I just started incline benching again and I've noticed that difference between my incline and flat bench has decreased. I recently flat benched 205x5 (possibly questionable since my spotter sucked), and today just incline benched 175x5. I'm not too concerned about it but I thought it was interesting. If you do both incline and flat bench, what is the difference between those two lifts for you?

I would think the avg lifter (if there's such a thing) lifts more on flat than incline. Is this what you're askin?

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I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.
--Vince Lombardi
"Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." H. L. Hunt

You'd have to have something a little bizarre going on I'd imagine to incline bench more than flat bench. The question was, if you do both on a regular or semi regular basis, what is the difference between the weight lifted on those two lifts for you? Mine seems to be about 20-30 lbs. In percentage terms, my incline right now is 10-13% lower than my flat bench.

275 flat, I think I might struggle for 225 on the incline. I've got strong shoulders and a good overhead press, but not having leg drive kills me.

I take this to mean that my bench is weak, and also that my incline bench is weak.

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SQUAT MORE ~Jesse Marunde

Blood Guts Sweat Chalk

I find incline dramatically more difficult than a flat bench because I have weak shoulders. Flat bench is around 300, and I doubt I could get much more than 225, if even that.

Problem w/ inclines is they all vary on the angle. Some are pretty low..others almost a damn military press.

They have always bothered my shoulders, If I did them it was with dbs or close grip...just as a secondary or axhillary.

But if you add wieght to your incline and your bench(flat) goes up....then use/do it, if It does ntohing but agravate you and cause discomfort don't do it.

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\\"The eight laws of learning are explanation, demonstration, imitation, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, and repetition\\"

i find inclines to be somewhat beneficial. my shoulder work sucks and OHP seems to aggravate me. I bench 295 but hit 225 for an easy 3 the other day. In a few more weeks i will do it again.

Incline is harder cause it does use your pecs but also includes your shoulders. If your chest is stronger then your shoulders which is usually the case incline will be harder and the weight will drop. A great workout though is inclined d bell bench press. Awesome but it depends on your gyms dbell sizes im about to have to switch at my gym cause im now almost needing 80lb dbells to incline with right now im at 75 thats the biggest they have. Long story short its normal to be weaker on incline bench press.

I am going to be an optimist and assume that the 205x5 was just an off day for me, and this means my 1rpm will actually be higher than I thought the next time I go for it. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Do the two exercises use comparable amounts of tricep strength? If thats true would that make the ratio between the two lifts a good indicator of whether your shoulder strength or chest strength is a weakness?

For me, I noticed the same thing you do...if I understand you correctly.
You think your incline is really close to your flat bench compared to what alot of other peoples are, right?
I right there with you, with my incline actually even closer to my flat bench than yours.
Ignore it. It means nothing!
Some people have bench presses of more than what they can squat or even deadlift.