Bench press vs. Incline press

[kicker]

Just wondering if there is a formula or general rule of thumb as to how much one should be able to incline press relative to bench press.  I think Charles Poliquin once said that on average one's incline press is ~80% of thier bench. 

FOr example, my incline for reps is about 30 pounds less than flat bench, but I have a friend who actually inclines the same weight as flat bench.

Just curious...

[Carmello]

should be the same. When i start with incline, it's more than my bench. When i start with flat bench, its more than my incline. There actually was a point where my incline was more than my flat bench.

[Borracho]

My incline is lower than flat as I think it usually is the case with most people. I probably incline 80-90 % of my flat.

[NoCalBbEr]

its mostly on how i feel. some chest days i can do the same weight for both or sometimes after bench pressing. i feel that i should lighten up on the inclines. so its just how i feel.

[Loomis]

My flat bench is significantly more, but that may be due to the fact that I've never prioritized strength as much with inclines.

[GET_BIGGER]

Who gives a s**t.......just fricken pump the iron to failure.

[sarcasm]

Who gives a s**t.......just fricken pump the iron to failure.

translation=i have to arch to incline press the bar.

[MartiniMan]

You're going to get a lot of different responses here because of the variation of incline angles people use.

Ideally, an incline should not be set above 30 to 35 degrees from horizontal, if you are truely going for a chest workout.  If this is so, your weight used on an incline bench will be close (maybe slightly less) than a bench.  However, if the incline is greater, the weight will definately drop, as you start to use more shoulder and lower lats to get the weight up.  The incline benches at my gym are at about 45 to 50 degrees - typical for most gyms, and I truely hate them.  I end up with more of a shoulder and lower lat workout than a chest, so now I only incline bench on the adjustable benches, as I can get them lower.  This means using DB instead of BB, so I use that for deep stretch chest movements, then back to the bench for compound.

[GET_BIGGER]

translation=i have to arch to incline press the bar.

Dude, you really are as funny as everyone says you are......really.......yo u are.   

[Ledd]

I konw its not an answer to the original question but I too incline about 80% of flat.  Something weird for me is decline, I can incline as much as I decline.  I've heard all over the place that you should be able to decline more than any other position.

[flexfan]

I konw its not an answer to the original question but I too incline about 80% of flat.  Something weird for me is decline, I can incline as much as I decline.  I've heard all over the place that you should be able to decline more than any other position.

i think declines are useless.

[runnerbabe]

My incline is lower than flat as I think it usually is the case with most people. I probably incline 80-90 % of my flat.

Yes, my incline is 85 percent as well. I can also do as much weight on the decline as I can press flat.

[Sculpter]

Every gym i've ever stepped foot in the ppl. in them have always had a bigger flat bench than an incline bench.Maybe it would be reversed if the inclines were prioritized first in your chest routine.Amyway i'd concentrate more on inclines as the flats work for basically everyone for a big chest but the upper chest is never as impressive as the lower chest on most bb'ers.

[JamieX4200]

When you guys do chest, do you do incline, flat and decline all in the same, or mix it up do do like flat with incline and some flyes and db press...?

[pumpster]

The ration between flat & incline's irrelevant.

You can either mix up all the exercises in the same workout or rotate them from workout to the next.