Does Flat Bench Work Upper Chest
Is thick and well developed hell he has a split between upper and lower areas.
Does flat bench work upper chest. That s why people like gironda used to recommend extreme elbow flaring during bench pressing. The flat barbell bench press activates just as much upper chest muscle than the incline barbell bench press. One study found that while moving to a decline does increase your lower pec activation there isn t a significant difference on upper pec activation between incline and decline bench pressing 5.
The general consensus seems to be that an incline of 15 30 degrees will put optimal stress on the upper pec while keeping the recruitment of the front delts to a minimum. There were two separate studies done that showed incline bench targets the upper chest about 5 more than doing the same exercise on flat bench. This obviously makes a reverse grip a better choice for targeting the upper chest.
The table below shows that both incline bench presses and flat bench chest presses work an array of chest muscles. The purpose of the incline press is to focus more of the work on the upper pecs. We all know that flat bench hits mid pecs inclines hit upper and declines hit lower pecs right.
If you are real concerned about it you could put something under one end of the bench to get an incline but make sure whatever you come up with is very stable. This may work the upper chest more but the stress on the shoulders is unreal especially when the weight is heavy. However using a reverse grip targeted the upper chest about 30 more than using a normal grip.
Incline bench is an alternative exercise to the flat bench that places the back of the bench at a 15 to 60 degree angle. If u have 45lb plates wack them under the bench 01 25. This exercise is done lying down on a flat bench and pressing a barbell up and down at chest height.
Exercises like the decline bench press and dips target the upper chest less than the flat bench press and the incline. Ek sorry to dredge this back up but strongmen do not flat bench it has no carry over to their sport at most they do it for balance the majority of their pressing is shoulder related either standing or in custom sitting. Flat bench alone will work your upper chest quite well.