Decline Bench vs. Flat Bench

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MooseKnuckle5
MooseKnuckle5 Posts: 89
in Fitness and Exercise
Two questions regarding these two variations of the bench press.

1. What muscle groups are being worked differently between the two?

2. What is the weight correlation between the two? For instance, I'm noticing that I can do about 8 more reps doing decline than flat bench with the same weight. Is that normal or am I imbalanced and need to work on something else more?

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  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
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    Bench Press works Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps.

    Decline Press is an inferior lift as compared to Flat Bench Press. The ROM is less and that is why you can do more reps/lift more weight.
  • MooseKnuckle5
    MooseKnuckle5 Posts: 89
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    Thank you so much for not answering my questions sir :grumble:
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
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    Thank you so much for not answering my questions sir :grumble:

    First off it's ma'am not sir

    Second, there's really no need to get rude. I answered your questions to help you, not to get a rude response in return. Might want to reread my response as I did so kindly answer your questions.
  • james6998
    james6998 Posts: 743 Member
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    Decline bench is believed to stress the muscles of the lower part of the chest greater then a flat bench press. I do agree you have to hit the chest from different angles however remember there are only 2 muscle bodies to the chest, pectoral major and pectoral minor. Upper and lower chest. Flat and decline do work the same basic muscles with the exception that flat bench is considered more of a compound movement. The range of motion combined with the isolation of the decline tends to allow more weight to be pushed then flat bench press.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    Two questions regarding these two variations of the bench press.

    1. What muscle groups are being worked differently between the two?

    2. What is the weight correlation between the two? For instance, I'm noticing that I can do about 8 more reps doing decline than flat bench with the same weight. Is that normal or am I imbalanced and need to work on something else more?

    The muscle groups are similar. The triceps are still pretty much the primary mover, along with lats, delts, pecs. The lower region, as mentioned above, of the pectorals is believed to be more engaged in the lift. I personally find the decline bench to too stressful on my deltoids but everybody is different.

    The weight difference between the two can substantial. That's why you see men that like to load the Hammer Strength or Plate-Loaded decline bench press machine with tons of weight and crank out a few reps with horrendous form, then they stand-up thinking the're all bad-*kitten*. My comment is, load that on a barbell and bench it, then come talk to me. LOL
  • MooseKnuckle5
    MooseKnuckle5 Posts: 89
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    Thank you so much for not answering my questions sir :grumble:

    First off it's ma'am not sir

    Second, there's really no need to get rude. I answered your questions to help you, not to get a rude response in return. Might want to reread my response as I did so kindly answer your questions.

    First, I do want to apologize for the incorrect prefix. I stupidly assumed with the name leadfoot Lewis would be a male.


    Thank you all for the info. I guess it's safe to say that decline is almost a wasted lift.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    I wouldn't call it a wasted lift by any means. Is it as good as the bench press, probably not. The only other two variations of the bench press that seem to be useful are the Incline and Floor, then of course you have your DB versions as well.
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
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    First, I do want to apologize for the incorrect prefix. I stupidly assumed with the name leadfoot Lewis would be a male.

    Thank you for the apology - most would not do so. Leadfoot Lewis is actually my racing nickname. My full name is Anne Lewis. The confusion happens all the time. :)
    Thank you all for the info. I guess it's safe to say that decline is almost a wasted lift.

    I wouldnt say it's a wasted lift, just an inferior one. I'm just a believer that when you lift you should do so in the most effective way. The Flat Bench Press having a better ROM is going to build strength better than a similar lift that does not IMO. So if you like them, do them in but in addition to the Flat Bench, or you can do Dips which are a good alternative to the Decline.
  • MooseKnuckle5
    MooseKnuckle5 Posts: 89
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    Gotcha, I usually do it on a rotation basis so I'll keep it in my plans then. I usually do flat bench one week, decline the next week, then incline the week after before coming back around to flat. And then I always incorporate 3-4 sets of dips at the end of those workout days as a nice "burner".
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
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    It would probably be a good idea to rotate them When it comes to hitting different areas of the chest, remember pectoral major is on large muscle so while doing various positions will target different areas it won't make too much of a difference. That's not to say it's a waste to do different angles. An EMG study was done and here are the results showing the percentage of muscle fibers worked:
    1. decline dumbbell press 93%
    2. Incline dumbbell press 91%
    3 Decline Bench 89%
    4. Flat Dumbbell press 87%
    5 Flat Barbell press 85%
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    Gotcha, I usually do it on a rotation basis so I'll keep it in my plans then. I usually do flat bench one week, decline the next week, then incline the week after before coming back around to flat. And then I always incorporate 3-4 sets of dips at the end of those workout days as a nice "burner".

