Exercise movement reviewed by:Cody Lockling, MS, CSCS

How Iridium Programs This

Iridium accounts for the significant anterior deltoid involvement in this lift by checking your 7-day history for recent overhead pressing to ensure your shoulders are verified as recovered. The AI tracks volume specifically for the upper chest and uses sub-muscle-group fatigue logic to prioritize this movement when your clavicular pectoral fibers need more stimulus than the rest of the chest.

Form Cues

Set the bench angle between 30 and 45 degrees
Grasp the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width
Lower the bar under control to your upper chest, just below the collarbone
Keep your elbows tucked at roughly a 45-degree angle to your torso
Press the bar up and slightly back toward your face

Don't

Don't bounce the bar off your chest
Don't arch your back excessively to mimic a flat bench press
Don't flare your elbows out 90 degrees to your sides
Don't lift your hips off the bench while pressing
Don't lower the bar toward your stomach

Common Mistakes

Setting the bench angle too steep (over 45 degrees)
Excessive lumbar arching
Flaring the elbows wide
Touching the bar too low on the chest
Lifting the head off the bench

Muscles Worked

This exercise primarily develops the clavicular head of the pectoralis major, helping to fill out the upper chest. It significantly engages the anterior deltoids due to the incline angle, with the triceps acting as a secondary mover to extend the arms at the top of the movement.