“Lightly touching the bar to your chest is a good practice during the incline bench,” says Caine Wilkes, OLY, USAW-L1, and GGR staff writer. “What you want to avoid, however, is bouncing the bar off your chest, as it encourages the use of momentum and could lead to injury if you're overly aggressive on the bounce.”
You should touch the bar to your chest, just like you do for a regular bench.
If you can't feel your chest when you're doing an incline press, it could be because you are tucking your elbows too far in on the way down, which over-activates your triceps, and doesn't allow you to get a full range of motion ❌ To fix this, bring the dumbbells outs and let them clear your chest, or when you begin to ...
The ideal bench angle for incline bench press is a range: 15-45 degrees. But here's why 15 degrees might not always be ideal depending on one significant factor. The greater you naturally arch, the higher the incline l'd recommend.
Your chest isn't your strongest muscle, that's why you don't feel it particularly. Try squeezing your arms together while working chest. When you bench press, try bringing your hands together. Your hands won't move, because they're holding the bar, but you'll feel more chest activation.
If you're a powerlifter, in order for your rep to count in competition, the bench press has to touch your chest. If you're trying to build as much muscle as possible. and do the bench press like a bodybuilder, you're going to have a flatter back, but you also want. a big range of motion to get the chest, the shoulders.
To achieve the best upper pec activation, 30 degrees is a more optimal angle than a 45-degree angle for the incline bench press. In this incline position, you will be favoring the upper portion of the pec major, making this a very effective exercise for upper chest.
Range of Motion. Another reason why the incline bench press is harder is due to the increased range of motion. Because of the angle, the barbell travels a longer distance before it touches your chest. This extended range of motion requires more strength and endurance, making the exercise more challenging.
The average Incline Bench Press weight for a male lifter is 196 lb (1RM). This makes you Intermediate on Strength Level and is a very impressive lift. What is a good Incline Bench Press? Male beginners should aim to lift 98 lb (1RM) which is still impressive compared to the general population.
The incline bench press effectively increases upper body strength. It works the muscles of your chest (pectorals), shoulder (deltoids), and arms (triceps).
Deadlift: 373.21 kilograms (822.8 pounds) Squat: 373.21 kilograms (822.8 pounds) Bench: 255.24 kilograms (562.5 pounds)
You might expect me to say that you need to achieve a full of motion by touching the bar to your chest on every rep. But if you're doing wide-grip pulldowns with the intent of developing more width in the upper back (lats and teres major), you actually don't need to come all the way down to the chest.
Retract your shoulders to make your back stronger during the descending motion. Touch the bar to your chest, then push the weight back up, keeping your elbows under the bar. Repeat for the desired number of reps.
The bar would touch the chest in line with the shoulder joints, with the elbows at 90-degrees of shoulder abduction from your body.
In a proper push-up, you should bend your elbows to at least 90 degrees when you lower your chest down. Your chest should almost touch the floor.
Touch Your Chest
Whatever the case, your forearms should be at 90 degrees from the ground in this bottom position. If it's more or less, you may lose force. If you have long arms and a narrow grip, you'll touch farther down on your body. If you have short arms and a wide grip, the bar will touch higher on your chest.
As you lower the bar, keep your back arched, your shoulders down and back, and focus on resisting and pushing with your chest muscles. Keeping your back arched and shoulders back is how you will feel bench press in your chest. Safety is always the number one priority in weightlifting.
A barbell on your chest can roll down on your neck and strangle you. Or it can roll down your belly, mashing your soft internal organs and possibly tearing an artery, resulting in you bleeding out. Because the bench press can potentially kill you, it's highly recommended that you perform the bench press with a spotter.
If you're not allowing your body enough time to recover between workouts, you may be hindering your progress. Ensure you're getting enough sleep, staying hydrated, and taking rest days to allow your muscles to repair and grow. Overtraining can cause fatigue, burnout, and injury, which can further delay your progress.
What Incline For Incline Bench Press? The incline bench can be set to anywhere between 30 and 45 degrees. The more upright the bench, the greater activation of the deltoids, so keeping closer to 30 degrees will ensure most of work is coming from the pecs.