Incline Press

[numba56]

Charlie,
In the graphic of Motor Unit involvement in the forum review, it shows the incline press having a higher motor unit involvement than the bench press. So two questions.
1)How is this possible? I mean you can use a higher load in the flat bench than the incline so one would think since both are limit movements that the one with a higher load would have cause for more motor unit involvement

2. if this is so, how come you used the flat bench over the incline press for CNS potentiation?

[james_colbert]

@numba56

Charlie,
In the graphic of Motor Unit involvement in the forum review, it shows the incline press having a higher motor unit involvement than the bench press. So two questions.
1)How is this possible? I mean you can use a higher load in the flat bench than the incline so one would think since both are limit movements that the one with a higher load would have cause for more motor unit involvement

2. if this is so, how come you used the flat bench over the incline press for CNS potentiation?

good question… bump

[ccardill]

@numba56

Charlie,
In the graphic of Motor Unit involvement in the forum review, it shows the incline press having a higher motor unit involvement than the bench press. So two questions.
1)How is this possible? I mean you can use a higher load in the flat bench than the incline so one would think since both are limit movements that the one with a higher load would have cause for more motor unit involvement

load is only one factor in motor unit activation. I would think if the incline press has higher motor unit involvement its because it uses more muscle area.

2. if this is so, how come you used the flat bench over the incline press for CNS potentiation?

in this case cns stress would be higher for flat bench because of the potential for a higher load even though it doesn’t necessarily involve more motor units. that doesn’t mean you couldn’t stress the cns with the incline press considering you can go pretty high with this lift as well.

[Nikoluski]

i suppose if the Incline BP is systematically used, it could have the same effects with Flat BP

not sure about its effects on shoulders, relaxation around the neck area and overall running technique though…

[t-bone]

my understanding is that the chart is simply grouping; bench, incline bench, military, pulldown and seated row in the same general area of motor unit involvment.

[Vito]

@ccardill

load is only one factor in motor unit activation. I would think if the incline press has higher motor unit involvement its because it uses more muscle area.

in this case cns stress would be higher for flat bench because of the potential for a higher load even though it doesn’t necessarily involve more motor units. that doesn’t mean you couldn’t stress the cns with the incline press considering you can go pretty high with this lift as well.

OK, but what if you don’t increase the weight on the flat BP. what if you keep the resistance the same on both flat and incline, then which would you (or others) say affects CNS more?

[CoolColJ]

I guess for the same reason a standing military press is more CNS demanding than a bench press, even though the loads are much lower.
Total muscles involved, both actively and indirectly for stabilisation.
The balance issue is a killer

for me anyway, I find the MP pretty draining vs the bench press

Incline for the same reason, much harder to balance

[numba56]

@t-bone

my understanding is that the chart is simply grouping; bench, incline bench, military, pulldown and seated row in the same general area of motor unit involvment.

Each one has a line corresponding to the percentage bar that shows motor unit usage. Incline press is shown to use 40% v. flat bench using 35%

[t-bone]

@numba56

Each one has a line corresponding to the percentage bar that shows motor unit usage. Incline press is shown to use 40% v. flat bench using 35%

well i guess we’ll have to wait to hear from Charlie, but personally i don’t think those are suppose to be exact numbers.