mid and upper chest.”
The angle of the bench allows you to engage your muscles more efficiently, putting you in a prime position for lifting heavier weights. Compared to the flat bench press, it's like having a secret power-up that boosts your strength and makes those weights feel lighter.
To begin with, the bench press is not as effective as you might think in targeting your chest fibers. Because the movement is steered by a barbell, with your hands and elbows fixed in place, bench pressing puts more stress on your front delts and triceps, rather than your chest.
Due to the angle of the clavicles, decline presses allow activation of both the lower and upper pecs, thus serving as the best exercise for total pec development.
Are Dips Good For Chest? Chest dips are an effective bodyweight exercise that targets both of the main muscles of the chest - the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor – which give the chest size, mass, and strength.
Within a training session, we recommend including between 1 and 3 different chest exercises, but no more than that in most cases, as doing more than 3 chest movements in one session is likely just a needless burning of potential exercise variations you can save for later mesocycles.
We've been led to believe that decline presses work the 'lower chest' muscle—especially if the goal is to get rid of 'man boobs'. But you're not going to be able to target this area from the decline position.
Yes, skipping decline press is okay if you have shoulder issues or find it uncomfortable. However, incorporating it can help target the lower pecs effectively. Consider your fitness goals and any existing conditions before omitting it from your routine.
❌ Performing Decline Bench Too Much Can Lead To Flat Bench Imbalances. We've already discussed how the lower pecs get a substantial amount of activation from a decline bench, and although this is great for building the lower portion of the chest, it can lead to some issues.
It'll Give Your Lower Pecs an Incredible Workout
Although a regular incline or flat bench press will also give you a substantial chest workout, the decline version specifically activates your lower pectoral muscles, allowing for a more targeted lift. Rippling pecs, anyone?
Jay Cutler: "The bench press is the standard, which is funny because it's like the worst exercise for bodybuilding. It puts way too much pressure on the shoulder joint and everyone ends up tearing a pec."
Arnold Schwarzenegger Just Shared His Heaviest Lift PRs
"My best bench press was 525, my best deadlift was 710, and my best squat was 610," he said.
That's a myth.
Instead, EVERY chest exercise will hit EVERY part of it. So yes, that means incline exercises still hit your lower chest, and decline exercises still hit your upper chest. Even if you only did one type of pressing exercise for the rest of you're life, you're still going to build your entire chest.
2. Incline Barbell Bench Press for an Upper-Chest Focus. The incline bench press is performed like the flat bench press but on an angle. For beginners, the incline barbell bench press is an easier exercise form-wise, especially with a wider grip.
Like a flat bench, a decline bench press has the potential to build both upper body power and muscle, but it doesn't recruit key shoulder muscles and it may even cause shoulder strain.
From personal experience as a physiotherapist, one of the most common mistakes in the gym is over-training the chest muscles. This causes an imbalance between the muscles at the front of the body and those at the back.
The decline press works the pectorals, anterior deltoids, and triceps, with more emphasis on the lower chest (known as the sternal head) due to the decline of the bench. The lack of support from the legs and feet mean the core is activated to a greater degree as more stability is needed.
So if you asked yourself “what are signs of bad chest genetics?” these issues are a few telltale signs to look out for. Although most won't be medically dangerous, a misshaped chest, narrow clavicles or a gap between your pecs can prove to be “bad chest genetics” if you're focused on aesthetics and muscle building.