The chest is one of the most popular areas to work on when building muscle. It's not hard to understand why: a strong upper body is great for your posture, helps with sports performance, and even makes you look more fit. So why not take advantage of your chest muscles more often? Here are ten benefits of adding an incline bench press to your workouts:
Hit Your Upper Chest with the Incline Bench Press
The incline chest press is a great exercise to target your upper pectorals, or "pecs," directly above your nipples. There are two types of pectoral muscles: clavicular (collarbone) and sternocostal (sternum). The clavicular portion lies just below where you would normally find your collarbones, while the sternocostal portion sits just above your xiphoid process--that little nub at the bottom of your sternum that sticks out from between two ribs on each side of it. You can feel this area if you place one hand on top of each shoulder blade and push down firmly against them; this will activate both parts of your pecs equally during chest exercises such as bench presses or flies.
Get a Bigger, Stronger Chest
Start with the incline chest press to get a bigger, stronger chest. The incline position will target your upper pecs and help you build those all-important muscles that give you that V-shaped torso.
To do the incline chest press:
- Lie on an exercise bench with your feet firmly planted on the floor for stability and safety. If you don't have access to an exercise bench, use a step stool or anything else that will allow you to position yourself like this without having to bend over too much (this could cause injury).
- Place both hands firmly on either side of your head, then lift them until they reach their maximum height in front of you at about eye level or higher - but not so high that it strains your neck muscles! This is called "forming" or "taking" grip position because it mimics how someone would hold something heavy in their hands if they were trying not to drop it while lifting something else at the same time; however, unlike most people who struggle to do this task, because they're scared about dropping whatever they're holding onto due to lack experience/strength, etc., we'll be using our body weight instead!
Strengthen Your Shoulders and Upper Back
The incline chest press is a great way to strengthen your shoulders and upper back. This can be accomplished by performing the exercise on an incline bench or using a chair or couch at least 45 degrees from horizontal. When you do this, you'll notice that it's much more difficult to lift the weight than when you were doing flat bench presses.
The reason for this is that to do an incline chest press, you need to use more muscle fibers in both areas of your body (shoulders and upper back). That means more strength gains over time as well!
Prevent Shoulder Issues
The incline chest press is a great way to strengthen your shoulders and upper back. This exercise helps to prevent shoulder injuries by strengthening the muscles that support them. Shoulders are a common area for injury, so it's important to strengthen them with exercises like this one.
Improve Posture and Reduce Lower Back Pain
Improving your posture is a great way to improve your look and feel. The incline chest press can be used to improve posture by helping you develop stronger, more stable shoulders and upper back muscles.
The following are some examples of how to improve your posture:
- Stand up straight with good alignment from head to toe, then relax your shoulders away from your ears.
- Use the incline chest press exercise as part of an effective workout routine focusing on strengthening key muscle groups in the chest area, such as the pectorals (pecs) and deltoids (shoulders). This will help build up those areas so they're better able to support good alignment throughout the day--you'll notice that slouching becomes less frequent!
Control Back Muscles to Prevent Injury
The upper chest is an important muscle group to strengthen for many reasons, including its ability to help you maintain a healthy back. You often focus on moving your arms up and down when you work out. But if you don't engage the muscles in your back, this can cause injury over time.
Injury can occur when there's too much pressure on one side of your spine or another without enough support from other muscles. For example, if you do chest presses at home without engaging your abdominal (core) muscles, then there may be too much strain being put on one side of your lower back due to lack of stability throughout all areas within that region--this could lead to pain or discomfort long term if left untreated!
What is the best way to avoid this problem altogether? Make sure every workout session includes exercises specifically on strengthening these areas individually! For example, squats will target both legs while helping build core strength; deadlifts target hamstrings while simultaneously strengthening shoulders/arms; pull-ups target biceps and provide great conditioning benefits overall!
Get a Better Pump in the Gym
The pump is what makes you feel like you've worked hard. The pump occurs when the muscle's blood vessels expand and contract during exercise, which increases blood flow to the muscles being used. This causes your upper chest and shoulders to swell, giving them a fuller appearance.
The pump doesn't directly affect muscle growth; it's caused by contractions within those muscles, not by increased blood flow. However, some people prefer this aesthetic effect over developing more strength or endurance over time because they find it motivating to see their bodies change so quickly (and visibly!).
Build That V-Taper!
The incline chest press is a great way to build the upper chest and create that coveted V-taper. The reason is simple: the incline bench press targets more of your upper pectorals, creating that coveted "peak" everyone wants on their chest.
This muscle group can be difficult to train effectively if you don't know what you're doing, so here are some tips on how best to target them with this exercise:
- Adjust the angle of your bench so it's set at about 45 degrees (or higher). This will help you engage more upper pecs while working out other muscles!
- Focus on using dumbbells instead of barbells because they allow greater freedom of movement without putting any pressure on your lower back or shoulders--which means less risk of injury while still getting amazing results.
Get Your Heart Rate Up for Fat Loss and Cardio Training
One of the best ways to lose fat and get fit is by incorporating cardio training into your workouts. The incline chest press targets multiple muscle groups simultaneously, but it also increases your heart rate for some extra calorie burn. This can help with both fat loss and overall fitness goals.
For example, let's say you're doing a set of incline chest presses (20 reps) with a comfortable weight for you--let's say 30 pounds--and then immediately followed by another set using 20% less weight (20 pounds). That second set will be much easier than the first one because your muscles are tired from working out; however, because this exercise works so many different muscles at once and increases blood flow throughout those areas of your body (which burns more calories), this means that even though fewer calories are being burned during these lighter sets compared to heavier ones like our example above where we were using over 100 pounds per rep rather than just 25 lbs., they still provide enough energy expenditure so that they count as legitimate cardio workouts!
It's Fun! Who Doesn't Love a Good Workout?
The incline chest press is one of the best exercises you can do to sculpt your upper body. It's also fun, which means that if you enjoy the workout, you'll be more likely to stick with it!
There are many reasons why this is true:
- It's fun to learn new exercises and try new things. If you're bored with your routine or feel like there's nothing left for you to learn, this is a great way for both problems to go away. Learning how to do an incline chest press will open up a whole new world of possibilities when it comes time to sculpt your body (or strengthen some key muscles).
- Challenging yourself feels good. If we talk about fitness, what could be better than feeling good? The incline chest press allows anyone at any level of experience or skill level (even beginners!) an opportunity for self-improvement by challenging themselves through increased difficulty levels over time while still maintaining safety standards at all times throughout their workouts so no matter how hard they push themselves there won't be any serious injuries caused by overexertion during exercise sessions either!
Conclusion
And that's it! We hope you enjoyed reading through our top 10 incline bench press benefits. This exercise is a great way to sculpt your upper chest and build strength in your shoulders and upper back, but it can also help improve posture and reduce lower back pain. If you're looking for a fun way to challenge yourself at the gym or at home, try adding this movement to your routine today!
