Almost every lifter has heard that the incline bench builds the upper chest and the flat bench builds the rest. It is one of the oldest rules in the gym, and unusually, it is one that the research largely supports. The more interesting questions are how steep the bench should be, how much the effect actually matters for growth, and whether it is worth trading load for angle. Why this matters The pectoralis major is not one uniform muscle. It has a clavicular head that rises f