How to do an incline bench press
- Set the bench to about 30 degrees and the bar hooks so you can unrack it with your arms almost straight. Set the safeties or spotter arms just below the height of your chest at the bottom.
- Lie back with your eyes under the bar, feet flat on the floor. Pull your shoulder blades back and down into the bench.
- Grip the bar a little wider than shoulder width, wrists straight over your elbows.
- Lift the bar out and hold it over your upper chest, just below your collarbones.
- Lower it under control to your upper chest, elbows a little in from your sides.
- Press the bar back up and slightly back, over your shoulders, until your arms are straight.
Cues that help
- "Shoulder blades in your back pockets": back and down, and they stay there.
- "Touch high": the bar lands on the upper chest, higher than on a flat bench.
- "Bend the bar": twisting your hands outwards keeps your elbows from flaring.
- "Feet push the floor": your legs keep you pinned to the bench, without your hips lifting.
Common mistakes
- A bench set too steep. At 45 degrees or more, the shoulders take over from the chest.
- Lifting the hips to make the press feel easier. That turns it back into a flat bench press.
- Lowering the bar to the middle of the chest, which tips the bar forward on the way up.
- Shoulders rolling forward at the top. Keep them pinned back throughout.
Which bench angle is best?
One study measured muscle activity in 30 trained adults pressing 60% of their maximum on five bench angles: flat, 15, 30, 45 and 60 degrees (Rodríguez-Ridao et al., 2020). The upper chest was most active at 30 degrees. The middle and lower chest were most active on the flat bench. The front shoulder was most active at 60 degrees, and above 45 degrees the chest did less and less. The triceps were about the same at every angle.
So 30 degrees is a good default if the upper chest is the goal. That study measured activity during the lift, not muscle growth over months, but it fits what most lifters feel.
Sets, reps and weight
- For muscle: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps, resting 2 to 3 minutes.
- For strength: 3 to 5 sets of 4 to 6 reps, resting 3 minutes or more.
- Expect to lift less than on a flat bench, often around 10 to 20% less.
- Add weight when you reach the top of your rep range on every set, in steps of 2.5 to 5kg.
Safety
- A barbell can pin you on an incline just like on a flat bench. Use the safeties of the rack or bench, or a spotter.
- Training alone without safeties? Leave 2 or more reps in reserve and don’t use collars, so you could tip the plates off one side if a rep fails.
Variations and alternatives
- Incline dumbbell press: each arm works on its own and the dumbbells can move more freely.
- Smith machine incline press: a fixed path, easier to do safely without a spotter.
- Low-to-high cable fly: the upper chest without the shoulders and triceps.
- Bench press: the flat version, for more of the middle and lower chest.
Tracking your incline bench press
PushBeyond logs the weight and reps of each set, estimates your one-rep max and charts the history of the exercise. Its muscle map counts the incline bench press for your chest and shoulders, with your triceps as a helper.