    Depending on where you're weak in the bench press, you may consider dropping the decline bench press in-favor of the close-grip bench press, paused flat-bench press (hold for 2 - 3 seconds on your chest), or floor press.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    It would probably be a good idea to rotate them When it comes to hitting different areas of the chest, remember pectoral major is on large muscle so while doing various positions will target different areas it won't make too much of a difference. That's not to say it's a waste to do different angles. An EMG study was done and here are the results showing the percentage of muscle fibers worked:
    1. decline dumbbell press 93%
    2. Incline dumbbell press 91%
    3 Decline Bench 89%
    4. Flat Dumbbell press 87%
    5 Flat Barbell press 85%

    Which muscle fibers in particular? Just the pectorals? If that's the case then I can completely see and understand those results because the triceps are truly the main mover in the bench press, not the pecs. If your triceps are weak, your bench is weak.
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
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    It would probably be a good idea to rotate them When it comes to hitting different areas of the chest, remember pectoral major is on large muscle so while doing various positions will target different areas it won't make too much of a difference. That's not to say it's a waste to do different angles. An EMG study was done and here are the results showing the percentage of muscle fibers worked:
    1. decline dumbbell press 93%
    2. Incline dumbbell press 91%
    3 Decline Bench 89%
    4. Flat Dumbbell press 87%
    5 Flat Barbell press 85%

    Which muscle fibers in particular? Just the pectorals? If that's the case then I can completely see and understand those results because the triceps are truly the main mover in the bench press, not the pecs. If your triceps are weak, your bench is weak.
    I believe it was just the pecs that were tested, as they tested tris and shoulders separately. I know the results should be taken with a grain of salt. Dumbbells may hit the chest more according to EMG results but perhaps more growth would be stimulated with the barbell because more weight is used. All in all I believe it comes down t o preference of exercises and make sure you rotate them out everyonce in a while.
  • Fallouts
    Fallouts Posts: 16
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    I believe it was just the pecs that were tested, as they tested tris and shoulders separately. I know the results should be taken with a grain of salt. Dumbbells may hit the chest more according to EMG results but perhaps more growth would be stimulated with the barbell because more weight is used. All in all I believe it comes down t o preference of exercises and make sure you rotate them out everyonce in a while.


    Dumbbells have a much better range of motion, and while more weight can be used on barbell it's not on a 1:1 ratio, someone that can only BB bench 225lbs once won't be able to get up 110lbs dumbbells per hand. Someone that can lift heavy DBs is going to have more muscle growth than someone lifting the same weight with barbells.

    I personally do my heaviest sets with decline BB and incline DB bench, I can lift heavy on the flat but it's mostly for my ego.
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
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    I believe it was just the pecs that were tested, as they tested tris and shoulders separately. I know the results should be taken with a grain of salt. Dumbbells may hit the chest more according to EMG results but perhaps more growth would be stimulated with the barbell because more weight is used. All in all I believe it comes down t o preference of exercises and make sure you rotate them out everyonce in a while.


    Dumbbells have a much better range of motion, and while more weight can be used on barbell it's not on a 1:1 ratio, someone that can only BB bench 225lbs once won't be able to get up 110lbs dumbbells per hand. Someone that can lift heavy DBs is going to have more muscle growth than someone lifting the same weight with barbells.

    I personally do my heaviest sets with decline BB and incline DB bench, I can lift heavy on the flat but it's mostly for my ego.
    That's a good point. When you look at a top level bodybuilders, one will say this exercise contributed to their chest development and another will say a different exercise worked for him. I believe both would be correct. You just have to find what lifts work you. Like you I prefer using a bb on decline (when I do it) and 90% of the time I use db for inclines.
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,209 Member
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    Decline Press is an inferior lift as compared to Flat Bench Press. The ROM is less and that is why you can do more reps/lift more weight.

    That's what people say, but if you look at the design of the pec muscle, notice that most of the fibers run downward. That means the muscle exerts its maximum force when your arm bone travels in a slightly downward direction - about 25 degrees.. like a decline bench. Does that mean the decline bench is better for chest development than the flat bench? It sure seems that way.

    cvdxF.jpg

    Also, if you look at the upper head of the chest, its fibers mostly travel horizontally or very slightly upward. So the optimal angle to maximize upper chest recruitment is zero to 10 degrees up.. which means a flat bench or a very slight incline. The 30-35 degree incline that's commonly recommended recruits a lot more shoulders and a lot less chest. Go figure..

    By the way, this article explains why EMG tests are not always accurate measures of muscle force: http://markyoungtrainingsystems.com/2010/01/emg-for-exercise-recommendations/
  • phatguerilla
    phatguerilla Posts: 188 Member
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    There's no such thing as an inferior lift, other than a lift which does not stimulate the intended muscles effectively. For many people that's flat bench. A lot of people on this site are following beginner powerlifter programmes which is fine but they act really militant about something that doesn't matter.

    To answer the op, the shoulder muscles are less used in the decline rather than in the flat bench. You can move more weight on the decline because the rom is somewhat shorter. This means if you are trying to target your tricep and pec muscles you will stimulate them more with the decline rather than flat. Its also much easier for most people to contract your pecs in the decline rather than flat position, for the reasons that Cherimoose outlined.

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