- [Ebenezer] The decline bench press is the least
useful bench press you have ever done.
And we know you love doing it
because it's your strongest bench press
because it is the greatest ego stroking bench press
for any high school or a college athlete out there.
But it's not worth your time
especially if you really want chest development.
- [Matt] Yeah. Growing up in football
especially as we used to decline bench press
because we're able to get big numbers it was very
impressive for each other, but in reality
the carryover wasn't really effective.
- Exactly. If you want numbers
if you want a stat sure, keep declined
bench pressing.
If you want to grow your chest
we're gonna show you how
- [Ebenezer] Reason. Number one
to not think about the decline press
the whole myth of the decline press and the fact
that you really need to train your lower chest
in general, a lot of guys are in the gym doing it
because they think they need to
focus on their lower chest, they think it's
the answer to fixing man boobs,
but if you really, really want to grow your chest
in that size you're a lot better off.
You're gonna get a lot more time under tension
and you're gonna hit a lot more chest fibers
by just going to the classic dumbbell press
or even an incline press.
- And looking back on it all the years
in my early teens doing decline bench
throughout sports and football growing up
I don't think I really even saw
much of a result coming from that style
of pressing versus the incline press or a heavy
flat Barb bell bench press, which actually
leads us perfectly right into the next point
of the short and range of motion.
We're on that decline angle.
We're shortening that range.
We're bringing that bar down to that lower chest,
but since our hips are up, that range shore ends.
And now the time under tension is not quite there.
The load will definitely be there
but we're not holding it long enough
for a long lasting effect.
- Exactly. You're working in such a low angle.
Like you said, that we're just not gonna get
enough time under tension to really
develop our chest.
You want that time and attention,
and you want to when you lift heavy weights
face those weights for a while
you don't get to do that when you're working
with that smaller range of motion,
but at the same time you're going heavy,
which leads right into our third reason.
When we're going to that super ego stroke
decline press where we're going incredibly heavy
and trying to get some number that we have for later
we're doing it from a position that's really
inviting a lot of internal rotation.
We always wanna avoid this inverted W position
to sort of protect our shoulders
and protect our rotator cuffs.
And on the decline press, whether
you're using dumbbells or barbells
it gets really, really easy to lose the weight
in that internal rotation position
especially when you're going crazy heavy
- [Matt] Piggyback off that it all depends
on your lever. Some people have long arms,
some people have shorter arms.
So yes, you may be able to push more weight
the position depending on your arm.
Length may also be a big factor on the internal
or external rotation in staying your position.
- Exactly. If you want a big number
keep decline pressing. We can't stop you.
If you want chest development,
hit these three alternatives instead.
- [Matt] The first alternative would be
a body weight dip.
So we've all done dips before the hand placement
most times is a neutral grip
So it's gonna be a little bit easier on the shoulder
but we're gonna be able to angle our body a little bit
forward or a little bit more upright
and change the tension on where
the Peck is being challenged.
- And the great thing with that body weight dip
is you can still, if you want to go heavy
we can still load that up.
We can get a belt, we can throw some
weights on there, We can use bands,
but you can still get added resistance.
So you can continue to push yourself with
the body weight dip to really hit that
decline angle chest and you're gonna
get some triceps in there too.
Your second alternative is if you really, really
wanna feel your chest and get that good squeeze,
let's go to the classic move.
Let's go to a pushup, except let's elevate
the surface we're on. Now.
You're not gonna move as much load.
This is gonna be the easiest version
of the pushup you do but if you were
there because you really want to
get that good squeeze on your lower chest
and feel your lower chest working,
this is a great way to build my muscle
connection it's also gonna keep your
shoulder blades nice and free so
that you can press easily and
really get that good feeling.
It's a really good way to end a chest workout.
If you really have to hit that decline angle.
- And the third alternative, if
you really want to load up you need that
ego push to get you going through that day
whatever it is, you can go to an alternative
of a floor press safe in the shoulders, still
that short range of motion, but now it's gonna
be an alternative that we're gonna be able
to load even more than that decline position.
- Exactly. You get to load that more
than the decline position but we're still
not in that position that's going to
invite all that internal rotation
and we're still working in angle of our chest.
We're working our most natural pushing pattern,
which means as Matt said, you're gonna be
as powerful as you can be.
We wanna be powerful when we're benching
and we basically wanna do any
bench press option other than decline press.
So get these three alternatives in your workout.
Cut the decline press.
Even if you're telling people
you have a smaller bench press number
you'll have a bigger chest to prove it.