Bench Presses

[Scottyd]

i think its due to the "anchor" position of the pulley.
with a free wight there is no "anchor" so the delt can be effectively isolated to move the weight whereas with a cable i always feel my forearm kicking in a bit to counteract the anchor point of the pully and the plane of motion of my arm... not sure that makes sense. but its what it feels like. my theory lol. i obviously don't have a degree in physics and etc.
-JS

I agree.

 

[cachexic]

:yeahthat:

all the other Phil Hernon guys noticing something?

What? That that study goes against what Phil Hernon says about decline hitting pec minor hardest?

 

[cachexic]

You guys miss the point. Im just asking to see the results of one's theories. Not compare against a pros. If you think you have the best methods, then lets see it. Make us excited. Lets learn something.

The guys in this thread have brought studies and pictures. I have seen pictures of the guys in this thread who agrees with decline and dips as being the better chest building exercise. Then there are the others who call heavy-lifting "ego lifters" Hahahahahahahahaha

You realize that is a ludicrous way to prove decline stimulates pec minor more than incline, right? Having people post pics? And using Phil Hernon's? I'll just post up a current pro who says inclines are the greatest, uses it as his main mass movement, and has a bigger chest than Hernon. That's just silly, dude.

I was watching these Inside the Iron Asylum or whatever videos, and every guy I saw doing chest day, incline was their mass movement, and when asked about it they said they thought it was the best.

It's like you've been on this side for so long you don't want to admit it's possible that incline might stimulate pec minor harder than decline. It's pathetic. They're exercises.

 

[betito]

Depending on your rib cage and structure make up different exercises wil work different for you.. some people has such a rib cage that they do flat bench and their chest works in the same angle as other people when they do declines.... I do like declines a lot, I usualy do them on the smith machine, I feel them 100% on my pecs... the ROM is a little shorter but I make up for it doing slower negs so the TUT is the same even with the shorter ROM. for complete ROM and deep bottom stretch I use dips and decline dumbells, but they are just exercises, I don´t see any problem with barbell and dumbell inclines. Some people even move more weight o te inclines than on the flat bench. I guess you have to look at:
a) where you are the stronger (angle, grip width)
b)what feels better on the pecs (comparing pump and soreness between exercises can be good indicators)
c)what feels safer. Self explanatory... you need healthy joints to develop a good chest and something that risks tears are just not worthy

 

[betito]

Also, if you look at pros with big chest you will see people usin differnt angles and different forms, ROMs and tempos.... but ALL the pros with a big chest get under a bar at watever incline and move 4-5 plates per side per reps... see the what the norm is?

 

[Ness]

You realize that is a ludicrous way to prove decline stimulates pec minor more than incline, right? Having people post pics? And using Phil Hernon's? I'll just post up a current pro who says inclines are the greatest, uses it as his main mass movement, and has a bigger chest than Hernon. That's just silly, dude.

I was watching these Inside the Iron Asylum or whatever videos, and every guy I saw doing chest day, incline was their mass movement, and when asked about it they said they thought it was the best.

It's like you've been on this side for so long you don't want to admit it's possible that incline might stimulate pec minor harder than decline. It's pathetic. They're exercises.

Im ludicrous and your the one watching videos on how to lift?

Go the gym and figure it out for yourself then come back with a something meaningful to add.

Did you read the whole thread? My god. Pumpkinhead started this whole what-pros-do argument. So what other pearls of wisdom do you have for us?

 

[wukillabee]

the EMG study provides FACTUAL evidence that decline press stimulates more of the chest than conventional flat presses.
it says nothing about which exercise will produce a bigger chest becuase that is ultimately determined by GENETICS in my experience.
Phil Heath is gonna do everything he can to get his chest bigger but his structure (ie genetics) is holding him back.

as for me, my chest grew the most when i dropped flat bench and concentrated on declines and some dips. my chest would not have broken the plateau it was in without declines imo.

voila!
-JS

What really gets me with this study is seeing cable pressdowns with an angle bar to be wayyyy more effective then close grip barbell press for tris!!! Now who would have thought that? Sure barbell close grip u can press way more weight which is probably why people say its better, more weight moving=more muscle stress and growth but guess it doesnt promote the most muscle stimulation. Thoughts on this guys?
On the topic of declines vs anything else, would think thats common sense. Just put 225lbs on a decline barbell, do 10 strict reps, now do the same on flat and incline. Common sense and if u have any kind of mind/muscle connection u will greatly feel the pecs being way more stressed on decline and almost zero stress on delts. Now do flats and feel more stress in front delts. Now do incline and feel way more stress on delts then even so pecs. At least for me, thought this would be common sense? Reason why i do more DB presses on incline with an adjustable bench to get barely a 25/30 degree angle on it instead of the traditional mandatory angled incline bench that feel way too angled up that's in every gym.

