What angle should an incline bench press be?

Somewhere between about 30 and 45 degrees. A study of 20 well-trained young men comparing 20, 32 and 43 degrees found 20 gave significantly less upper chest activity than the other two, and could not separate 32 from 43. Past roughly 60 degrees the front of the shoulder takes over.

What muscles does the incline bench press work?

The chest, with the load shifted toward the upper portion near the collarbone. Your front delts and triceps assist, and the delts take more of it the steeper you set the bench.

Where should the bar touch on an incline bench press?

Around the top of your sternum, just below the collarbones. It is higher than the flat bench touch point, and carrying over your flat groove is one of the most common reasons an incline press feels awkward.

Why is my incline bench so much weaker than my flat bench?

Because the position is less favorable, and it stays that way. Almost everyone presses less on an incline. Track it as a separate lift rather than comparing the two numbers.

Is incline bench press bad for your shoulders?

Nothing in the research says so. What does cause trouble is losing the shoulder blade position, which is harder to hold when you are sitting partly upright, and letting the elbows travel out square. Both are position problems. If something hurts and keeps hurting, that is a question for a physiotherapist.

Do you need to do incline pressing at all?

Only if you want the upper chest worked harder than flat pressing does it. It is not compulsory, and there is no separate muscle up there being neglected. It is one part of one muscle that a tilted bench happens to favor.

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Barbell · intermediate · chest

Barbell incline bench press

Also called Incline bench press, Incline barbell press, Incline press, Incline barbell bench press.

The short answer

The incline bench press is a chest press done sitting back rather than lying flat. Your chest is still the muscle doing the work, but tipping the bench up moves the load toward the upper part of it, near the collarbone. Where the internet gets confident is the angle. The measurements point at a band somewhere between about 30 and 45 degrees, not a single correct number.

How to do it

Step oneSet an incline bench to 30-45 degrees and lie back, gripping the barbell slightly wider than shoulder-width.
Step twoUnrack the bar and hold it above your upper chest with arms extended.
Step threeLower the bar to your upper chest in a controlled manner.
Step fourPress the bar back up to the starting position by extending your arms.

What usually goes wrong

Each starts with what you would notice.

Your front delts do all the work and your chest is barely sore.

WhyThe bench is set too steep. As the angle climbs, the shoulder takes a larger and larger share until the movement is closer to a seated press than a chest press.

FixDrop the bench down. Anything approaching 60 degrees is a shoulder exercise wearing a chest exercise costume. Set it low enough that you are clearly lying back rather than sitting up.

The bar feels like it is in the wrong place and the path wanders.

WhyYou are lowering to the same spot you use on a flat bench. The touch point on an incline is higher up your body, and using the flat one drags your shoulders out of line.

FixBring the bar down to around the top of your sternum, just below the collarbones. Find the spot with a light bar first, because the wrong groove gets stronger every time you press from it.

You feel your shoulder blades slide up the bench as you press.

WhySitting partly upright makes it harder to keep the shoulder blades pinned, so the shoulder rolls forward and takes what the chest should be carrying.

FixSet the blades back and down into the bench before you unrack and drive your upper back into the pad as you press. On an incline this takes deliberate effort in a way it does not when you are flat.

The front of your shoulder pinches at the bottom of each rep.

WhyThe elbows are traveling out square to your body, which is the widest and least supported position for the shoulder to accept the weight in.

FixKeep the elbows somewhere under the bar rather than out level with it, and check the touch point at the same time. On an incline these two go wrong together more often than separately.

How steep should the bench be

This is the question people actually have standing at an adjustable bench, and the answer is a range rather than a number. One study of 20 well-trained young men compared 20, 32 and 43 degrees and found upper chest activity significantly lower at 20 than at either of the other two. Between 32 and 43 it could not tell them apart.

Other work on bench angles points the same way from the other end: keep raising the angle and the front of the shoulder gradually takes the lift over, so past about 60 degrees you are pressing overhead at a slant.

Put together, anywhere from roughly 30 to 45 degrees does the job. Barely-tilted benches do measurably less for the upper chest, and steep ones stop being a chest exercise. Anyone quoting you one exact optimal angle is quoting a number the research has not agreed on.

Upper chest is a region of one muscle

The incline press will not give you a different muscle. Your chest is one muscle with fibers running at different angles, and changing the bench changes which of them are best placed to work. Talking about upper chest as if it were a separate body part makes it sound like there is a lift that trains it and lifts that do not, and there is not.

Your flat bench numbers will not carry over. You will press less on an incline, permanently, because the position is less mechanically favorable. Comparing the two is a good way to feel like you are going backward while you are not.

What it does is straightforward and worth having: it loads the top of the chest harder than lying flat does, which is the part flat pressing on its own leaves lighter.

What it is for

The barbell incline bench press is a compound chest exercise targeting the upper pectoral muscles. The inclined angle shifts emphasis to the upper chest and front deltoids, making it a key movement for building a full and well-developed chest.

Questions people ask

What angle should an incline bench press be?: Somewhere between about 30 and 45 degrees. A study of 20 well-trained young men comparing 20, 32 and 43 degrees found 20 gave significantly less upper chest activity than the other two, and could not separate 32 from 43. Past roughly 60 degrees the front of the shoulder takes over.
What muscles does the incline bench press work?: The chest, with the load shifted toward the upper portion near the collarbone. Your front delts and triceps assist, and the delts take more of it the steeper you set the bench.
Where should the bar touch on an incline bench press?: Around the top of your sternum, just below the collarbones. It is higher than the flat bench touch point, and carrying over your flat groove is one of the most common reasons an incline press feels awkward.
Why is my incline bench so much weaker than my flat bench?: Because the position is less favorable, and it stays that way. Almost everyone presses less on an incline. Track it as a separate lift rather than comparing the two numbers.
Is incline bench press bad for your shoulders?: Nothing in the research says so. What does cause trouble is losing the shoulder blade position, which is harder to hold when you are sitting partly upright, and letting the elbows travel out square. Both are position problems. If something hurts and keeps hurting, that is a question for a physiotherapist.
Do you need to do incline pressing at all?: Only if you want the upper chest worked harder than flat pressing does it. It is not compulsory, and there is no separate muscle up there being neglected. It is one part of one muscle that a tilted bench happens to favor.