Incline Press (Barbell)
The Incline Barbell Press is a compound upper-body strength exercise performed on an angled bench. It specifically targets the upper chest (clavicular pectoralis) and anterior deltoids while building overall pushing power.
This exercise relies heavily on shoulder health and proper intensity management. AI coaching optimizes your results by analyzing your RPE and fatigue levels to determine the perfect load, preventing the common mistake of 'grinding' reps that can irritate the rotator cuff. By integrating your recovery data, such as sleep quality and HRV, the system can auto-adjust volume if your anterior deltoids haven't fully recovered from previous push sessions.
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 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.
Primary
Secondary
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