I don’t do incline benches at all, but I plan on making them one of my primary lifts in the near future.
I have a few questions, I hope someone can help me out.
Does incline bench strength carryover well to overhead pressing?
Does incline benching build up the upper chest?
–according to some sources there is no such thing as the upper pecs and if you do a chest exercise it will hit the entire pectoral region.
There are two points of origin for the pectorals: the sternum and the clavicle. Therefore these heads are sometimes referred to as the sternal head and clavicular head. Or upper and lower pecs.
The more inclined your bench the more the clavicular head is recruited. You can prove this by doing a one arm bench press both flat and inclined. With the other hand feel the clavicle head (just below the clavicle. It will be much tenser during the inclined movement. Both heads work on any benching motion but the majority of work shifts higher on the chest as the incline increases.
The clavicular head does assist with Military presses but is not as significant on behind neck presses.
[quote]DrG wrote:
Both heads work on any benching motion but the majority of work shifts higher on the chest as the incline increases.
[/quote]
Is this true through the whole range of motion?
The pecs provide the majority of their assistance in a benching motion at the begninng of the lift. Gradualy the triceps and anterior deltoid provide more and more assistance as the weight goes up.
As far as which pectoral head does or does not work throughout the entire range of motion, I don’t know. Sorry.
DrG,
Thanks for the info.
Software Architect? What kind or Dr. are you?
[quote]sam747 wrote:
Software Architect? What kind or Dr. are you?[/quote]
DRG: my initials.
I always found there to be a correlation between my incline press (415 lbs) and my overhead press (340 lbs)
One of the best ways to get really good at the overhead press is to do a lot of incline presses with the angle set betwen 70-80 degrees-you get the effect of the overhead press, while minimzing the stress on the lower back
[quote]Keith Wassung wrote:
I always found there to be a correlation between my incline press (415 lbs) and my overhead press (340 lbs)
One of the best ways to get really good at the overhead press is to do a lot of incline presses with the angle set betwen 70-80 degrees-you get the effect of the overhead press, while minimzing the stress on the lower back[/quote]
Keith,
Your lifts are no joke!!! I have a long way to go. Do you do any low inclines?
My standard incline bench press is set at 45 degrees and I dont go any lower than that.
Keith,
What sort of program do you typically follow for pure maximal strength?
Does it differ from the twice-a-week full body routine that you have posted before?
I continue to do the full body reverse push-pull and I rotate some of the upper body exercises as I am trying to improve on many different lifts, not just 3 powerlifts. I am also and considering a return to olympic lifting competition later this year or early next year so I might shift some of the exercises over to a pure OL template if that is the case.
Keith is right on. My incline is slightly higher (415) than my Push Press (410). I think Overhead work carries over to inclines and inclines to overhead work…I’m not sure that Benching has any carry over though.
I rarely do overhead pressing, but do usually have some sort of incline pressing in my routine.
For me at least there definatly is a direct carry over from one to the other.
Actually, I think Incline is way superior to flat bench, especially for athletes.
[quote]IL Cazzo wrote:
Actually, I think Incline is way superior to flat bench, especially for athletes.[/quote]
I’ve been told to increase your actuall benching strength one should hit the incline. What is your take on this?
Check out what Louie had to say about this topic:
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=569438
Will42
[quote]Original_Demon wrote:
IL Cazzo wrote:
Actually, I think Incline is way superior to flat bench, especially for athletes.
I’ve been told to increase your actuall benching strength one should hit the incline. What is your take on this?[/quote]
I can’t say for sure. When I used to bench often, whenever my Incline went up, so did my bench. I only do Close Grip benches occasionally now, opting for some form of incline most of the time. My chest is actually better off for it. Could be a personal thing but I’ve known others like that.
I think that when you do inclines, you hit the chest and shoulders more…as well as the tris.
I just always find it funny to watch a guy bounce 315 off his chest in the bench then go do incline with 135.
I’m strong at flat…and i’m getting stronger at flat.
but my incline sucks…
thus i prioritize inclining.
That logic just works for me lol