 

[witefall]

What really gets me with this study is seeing cable pressdowns with an angle bar to be wayyyy more effective then close grip barbell press for tris!!! Now who would have thought that? Sure barbell close grip u can press way more weight which is probably why people say its better, more weight moving=more muscle stress and growth but guess it doesnt promote the most muscle stimulation. Thoughts on this guys?
On the topic of declines vs anything else, would think thats common sense. Just put 225lbs on a decline barbell, do 10 strict reps, now do the same on flat and incline. Common sense and if u have any kind of mind/muscle connection u will greatly feel the pecs being way more stressed on decline and almost zero stress on delts. Now do flats and feel more stress in front delts. Now do incline and feel way more stress on delts then even so pecs. At least for me, thought this would be common sense? Reason why i do more DB presses on incline with an adjustable bench to get barely a 25/30 degree angle on it instead of the traditional mandatory angled incline bench that feel way too angled up that's in every gym.

I think triceps pressdowns are more effective as isolation of lateral head, but not entire triceps. I could be wrong but from my understanding, CG Bench is best as an offseason mass building exercise for the entire triceps, and hits front delts and chest some also. More bang for your buck, so to speak.

 

[betito]

I think triceps pressdowns are more effective as isolation of lateral head, but not entire triceps. I could be wrong but from my understanding, CG Bench is best as an offseason mass building exercise for the entire triceps, and hits front delts and chest some also. More bang for your buck, so to speak.

Read this part of te post:

This is more on the topic of "what muscles do what during which exercises."

The study shows how much of the work certain muscles get during a certain exercise, but for muscle growth there is something more important: "the hability to progresive overload" so look at the list of exercises and think which exercises allow you to make a ton of progress to the point of lifting a lot of weight, sometimes that exercise is not the one that isolates the muscle better, but in the case of declines it is...

 

[cachexic]

Im ludicrous and your the one watching videos on how to lift?

Go the gym and figure it out for yourself then come back with a something meaningful to add.

Did you read the whole thread? My god. Pumpkinhead started this whole what-pros-do argument. So what other pearls of wisdom do you have for us?

I wasn't watching them on how to lift. Quit being silly. I was just saying that you can't use one pro's endorsement of an exercise as proof it's better. Then when the one study that measured muscle stimulation was posted saying incline was best for upper chest, everyone somehow thought the study said decline was best. Read what they wanted to read.

Why do you think that just because decline supposedly gives you better overall results, that that will be the same for everyone else?

Btw I beleive B-boy thinks incline is the best angle.

 

[Ness]

Lets make a deal, buddy.

I wasn't watching them on how to lift. Quit being silly. I was just saying that you can't use one pro's endorsement of an exercise as proof it's better. Then when the one study that measured muscle stimulation was posted saying incline was best for upper chest, everyone somehow thought the study said decline was best. Read what they wanted to read.

Why do you think that just because decline supposedly gives you better overall results, that that will be the same for everyone else?

Btw I beleive B-boy thinks incline is the best angle.

How long have you been lifting? A year or so? Try declines and dips for 6 months and then go to inclines and flats. Then come tell me what you think. If you do that and I will buy you $40 worth of supplements from hernonspantry.com. Deal? PM me if you want anytime.

 

[cachexic]

How long have you been lifting? A year or so? Try declines and dips for 6 months and then go to inclines and flats. Then come tell me what you think. If you do that and I will buy you $40 worth of supplements from hernonspantry.com. Deal? PM me if you want anytime.

Weighted dips are my main movement. I'm just saying, using pics is a silly way to approach this. For every person here who has a good chest from declines there is one who has one from inclines. The muscle stimulation study certainly indicates you should do both decline and incline, and all with dumbbells.

 

[Ehren]

I never do flat bench anymore. Many years of PL showed me what that does FOR ME: develops outer and lower chest for me. And I was a shit bencher anyway. It's taken years of everything BUT bench to correct this. Nowadays, Decline, Incline dumbells and short reps with cable crossovers. The last sounds gay, but it's the only thing I can do to hit upper, inner pecs.

 

[Darb77]

Well Yates loves declines and I think he is one of the smartest guys there it when it comes to bodybuilding. Doing declines with a controlled, slow negative and a pretty fast positive kills my chest. I like doing them last because they bother my shoulders if I go too heavy.

 

[the student]

I do like inclines. It gives me cleavage to my neck, which is visible with many shirts. With good weight on the bar, I feel something hurting in the right-middle side of my back. (A constant painfull nagging.) So I use db.s and it seems to work. I have tried the declines, slight decline, as advised by Dorian Yates in his book. As far as triceps, the close-grip bench bugs my shoulder a lot. Even before that was the case, I didn't appear to be getting what some of you were from it. The pulley/cable pushdowns give me the best pump that I have ever had from a tricep moement. That has always been the case. I'm currently working out at home and do not have a cable system here and have used skull crushers in place. After reading this I'm thinking about doing my inc. db. press, dec. bench, then skull crushers to follow and seeing how that works out for the next month.

 

[madmick]

I cant do traditional bench press due to tearing both triceps in the last 4 yrs. I tore the 2nd one 8 months ago. I do presses on the smith and hammer strength and this seems to work for me. I also have added in extra fly's and have maintained my chest to where it was prior to my injuries

 

[promuscle]

I alternate my chest workouts between dumbbell presses, machine bench presses, barbell bench press as part of my overall chest workout (cable crossovers, dips, inclines..etc).

Try doing cable crossovers first which will pre-exhaust your chest whilst warming up your chest and shoulder area, yet keeping your triceps strong. You can also drop some weight since you have pre-exhausted your chest. Good Luck.