Incline Not Growing Your chest? Here's why!

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Now, I just happen to have great chest development, but my chest grows no matter what I do (genetics), but I can say the incline press never felt good, and always beat up my shoulders.

side chest.PNG

But for those of you who believe in the incline press, and do it religiously, yet don't see any results, here's why. But even those of you who think it's working the upper pecs, you'd be surprised how it's not.


View: https://youtu.be/FG0VgreC52E


Now the only movements I do are flat dumbbell press, decline hammer press, machine or cable flies.

Some of you may have noticed that I'm sharing a lot of Doug Brignole's stuff lately, well, I'm the kind of person that, when he learns the truth about things, even if it goes against everything we were taught as bodybuilders, feels obligated to share. So I will be sharing more things to come about certain movements because I know many won't buy his book and read it. However, one of the reasons Doug wrote his book was to help lifters spare their joints and avoid injuries, and many exercises are more prone to injury than others. The incline bench is very risky, not only for rotators cuffs, but for the pecs themselves.
 
“The truth.”

Red flags, everyone.

then there’s the “incline is dangerous” despite pretty much every bb with a shoulder or Pec injury suffering it on military press or flat bench.

I’m glad what’s being sold here works for you man, but this absolutist “truth” shit is wack AF. The idea that everyone is wrong (y’know, the biggest dudes on the planet and their trainers) are wrong and this one guy is right is peak “buy this” propaganda shit.
 
“The truth.”

Red flags, everyone.

then there’s the “incline is dangerous” despite pretty much every bb with a shoulder or Pec injury suffering it on military press or flat bench.

I’m glad what’s being sold here works for you man, but this absolutist “truth” shit is wack AF. The idea that everyone is wrong (y’know, the biggest dudes on the planet and their trainers) are wrong and this one guy is right is peak “buy this” propaganda shit.
Well, like he mentioned, there is no origin on your chin to pull and move the upper pecs toward. In other words, the incline is another regular press at an angle with the assumption it is targeting the clavicle fibers, on top of it with more risk. All chest fibers are targeted with both flat and decline, and more safely. And barbell movements are not something he promotes because of how your hands are set in a position which reduces full ROM, while also causing "force friction" that can lead to said tears due to bilateral deficit (one side being stronger).

Appealing to the biggest dudes doesn't invalidate the claim at all; Palumbo tried that by defending the squat being a must do to build huge legs. So is an appeal to authority or bandwagon fallacy: most trainers are not even educated in physics or biomechanics, and they are absolutely wrong in may regards. How many times have we heard people say do leg lifts for abs, when the abs aren't even attached to the legs, or change your grip to target this or that tricep head, when all heads of the triceps converge on one tendon, and can't even be manipulated by ones grip lol. These are just a few examples we can see top gurus still promoting that defy biomechanics and physics.

In every generation we have misinformation from the OGs, and then there are pioneers with new information that are mocked and resisted, until it is finally accepted. Just go look at Arnold's Encyclopedia which is full of nonsensical broscience, and see how much of that has been disproven.

In order to refute Brignole, you have to provide a refutation in the physics discussed. The biggest dudes do all kinds of different exercises. So if you do enough exercises that rate a 3, you will eventually reach 10.

Just to clarify, it is not that all of these exercises don't work, it's that they are not that efficient because they increase risk and do not put an efficient load on the targeted muscle. You can hit the "upper chest" without exposing your rotator cuff and blasting your shoulders while getting minimum effect on your chest.

But I will say, whatever you guys choose to do, do dumbbells instead. Most tears seem to happen with barbell movements.

OHP is another thing Doug is very much against, and for good reasons.
 
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“The truth.”

Red flags, everyone.

then there’s the “incline is dangerous” despite pretty much every bb with a shoulder or Pec injury suffering it on military press or flat bench.

I’m glad what’s being sold here works for you man, but this absolutist “truth” shit is wack AF. The idea that everyone is wrong (y’know, the biggest dudes on the planet and their trainers) are wrong and this one guy is right is peak “buy this” propaganda shit.
+1 here for absolutely destroying my shoulder on the flat bench, no more flat benching at 48.
 
I hate incline press personally and do not do it. Instead i do guillotine presses on a flat bench. I believe it was Vince giogna (Sp?) who was a big fan of them. When i started doing guillotines my chest responded rapidly. Alls inclines did was grow my anterior deltoids the same as traditional bench press (pressing to around the nipples). Move the bar higher to above your collar bone and the stretch you get in your pecs is crazy intense at the bottom of the movement. However you wont be doing as much weight on a guillotine press as a traditional, so you gotta leave your ego at the door.

Brett contrera (Sp?) did some pretty nifty EMG studies and he determined the guillotine had the highest peak activation for the pecs, for what its worth, if my memory is correct.

Alls i know is i used to struggle with chest growth until i started doing guillotines, that was a game changer for me.
 
I hate incline press personally and do not do it. Instead i do guillotine presses on a flat bench. I believe it was Vince giogna (Sp?) who was a big fan of them. When i started doing guillotines my chest responded rapidly. Alls inclines did was grow my anterior deltoids the same as traditional bench press (pressing to around the nipples). Move the bar higher to above your collar bone and the stretch you get in your pecs is crazy intense at the bottom of the movement. However you wont be doing as much weight on a guillotine press as a traditional, so you gotta leave your ego at the door.

Brett contrera (Sp?) did some pretty nifty EMG studies and he determined the guillotine had the highest peak activation for the pecs, for what its worth, if my memory is correct.

Alls i know is i used to struggle with chest growth until i started doing guillotines, that was a game changer for me.
I also heard from friends and acquaintances that this exercise has a good effect on the growth of the pectoral muscles. I haven't tried it myself, I won't try everything)
 
I also heard from friends and acquaintances that this exercise has a good effect on the growth of the pectoral muscles. I haven't tried it myself, I won't try everything)
They are nice and changes it up a bit. Overall chest growth is the way it looks best. There are only 2 chest muscles.
 
Incline has always felt unnatural and uncomfortable for me. Very little emphasis on my upper chest and tears my shoulders up. I’ve done better with dbs slightly less than military or even standing military bb press hits my upper better than the incline machines or bb bench. This all said, my upper chest is severely lacking unfortunately. I have never had plans to go on stage and just enjoy lifting so I gave up incline years ago. Sacrificed upper development for shoulder health for me personally.
 
I haven't done Inclines or Shoulder Presses in over half a year and my shoulders don't hurt at all like they used to.

I suggest for those who want to hit "upper pecs" to do an incline fly or cable flyes from the bottom-up, if they like the feeling of that angle.
 
I haven't done Inclines or Shoulder Presses in over half a year and my shoulders don't hurt at all like they used to.

I suggest for those who want to hit "upper pecs" to do an incline fly or cable flyes from the bottom-up, if they like the feeling of that angle.
I'll have to try. Thank you
 
I'll have to try. Thank you
Actrually another exercise that an old friend of mine taught me was to grab a dumbell, hold it with both hands, push your chest up, then just raise your arms up while flexing your pecs, its like a front raise but your pec is flexed and you're not going high enough to engage delts.
 
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