Should you tilt a bench press to grow your upper chest?

Yes, you should tilt the bench press.

Although you don’t You have To tend to build chest mass, the bench press will likely make your chest muscles appear more proportional, balanced, and “aesthetic.”

Some people disagree with that. They say the incline bench is good for your chest and shoulders, but it doesn’t offer any advantages over the flat bench—the exercise they often claim is all you need to build a well-defined chest.

Others think the bench press is less, saying it’s really just a weak compromise click And the Flat bench press Don’t train your shoulders or chest in addition to these exercises.

There is a kernel of truth in these arguments – the bench press is not Basic Exercising – but it’s definitely not a waste of time.

First of all, no single exercise is absolutely needed to build a great physique, but that doesn’t mean that certain exercises don’t offer unique and worthwhile benefits (like the bench press).

Second, although it is true that flat bench press will also train”upper chestTo some extent, research shows that it is not as effective as the incline bench press.

A good example of this comes from a a study It was conducted by a team of scientists from the Federal Institute of Sudest in Minas Gerais. The researchers divided 47 untrained men between the ages of 18 and 30 into three groups:

An incline bench press group, who only performed incline bench presses in Smith’s machine in their workouts.
The flat bench press group, which was only performing the Smith machine’s flat bench press in their workouts.
The incline and flat push-up set, which perform both exercises in their respective workouts.

All three groups followed the same training model of 1 exercise per week of 4 to 6 sets of 8 to 12 reps for 8 weeks, with the incline and flat press set splitting their volume between both exercises (2 to 3 sets of the bench press and 2 to 3 flat bench presses.

Also, in case you were wondering, while a file Smith machine Not perfect from a programming perspective, it doesn’t matter much in this case.

Before and after the study, the scientists measured the participants’ upper, middle and lower pike thicknesses using ultrasound and recorded the equal pressing force in each exercise (the amount of force they could generate when pressing horizontally and vertically, essentially).

And what they found confirms what many of the “brothers” said years ago:

The incline chest group experienced the largest increase in upper chest muscle growth. Specifically, they increased upper chest thickness by 62%, while the bench press, incline and flat press groups increased upper chest thickness by 32% and 31%.

For isometric push-up strength, the three groups experienced a similar increase in both exercises, although the incline and flat push-up group were slightly stronger than the other two groups (the difference was not statistically significant, though).

Now, if you’re surprised or even skeptical of this study’s findings, I understand. Double Growing upper chest muscle by bench press only? Glory be to God!

Unfortunately, there seems to be something strange in the calculations that led to these findings.

For example, as noted by writer and researcher Greg Noculls, the Rate The increase in peck thickness in the incline bench group (62%) was higher than أعلى absolute supreme الأعلى An increase in the thickness of the biceps was recorded larger and longer a study (59%). Chest muscles are not the biceps, of course, but it is still a reason to raise an eyebrow.

The most likely cause of this anomaly was simply a lack of measurement on the part of the researchers (ultrasound is a tricky tool), but nevertheless, it was still significant that the incline bench press group experienced a significantly greater increase in upper chest growth than the other two groups.

So, are you Need leaning bench press?

No, but if you do, you will likely encounter more muscle growth In the upper chest muscles, which results in a fuller, more attractive chest. It will likely improve your strength on overhead and flat presses as well.

This does not mean that you should Just With that said, the bench press – the flat barbell deserves a place in your routine, too.

why?

Because it will likely do a better job of training the middle and lower chest muscles, resulting in more overall chest muscle growth over time.

Evidence for this comes from Research Posted in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, which found a positive correlation between chest size, seat pressure strength and throwing force.

In other words, the athletes with the most powerful chest muscles were the stronger and stronger.

You might think, “This doesn’t necessarily prove that bench press produces big chest gains.” “What if people with the biggest chest muscles are also talented speakers? What if they gain most of their muscles by doing other exercises? How do we know how much the bench press contributes?”

Fair points indeed, and to answer these questions, let’s take a look at a a study Conducted by scientists at the University of Tokyo.

In this case, researchers had 7 young, untrained men follow a strength-training program 3 days a week, doing 3 sets of 10 reps with 75% of the bench press. One delegate max (1RM) each exercise for 24 weeks.

Every 3 weeks, the researchers retested the 1RMs and adjusted their weights to get stronger during the study period, measuring the thickness of the participant’s chest, biceps, and triceps muscles once a week.

The result?

At the end of the study, growth of the chest, triceps, and biceps was associated with gains in the 1RM bench press. In other words, people who experienced the greatest growth of the chest muscles, triceps, and biceps also gained the most power in the bench press.

Here’s what the results looked like:

As you can see, chest growth increased roughly roughly with the force of the bench press, but triceps growth seemed to have leveled off after about eight weeks, which is one of the reasons I recommend it Triceps training Straight plus heavy pressure.

All participants made minor improvements to biceps size, too, but not enough to reach statistical significance.

So where does all this leave us?

To maximize your chest growth, you need to include both the flat bench and the incline in your workout routine.

In terms of programming, you can do the flat bench press in one exercise and the bench press in another, focus on just one exercise for a few weeks or months before switching to the other, or just do both exercises in the same workouts.

Personally, I like to do both exercises every week because I enjoy them equally and have no particular need to stress one over the other, but feel free to try different settings and see how your body responds.

If you are looking for an effective workout routine that properly balances exercise and stress, check out this workout program for men, Bigger smaller and stronger.

In it, you start your pushups with a flat bench press (when you feel refreshed and can be pushing the heaviest of weights), then do a few sets of oblique pushups, then finish with a few more exercises for your chest and triceps.

This simple technique has helped thousands of guys build bigger, stronger, and more toned pecs, and I’ll bet your dollar on the buns it will do the same for you.