I know that for the flat bench press, the elbows should be tucked in and for the decline bench, the elbows should be flared out.
For the incline press, should the elbows be tucked in or flared out?
Actually, Eric Cressey wrote in his one of his injury prevention articles that it’s ideal to never flare out the elbows. It places more emphasis on the chest, but also increases the chance of shoulder injuries and should therefore be avoided.
/agree
flareing elbows outs are begging for injury.
Okay, so for all presing exercises (barbell or dumbbell + incline, decline or flat) its best to keep the elbows around 45 degrees from your torso?
Just a little confused because I remember reading a post by Christian Thibaudeau about flaring out the elbows in decline presses to increase the ROM.
If you tuck your elbows on benchpresses, you effectively make it a tricep/shoulder exercise. So it depends on why you are doing the exercise.
Again, flaring your elbows places more emphasis on your chest. If you do lots of external rotations and other prehab work for your rotator cuff, go ahead and flare your elbows.
If you don’t want to/have the time to do that, then you should consider using a technique like benching wider and pulling towards the middle with your hands(check out CT’s first “Bulk up, cut up”) to emphasize your chest but bench with your elbows in.