I looked ahead at the H3 workout, because I'm close to finishing H2 and I noticed that incline bench press is on the list. We no longer have an incline bench at our gym. My only option then is the smith machine. I hate to use it though, because it takes all the balance out of the movement and makes it more of an isolation excercise instead of a compound one. Is there a better alternative or should I just do these on the smith for now?
Don't choose the Smith machine. It forces your shoulder into a fixed movement pattern and can lead to pattern overload injuries. Either stick with flat bench press, find a way to elevate one end of the bench safely, or choose an alternate exercise if you want to move away from flat benching.
I just looked back through H1, H2, and H3. You've been doing DB inclines already, so you're not going to be missing anything. I think the change of lifts was more about variety. I agree that sticking to flat bench is your best choice.
I'm having trouble with the picture. How does using a Smith machine solve the lack-of-incline-bench problem ... or is there an integrated incl bench with the Smith? The Smith's I've seen you always drag a bench over (flat or incl) anyway.
So you could just keep doing DB inclines if you can not use a BB. It is good to change up the exercises, but otherwise they are about the same. Better than using the smith machine.
oh - you mean all there are no freestanding racks that you can use with an incline bench - the racks are all "attached" to the flat benches. So the problem is you have no rack to use with a BB for incline bench (other than the smith machine) - not that there are no incline benches. gotcha.
Given a choice, I prefer a barbell/dumbbell shoulder press to a flat bench. It doesn't seem to be so harsh on the shoulder joints and I get very good results.
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Another vote for DB's on the incline presses. Much more beneficial (read: difficult) than even BB inclines.
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Another vote for DB's on the incline presses. Much more beneficial (read: difficult) than even BB inclines.
Agreed. In fact I'll often complete a series of DB presses and then when I can't hit my targeted rep range I'll do one last set of the BB press. You'll find that the DB version will eventually knock out your stabilizer muscles but leave enough left over for a finishing set of BB work.
Incline BP Question
Linear Mode
