I'm 17 and I'm a beginner to weightlifting. I have a weight bench and barbell in my room and the max I can lift on it is 20kg. I was reading online and everywhere I looked everyone is putting the flat bench press down. They say to do a workout of incline and decline and that the flat is bad. Is that just because they have been training for years and it doesn't work for them anymore ? Is it ok for me ? Thanks in advance :)
Flat bench is fine. Look up so you think you can bench on youtube. That series of videos will teach you how to bench press in a way that protects your shoulders. You also need to balance your pressing movements with pulling movements to keep your shoulder balanced and healthy. So you should row as much and as heavy as you bench press. If you do those two things you will never have shoulder issues from pressing. Also, decline is stupid. Incline is cool, it targets the upper chest (pec minor) a little more, which most guys lack. You should also overhead press, not just bench press. But yes, the flat bench is a fine exercise.
Some people end up with rotator cuff strains from bench pressing, and usually it's the flat bench, not decline or incline, that's the culprit. This is really only a problem for those who have been training for years with heavy weight and possibly with poor form. At your age and the amount of weight you're lifting right now, it's not gonna be an issue for you.
It's perfectly fine. I don't know why it could be 'bad' for you.
When people ask how much you bench they mean flat bench so it's very popular in the gym
Flat bench is one of the best complex exercises you can do. I personally prefer incline presses because I get a better range of motion on them (I'm fairly short) which helps bit my triceps a bit better, but if you're using a barbell this wont be too much of an issue. If you can find a way to alternate between incline and flat bench then that would probably be your best bet - maybe swap each week?
