How to do the Barbell Incline Press
Step by step
- Set a bench to about a 30-degree incline and lie back with eyes under the bar.
- Grip a bit wider than shoulder-width and unrack the bar over your upper chest.
- Lower the bar under control to your upper chest, near the collarbone.
- Press it back up and slightly back until your arms are straight over your chest.
The thing people get wrong
The incline targets your upper chest, so touch high near the collarbone - a bar that drifts down toward your belly turns it into a flat press.
Coaching cue
Keep your shoulder blades pinched back into the bench so your chest stays high.
Stay safe
Use a spotter or safety arms; on an incline the bar travels back over your face and throat.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Lower the bench angle a little and use less weight.
- Harder: Pause the bar on your upper chest for one second each rep.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Chest, Front delts
- Secondary: Triceps
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.