how much incline/decline is needed to really work the chest?

[Mr. sPECtacular]

ok so i know the higher the incline, the more shoulders play into it. whats the perfect angle to make the upper chest do most of the work?
how about decline? how much decline is necessary to hit the lower chest properly? i know if the leg hooks are too high , its hard to get the dumbells up because its almost impossible. i dont have a spotter.

[anthem1]

The degree of incline should not be higher than 35? else the shoulders take over.
Not sure of decline, I guess that could be at your own discretion.

[buffgrk]

everybody is built differently, and the benches vary.. you need to figure out this on yourself people will give you angles etc etc.. but at the end of the day if your not feeling your pecs and your feeling more delt / tricep you're not doing it right

[wolfbaden6]

everybody is built differently, and the benches vary.. you need to figure out this on yourself people will give you angles etc etc.. but at the end of the day if your not feeling your pecs and your feeling more delt / tricep you're not doing it right

This. I've seen some people who find the incline/decline effective at about 20-30 degrees, some people at 45 degrees, and other people like me who find it more effective around 60 degrees. Find what works for you.

[Ironlife]

When you ask a question like that OP you have to take into account that people are all built differently and have different length in joints etc so this isnt an easy or straight forward blanket answer to your query but generally speaking i will suggest that 35-40 degrees will keep the upper fibers engaged enough without too much interferance of the anterior deltoid, but like i said this is very general and doesnt fit to all people.

[Mad_Dog_Divine]

Decline doesn't really work lower chest. It works the whole of the chest similar to the flat bench. The point of decline is to use a slightly higher weight to stimulate more hypertrophy.

At 17 years old dont find it necessary to work on supposed weak points. Just focus on slowly adding weight to bar, eating big and resting well.

For the record I like to use a 15 degree angle when I use incline, basically as low as possible because it enables me to use a higher weight.

[-Lucifer]

The degree of incline should not be higher than 35? else the shoulders take over.

Not really. If you keep your elbows tucked in and don't make the movement wide like flies, your shoulders won't take over.

[nano.ix]

Something to try for benching.
start a flat bench, then each set increase the incline a bit. by the end you would have hit all different angles and hopfully find which angle you prefer for incline.
Decline is also good b/c you want to hit your chest at every angle.

[Mad_Dog_Divine]

Something to try for benching.
start a flat bench, then each set increase the incline a bit. by the end you would have hit all different angles and hopfully find which angle you prefer for incline.
Decline is also good b/c you want to hit your chest at every angle.

I know of a chest workout where you do the reverse of this. Start with a high incline, rep out till you cant anymore, switch to a low incline, rep out and then switch to flat bench. This works better because you start in the weakest position (high incline) and switch to stronger positions so you can continue the set.