Bench Press Study

[Sampson777]

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I found this interesting study of incline and decline bench presses:
http://nsca.allenpress.com/nscaonlin...M%3E2.3.CO%3B2

Could someone please tell me how to put in a link to a website, but have it called by another name? Example, how could I post this and have the link say "Bench Press Angles"? Instead of putting the whole link in the post.

[kimsquit]

Could someone please tell me how to put in a link to a website, but have it called by another name? Example, how could I post this and have the link say "Bench Press Angles"? Instead of putting the whole link in the post.

do you mean like this?

that's the FAQ on coding btw...

[Sampson777]

do you mean like this?

that's the FAQ on coding btw...

Yes, that is what I mean.

[rknotts]

Interesting.....Seems that according to this I should be doing decline instead of incline???????

[jcote]

Interesting.....Seems that according to this I should be doing decline instead of incline???????

That's what I got out of it too.

Hmmm....and I thought the decline bench was just good for naps.....

[GimpyPaw]

Good, I like decline a lot better than incline anyway

[dbx]

That's what I got out of it too.

Hmmm....and I thought the decline bench was just good for naps.....

That's not what I got out of it at all.

"Results showed significantly greater lower pectoral Con activation during decline bench press. The same result was seen during the Ecc phase. No significant differences were seen in upper pectoral activation between incline and decline bench press. It is concluded there are variations in the activation of the lower pectoralis major with regard to the angle of bench press, while the upper pectoral portion is unchanged."

This says to me: Doing decline BP causes more stimulation of the lower pec muscle. It does not say that one cannot or does not benefit from doing incline, only that activation is either present or more detectable doing decline.

We have to be careful when reading articles like this and many others like it. It is not crystal clear to ME what the author is trying to say. It appears that most that read this would draw the same conclusion as you guys ^, but I think it's ambiguous regarding what the author is trying to convey to the reader. That is, why don't they clearly say, "Incline BP serves no purpose."? You might argue that that IS what they're saying and I'm an idiot for not clearly seeing that. I've simply seen too many cleverly worded studies that raise more questions in their conclusions because of lack of effective clarification of said conclusion.

[pastorgbc]

I agree whole-hearetedly with dbx. All that the article says is that the decline bp stimulates the lower pec more than the incline does and that the work that the upper pec does is the same across both exercises.

I imagine the same hold trues for the flat bench as well.

Thus doing the incline and flat bench versions stimulates and strenthens the whole pectoral muscle. Those of us who have lifted for any length of time could have told you that.

It does say that if you like the decline bench, there is some benefit. I however prefer incline, flat, flyes, and dips for the chest.

Ray
Ray

[domineaux]

Funny test huh?

No Significant results differences in results with the upper pecs, the lower pecs definitely affected with decline presses.

Decline presses are alot easier than incline presses, pecs or no pecs. LOL

[jmc53]

During the body of the article they refer several times to upper and lower pectoral involvement - however at the beginning of the article they state clearly that they are only measuring pec. major - no mention is made of pec. minor.
I have always thought that part of the point of doing incline work is to bring the pec. minor into play as a supporting muscle to pec. major.
My take is that the article says that decline and incline both do as much for the top of pec. major - however without taking pec. minor involvement into account the article is essentially useless in a discussion of whole of chest development.
As some of you know I do decline due to shoulder issues - bit I also know I have to do something for pec. minor for whole of chest development.

[wild1poet2]

I read this to say you get more benefit doing decline than incline. Because you get more lower pec involvement and the same amount of upper pec involvement. My experience says differently.

It's an interesting study.