Tips, Alternatives & 3 Workouts

Instructions

1. Set an adjustable bench to about 30 degrees or use a dedicated incline bench press station (as shown above). Position yourself so the bar is directly over your face when it’s in the rack and about 2-to-3 inches lower than if you were holding it with your elbows locked.
2. Pull your shoulder blades together and down. Plant your feet on the floor about shoulder-width apart. Arch your back while keeping your shoulders and butt in contact with the bench.
3. Grab the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip. Hold the bar low in your hands, closer to your wrists than your knuckles, and squeeze it as hard as you can.
4. Unrack the bar by locking your elbows out to move the bar off the hooks. Move it forward until it’s over your upper chest.
5. Lower the barbell to your upper chest. Throughout each rep, keep your elbows tucked 6-to-10 inches from your sides.
6. Press the bar back to the starting position.
7. On the last rep of a set, finish it fully (arms straight), then slam the bar back into the upright metal bars and lower it onto the hooks. Don’t try to press the bar directly back into the hooks—if you miss, it can fall on your face.

Expert Tips

• If you’re using an adjustable bench instead of a dedicated incline bench press station, start with the bench angled at about 30 degrees, but feel free to reduce the angle to as low as 15 degrees if that’s more comfortable. Some people like using a more upright angle, such as 45 degrees, but higher inclines tend to increase how much work your shoulders do at the expense of your pecs.
• Your hands are the correct distance apart when your forearms are vertical at the bottom of each rep. If you’re having trouble getting this right, record a video of your sets and play with your grip width until it’s dialed in.
• If your gym doesn’t have a dedicated incline bench press station, an incline bench press inside a squat rack works just as well. Your muscles won’t know the difference.
• You’ll need to use significantly less weight when incline bench pressing than with regular bench pressing. This is normal, so don’t let it bother you.
• If you struggle to feel your chest working and it feels like your triceps and shoulders are doing all of the work, read this article and follow the steps for activating your pecs.

Workout Programming

It’s best to program the incline bench press as part of a chest, push, or upper-body day, either as your main pressing exercise or as an accessory to the flat barbell bench press.

A good default is 3 sets of 4–6 reps. Take each set 1–2 reps shy of failure and rest 2–3 minutes between sets. Allowing enough rest helps you maintain your performance across sets.

Mike’s Take

The incline barbell bench press is one of my favorite exercises for training all of your pressing muscles: your chest, shoulders, and triceps.

It’s particularly effective for emphasizing your “upper chest,” more specifically the clavicular head of your pectoral muscles. The flat barbell bench press also trains your upper chest, but incline presses emphasize it more.

More specifically, a study conducted by researchers at the University of Almería had 30 weightlifters perform the incline bench press at various angles while scientists measured their pectoral muscle activation.

The results showed that, on average, muscle activation in the upper pecs was highest when the incline bench press angle was 30 degrees.

The researchers only measured muscle activation, which isn’t always the best proxy for muscle growth. Other similar research has also produced different results, so this isn’t definitive proof that everyone should incline bench press at 30 degrees. That said, I think it’s a good starting point for most, and it’s what I use in my own training.

I generally don’t recommend setting the incline to more than 30 degrees, though, because higher inclines generally involve your shoulders more and your pecs less.

As with other compound pressing exercises, some people—especially those with long arms—find that their triceps fail before their chest is fully trained.

This doesn’t make the incline barbell bench press a “bad” exercise for these folks, but they’ll probably make better progress by including another exercise that emphasizes the upper chest and isn’t limited by their triceps strength, like the low-to-high cable fly.

Some people also find the incline dumbbell bench press more comfortable since it allows you to position your wrists and elbows however you like, but most people have no trouble doing the barbell version comfortably.

Incline Barbell Bench Press Alternatives

• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press. Basically the same exercise, but with dumbbells. You can use these exercises interchangeably, so choose whichever you prefer.
• Smith Machine Incline Bench Press. Almost identical, but it’s more annoying to set up and doesn’t offer any significant advantages over the incline barbell bench press or incline machine chest press.
• Incline Machine Chest Press. This is an excellent alternative that is easier to set up and allows you to take each set close or all of the way to true failure. Just make sure the handles and path of the weights are comfortable for you (many of these machines use an awkward handle path and overly aggressive incline).
• Reverse-Grip Bench Press. This is a regular bench press, but performed with your palms facing your head rather than toward your waist. It looks almost identical to a flat barbell bench press, but this subtle change in grip emphasizes your upper chest.
• Low-to-High Cable Fly. This emphasizes your upper chest and is especially useful if your triceps or shoulders give out before your chest during incline bench presses.

3 Incline Barbell Bench Press Workouts

Here are three sample workouts that show how to program the incline barbell bench press on a chest day, a push day, or an upper-body day.

Chest Workout with the Incline Barbell Bench Press

Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Cable Chest Fly: 2 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest
Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

Push Day Workout with the Incline Barbell Bench Press

Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 2 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest
Triceps Pushdown: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

Upper-Body Workout with the Incline Barbell Bench Press

Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Lat Pulldown: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Chest-Supported Row: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

To progress these workouts, use double progression: use a weight that allows you to work within the given rep range, take each set 1–2 reps shy of failure, and once you hit the top of the range for your first set, add weight.

Muscles Worked by the Incline Barbell Bench Press

The incline barbell bench press trains your entire pectoralis major (your main chest muscle) while emphasizing the clavicular head (your upper chest). Your triceps and anterior deltoids (front delts) assist.

More Chest Exercises