Am i losing out on gains if i stop doing flat bench press and instead do incline bench press...

am i losing out on gains if i stop doing flat bench press and instead do incline bench press? no matter how i change my flat bench form, i get terrible pain in my left collar bone. the pain is minimal with incline bench.

Yes

Do both but on separate days. Incline bench compliments overhead press well.

well, fuck. i dont know what else to do. it feels like the entire force of the bench press is pushing down on my left collar bone, like it's going to explode the bone into a million pieces. really fucking painful. right collarbone is perfectly fine.

i want to avoid flat bench press completely because it hurts my collar bone A LOT and im afraid that i might permanently injure myself. like i said, ive tried changing my form every way (different grip widths, elbows tucked and flared and everything in between, scapula retracted and not retracted, shoulders flat and rolled forward or back, etc.) nothing helps. same with dips: i cant do them because it fucks up my left collar bone. i think i might have some sort of anatomical issue with my collar bone, idk.

>i get terrible pain
>really fucking painful

Then don't fucking do it. Listen to your body

good point.

Stop benching and do other chest exercises.

Do weighted dips and overhead press/incline bench. You don't need flat, or really any sort of barbell bench at all to build a big chest. If you can do dumbells better, hit dumbell bench.

> weighted dips

cant do those, either. they make my collar bone hurt in the same way. flat dumbbell bench also hurts it.

Where on your collar bone does it hurt? If every major pec movement hurts, you need medical attention.

i cant really tell because the pain is pretty diffuse and radiant. it doesn't hurt (or barely hurts if i use shitty form) on incline bench. flat bench or dips are no good, though.

You have a sternoclavicular or AC joint problem. Or even worse, a microfracture. You seriously need to get looked at, otherwise you'll end up having to neglect the largest muscle belly in your chest.

Honestly bench isn't that good

Do some close-grip bench and ohp and watch your lifts go up like you're a noobie again

can you do DB?

flat bench of any type with more than 150 pounds (or 75 pound dumbbells) hurts like hell. dips also hurt like hell. incline bench doesn't hurt.

>doing flat barbell bench
>ever
why? DB flat bench is better. and that's still lacking. Incline DB bench is the best.
if you aren't benching that way, you are wasting your energy and time.

ive been doing incline db but i switched over to incline bb because i have trouble moving from 75 lb dbs to 80 lb dbs. dont really have the strength to get them into position, so im going to work on barbell for a bit and then maybe go back to db.

I used to have this problem with a pain in my collar bone with dips, too. I just kept doing dips. It went away when I got stronger.

Stick to flat but address the problem at the source. If you're having collar bone pain, it has to do with your shoulder placement, which also explains why incline feels better. Address that issue at the source and fix that, instead of putting it off and only further facilitating the problem.

See a doctor.

I'm the same
I've taken to doing cable flies and db incline bench and parralette pushups on rest days and my chest is growing far better than it was before anyway
Listen to your body