Incline Chest

[cchen]

Barbell or dumbbells? OR both? Please justify your answer

 

[quevola]

Dumbbells for me due to shoulder pain when I use barbells. I also feel I get better range of motion with the dumbbells.

 

[chuckseabreeze]

I'd say mix it up.

 

[dinted voice]

Dumbells for me.....I feel it works my stabilizer muscles better. I also like to go to failure on my last inclince set and go as far down as I can and as slowly as I can. Can't do that with the barbell.

 

[cchen]

Originally Posted by dinted voice

Dumbells for me.....I feel it works my stabilizer muscles better. I also like to go to failure on my last inclince set and go as far down as I can and as slowly as I can. Can't do that with the barbell.

You could with a spotter?

 

[Francis91]

Originally Posted by cchen

You could with a spotter?

I think he means lowering the DBs past your chest. You can't do that with a BB.

 

[thekunk07]

floor press ftw

 

[why]

Originally Posted by Francis91

I think he means lowering the DBs past your chest. You can't do that with a BB.

Nor is it really smart to do it with DBs. The resistance usually isn't vertically lower anyway.

 

[quevola]

Originally Posted by thekunk07

floor press ftw

What's a floor press?

 

[Captain65]

Mix it up. Challenge your muscles in different ways. Dumbbells are also good for stabilizer muscles and to avoid your stronger arm from taking more of the load, which will happen with BB.

 

[thekunk07]

bench flat on the floor so your elbows touch the ground when lowering the bar.

Originally Posted by quevola

What's a floor press?

 

[coachvu]

If you can, mix it up. I do incline press with barbells and dumbbells, and I occasionally do incline pushups.

 

[kaxixi]

^^ I've seen folks do this, and it's similar to what my therapist had me do for a while. What's the story?

 

[thekunk07]

IMO floor presses and close-grip floor presses tax the intended muscles more and leave less wiggle room for arching your back and kicking around.

but don;t worry about my opinion; why will weight in soon, then beasty will refute whatever he says whether he's right or not.

 

[kaxixi]

No, please explain further.

What I don't understand is that the press begins fairly high up. The advantage to this is that it reduces the strain on the shoulder, in addition to the advantages you cited (hence the similarity to the press my therapist recommended). But I'd think it would also shift the burden to the tris from the chest, making it a poor chest exercise. I am assuming I'm wrong, hence the request for an explanation.