Incline bench question! 25 degrees or 45 degrees?

[Ronaldo7]

So yeah, just a quick question for all you lifters.

I realized my upper chest is lagging, even though I do hit incline bench for 3 sets before doing my 3 sets of flat benching..

However my bench only has 4 modes, flat, 25 degrees inclined, 45 degrees inclined, and 90% inclined (for military pressing)

Now, I was wondering if 25 degrees was too low for hitting my upper chest? Would 45 degrees be better, or would it incorporate too much of my anterior deltoid?

Thanks.

 

Either really. Play with the incline a bit with like a 20 pound weight and see which gets a better squeeze for you. I don't do incline bench much so it doesn't bother me, but my gym had a 30 degree incline which I used mainly when I did.

 

[Ronaldo7]

Either really. Play with the incline a bit with like a 20 pound weight and see which gets a better squeeze for you. I don't do incline bench much so it doesn't bother me, but my gym had a 30 degree incline which I used mainly when I did.

Switched up my form and started really pinching my shoulder blades and tightening my traps and holy shit...

I feel it so much more in my chest rather than my shoulders

 

Switched up my form and started really pinching my shoulder blades and tightening my traps and holy shit...

I feel it so much more in my chest rather than my shoulders

Don't think you're supposed to tighten your traps but definitely pinching the shoulder blades. If you tighten your chest to engage it, I've found that helps too. Really if you just do the press motion you can't feel your chest being engaged but if you move your arm from your side to out in front of you like a fly you can feel it being engaged. It's just doing your best to incorporate aspects of that into a press if you know what I mean. Lifting with the best form for seeing results isn't much of a pride thing as you're often able to lift a lot less than if form were a lot less strict but at the end of the day maximizing results seems like the best way to go, at least in my opinion.

 

[Ronaldo7]

Don't think you're supposed to tighten your traps but definitely pinching the shoulder blades. If you tighten your chest to engage it, I've found that helps too. Really if you just do the press motion you can't feel your chest being engaged but if you move your arm from your side to out in front of you like a fly you can feel it being engaged. It's just doing your best to incorporate aspects of that into a press if you know what I mean. Lifting with the best form for seeing results isn't much of a pride thing as you're often able to lift a lot less than if form were a lot less strict but at the end of the day maximizing results seems like the best way to go, at least in my opinion.

I didn't mean tightening my traps by bringing my shoulders towards my neck man, but rather for pulling my shoulder blades together. The trapezius muscle is actually pretty big, and extends to your middle back. I like the analogy of squeezing your chest together, but sadly I can't do that as the dumbbells are too big to get them closer than shoulder width apart haha

Heres a pic of the trapezius muscle:

Thanks for the help Jack!

 

[Phile]

I do incline bench at 45 degrees. Remember you need to eat a lot to grow. Or at the very least get your macros right

 

[Ronaldo7]

I do incline bench at 45 degrees. Remember you need to eat a lot to grow. Or at the very least get your macros right

I'm 100% aware of that man Thanks