Flat or incline

[Jesda]

Which one should I use? The incline bench press or the flat one? I was thinking maybe it was better to do on an incline. Is this right? Or is it personal preference?

[Off Road]

Of the two, I think flat is better...you can use more weight.

[ricka182]

Both are useful. If you're just starting out, I would concentrate on getting a solid flat bench form ingrained in you head, and making progress with that. Then you can start incorporating different angles on press. Most incline benches are set to 45 degrees, but I prefer 30-35 to reduce pressure on my shoulders. Too high an incline, and you wind using more delts than pecs.

[tank]

depends on your goal.

if strength is your purpose, i would use flat for a couple of reasons. You can use more weight, and it's a competition lift.

if "bodybuilding" is your aim, i would use incline as it supposed to isolate the front upper shelf more than flat bench.(i.e. pecs and front delts.)


also your level of advancement, as said before, should be considered. all this should come secondary to whether you've got a firm grasp of flat bench press technique. (for your goals)

[dmaipa]

since you are a beginner use both but put more work on the flat bench. Don't worry about what you read out there about how inclines will increase your upper pecs and all. to a certain extent it will help for aesthetic reasons, but for a beginner I would focus on the flat. If you have good technique on the flat you will build overall chest size.

[irongirl]

Do a mixture of both

[3rdLargest]

Depends on your goals. But you cant go wrong with the flat bench.

[BigJosh]

Good opinions in here. I would say if you are a beginner, you definetly should put more focus on progressing with your flat bench. Your chest will grow.