In most gyms, you’ll find three types of benches – flat, incline, and decline – all three plays a huge role in building up muscles.
If you are planning to invest a flat bench, but couldn’t figure out if it is better than the other two benches, here are a few things about the flat bench that you should know.
Flat Bench
The flat bench press is the traditional or the standard type of bench press. Typically, it serves as the baseline amongst the bench presses. The focus of the flat bench press is the entire pectoral region – the largest muscle group in the chest. As a power tool in building chest muscle, the flat barbell bench press routines can be quite challenging, especially for most beginners. For this reason, you should know when to continue and when to stop the routine on a flat bench press.
Here are a few indications that you are doing the routines wrong on the flat bench press:
- Your arms are starting to feel tired before your chest does.
- The barbell seems too heavy than its original weight.
- Your chest doesn’t feel worn out after a few routines done.
Additionally, the flat bench press does a great job in training the upper and lower specs, which are the “clavicular” and the “sternocostal heads. Also, the bench press targets the triceps bachii, as well as, the anterior deltoids.
The differences between flat, incline, and decline bench press
To understand how flat bench press works, it is important to understand its difference from an incline and decline bench press.
- Incline bench press
An incline bench press has its bench raised to a higher angle, technically at 15 to 50 degrees. Compared to the flat bench press, an inclined bench press targets the upper portion of the chest region, particularly at clavicular head and the anterior deltoids. The purpose of the incline bench press is to reach and strengthen the muscle groups that are sometimes impossible to build.
- Decline bench press
The decline bench press is the most challenging amongst the three types of bench press. In fact, due to its difficulty, the decline bench press is often placed away at the corner of the gym, where only a few gym enthusiasts would be brave to use it.
The difference between decline bench press and the traditional flat bench press is its bed, where it is “declined” or lowered down at an angle of 15 to 30 degrees. The purpose of the decline bench press is to target the bottom portion of the chest region, more efficiently than the two types of bench press. However, due to its difficulty, the bench press should be used with a trainer’s supervision, especially for new gym-goers.
Final Verdict
If you are planning to start using a bench press and invest one at home, you should choose a flat barbell bench press. There are top picks for the best flat bench that you can choose from.
Do not be confused between the three types of barbell bench press. As a beginner, you should start focusing on the baseline before stepping up.
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