Decline Bench Press

[NZnoob]

Hello,

I've been a dedicated gym goer for almost a year now, having tried many different routines, rep ranges and exercises. However, one thing I haven't really done is the decline bench press, either with a barbell or a dumbbell.

My question to you, acknowledging there is a bit on the web (though not much, hence the post), is whether you think this is worth doing instead of the flat bench, or even the incline?

Have you personally experienced good gains doing it? Or have you recently started/dropped it from your routine?

Supplementing this would be:

Incline Dumbbell Press,

Flat Bench Dumbbell Flyes and,

Cable Cross Overs

[musclenz]

Without wanting to start another anatomy of the chest thread I would say it has a part to play in overall development mainly targeting , dare I say it, the lower chest & flatlining the pecs but is secondary to incline work & even flat bench IMO.

[Android]

never done them (well maybe once year tops) and hasn't affected my chest development.

I might be 'special' or I might be retarded so take that for what it is. I always thought to myself "who wants bigger boobs" and "i want the chest at the top to be big". This reasoning has worked for me I still have good lower pec development, still look like I have boobs in the off season so don't think I'm missing anything.

This is coming from a guy with an inverted chest or whatever the condition is btw, I had zero chest, nothing, nada.

[bang_bang]

From my own limited experience I find I use less delts and moar chest doing decline bench. Still, I very rarely do it :shrug:

[hhhh1]

agree that decline isnt really necessary, feels pretty much the same in terms of chest as flat to me. also i find pressing harder on my elbows the more declined it is. ie for military press sweet as, incline ok, flat starting to cause problems, delcine fucking horrible

[thatwaslight]

agree that decline isnt really necessary, feels pretty much the same in terms of chest as flat to me. also i find pressing harder on my elbows the more declined it is. ie for military press sweet as, incline ok, flat starting to cause problems, delcine fucking horrible

have found decline useful as it is getting close to a floor press and allows you to use more weight has helped me get thru some sticking points.

decline = more weight, more weight = more pain

[AgentOrange]

Decline all I can do atm with rotator cuff injury... I find i'm the strongest with decline to :?

[hhhh1]

yeah agree, can do more weight but even using same weight as i flat bench it seems harder on the joints

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

do you have some problem where your upper chest is heaps bigger than the rest?

well i dont bother with them and prob wont expriment unless im desperately stuck in some plataeu

and FWIW, far as i could find, arnold never done the decline (though he done a lot of everything else... flat/incline/pullovers/dips)

[lemon]

I do decline as I believe it really helps in my strength gaining.

Probably also good to swap it out for dips every now and then to get that change happening.

[NZnoob]

Hey all, thanks for your input,

Probably will just stick to flat bench then, however my gym has an influx of newbies as uni just started back, so I suppose ill keep decline as the back up if all the flats are full.

[BeastBuilder]

Hey all, thanks for your input,

Probably will just stick to flat bench then, however my gym has an influx of newbies as uni just started back, so I suppose ill keep decline as the back up if all the flats are full.

You could cycle the two ? Or cycle Incline in there too ? I mean sure cycling max effort movements is more of a Powerlifting concept but no reason why it won't work for Bodybuilding, trying to get as strong as possible on a main movement and then going and doing your accessory movements to make up your volume for hypertrophy.

Had a discussion with Craig on this and i was throughly beaten :pfft: Decline is just another form of pressing and will build a big chest the same as other types of pressing will.

In regards to arnold never doing Decline, Dorian swore by Decline as his main Chest builder. Sure his chest didn't have the wow factor Arnold's did but I know I'd still never say no to having a Chest like Dorians..

If it works for you do it, if it doesn't then don't :nod:

[HarryB]

I got shown a really good way of doing declines years ago, bring the bar to your neck instead of your lower nipple line. Yeah you won't be strong but it stretches the muscle very effectively gives a mad pump.

[MrSI]

i finish off every chest workout with decline (usually 2x what ever with DBs then 2x smith Mac) i do it because when your chest is fatigued and smashed you are still able to lift very heavy close to what you started out with on flat bench or more. i somewhat agreed about bar placement on your chest, i go a few inches above the nipple line and below the kneck if you lift with the bar below nipple line its very hard to get a good contraction on the chest. dont no if you would want to go to failure while lifting over the kneck haha tho their is a couple of :pfft: people in my gym i would suggest they should try it to....

[MrSI]

i also have had a rear shoulder operation that was from posterior dislocations which only 2% of shoulder injuries are, post opp i could not do incline as my shoulder would blow straight out the back of the socket so i did a lot of decline while rehabing and it was very good and it does not use the deltoid compared to flat or incline. in my opinion...

[biggied]

Just another angle to hit chest from IMO. Has definitely helped build my bench. Being able to shift more tin is always good :pfft: