The Incline Barbell Press targets the often lagging upper pectoral region and some people believe that Incline Presses are a more effective mass-builder than Flat Bench Presses. Whether this is true or not, it’s definitely an exercise you should include in your chest routine. The Incline Press is a more difficult exercise than its flat-bench counterpart, so you should expect to lift quite a bit lighter than when you’re flat benching.
One last thought: although you should periodically mix up every aspect of your workout to avoid stagnation, it’s usually a good idea, in my opinion, to do incline presses before your flat-bench work. Doing flat-bench barbell presses first may leave your muscles too worn out to get the most out of the more difficult incline work. If you do Incline Barbell Presses first however, you should be able to get some good sets in and still have plenty of gas in your tank and muscle power left to recruit for some Flat Bench Presses.
Performance: Lie back on an incline bench and take hold of the barbell with a moderate-grip, palms facing the ceiling. Unrack the bar and raise it until your arms are fully extended. Bend your elbows to lower the bar to just below your neck. At the bottom of the rep, your elbows should be out and away from your body but slightly in front of your shoulders. Feel the stretch in your pecs and then contract your chest muscles and rasie the bar up until your elbows are almost locked out. Repeat for reps.
Muscle Emphasis: Primary stress is on the pectoralis major and minor, anterior deltoids, and triceps. Secondary stress is felt in the medial deltoids, and upper back muscles.
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