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Not a fan of the decline bench. Incline is a great front deltoid builder
I wasn't able to do a lot of weight with the form Kiefer described. I'm 6 ft 4 too with long arms. Not sure if thats a factor but Bench Press is one of my weaker exercises
recent article on t-nation about the bench press. very informative and applicable to this thread:http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_best_damn_bench_press_article_period
I already read the article it was a good article
I will preface this by telling everyone that both Mike and I have never used steroids.Mike's chest was 40 inches twelve years ago. Once he started doing a powerlifting bench with elbows at 45 degrees to midline and bringing the bar almost to his xiphoid process, it grew to 54 inches in six years. He did dips and flyes rarely, less than once per month. He doesn't use a back arch because it screws up his squatting.When I started powerlfiting almost two years ago now, I was 137lbs and did everything body building style. I did dips and flyes all the time, as well as dumbell and barbell presses of all kinds. I lifted heavy even then, usually lifting the same as others at the gym that were a couple years older than me that were male. After only about six months of training and learning how to bench, squat and deadlift properly, I was 150lbs. I have stretch marks below my collar bones because my chest grew so fast. I ditched flyes completely, did dips occasionlly still and rarely did pushups. The only thing I changed for chest exercises was doing bench the powerlifting way.Anyone that has shoulder issues - which a number of people get from doing a body building style bench bringing the bar down high on their chest - should try learning a powerlifting style of bench. It saves the shoulders because you learn to support a great deal of the weight using your back muscles. This may sound stupid, but the lats are extremely important to a big bench. You may say "Well what about all the powerlifters that have shoulder problems." This is most often caused by the overall strain of squatting.
Coming from a pure bodybuilding standpoint, I think it's not necessary for chest development (versus overrated). I was personally trained by DC's protege for over a year and none of us go near the flat barbell press. Check out the DC gallery to see how that turned out for everyone LOL. While none of us personally use it, you'd have to have your head buried in the sand if you don't think it increases size. So when I say it doesn't need to be a staple in ones training, that's where I'm coming from.In all seriousness, if someone values it in their training then have at it. Is it the be-all-end-all from a mass standpoint, not in my opinion. For strength I like it overall, but know from experience if I use it for too many weeks and the weights go over 400, my left partial tear acts up something fierce. Just an FYI - I always train with pinkey's on the rings and 90% of the time it's a thumb's length from smooth to protect my pecs. I still use it more often than not, but in my opinion - It's buyer beware. 😉
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