Strength Sunday

Leg days are my favorite days at the gym, but we cannot just work on the lower body and ignore the upper body. So one exercise that I enjoy doing for the chest is the incline bench press.

Now I know a lot of people say that they find the incline much harder than decline and regular bench press. I actually find that I like the incline the best. I feel like I do not struggle with it quite as much. Maybe I'm just weird :) Now of course it is definitely a good idea to have someone spot you when you are bench pressing. I try to spot my husband, but he says I seem scared when I do because he is lifting much more weight than I do.


Now this exercise is not complicated at all. First set your weight up. Typically the bar used weighs 45 lbs. If you want more weight than that add the same amount to each side of the bar to keep it level. Lie on the bench and take the bar off the rack and lower the barbell to your chest then press it up. Repeat this for 10-15 reps and replace on the rack. I typically try to do 3 sets of 15. Of course that last set I am struggling with more than the first set. The person spotting you should be standing behind the rack ready to grab the barbell if you need help. You also want to make sure that your grip is not too wide on the bar so you don't compromise your range of motion.


There is a lot of good information about the incline press on bodybuilding.com
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/schultz51.htm