Correlation log #1: Shoulder Press to Incline Press

In this blog post, I wanted to share my estimation of a correlation between the Shoulder Press and the Incline Press based on recent personal lifts. I’ve been doing a month of shoulder presses before deciding to test my Incline press after a week break of lifting. The Incline press was tested in a weight that was estimated to be similar to the rep range of the 120lb shoulder press (11-15 reps). I chose Incline Press at the time because a) I’m able to self-spot using a squat rack, b) my upper chest is much weaker than my lower chest, and c) it’s stressful on my left shoulder compared to a regular bench press or dips. The weight that I would use for the incline press was based on the common ratios between the shoulder press and the incline press at differing levels using the strengthlevel.com website. The chose 155lbs assuming that 15 reps was achievable for my incline press; I did 13 reps.

Provided is a few pieces of data regarding the Shoulder Press and the Incline Press.

I’m going to divide the 1RM of the first listed shoulder press (176.5) by the Incline Press 1RM (221.4) resulting in .797 rounding to 80%.

Analyzing correlations between Shoulder Press and Incline Press based on StrengthLevels.com

These sets of data can be accessed by clicking on either exercise names on the table above. If we divide the Shoulder Press by the Incline Press in each respective levels, they will be 72.7% for Intermediate level, 75.3% for Advanced, and 77.2% for Advanced. My incline press is slightly more than 1/2 way to advanced with a theoretical estimate of 74.3% based on aforementioned data yet my lifts provided the SP/IP ratio of (.8). The only explanation that I can come up with for the .8 SP/IP ratio is that my side delts are more developed compared to front delts, triceps, and upper chest. The side deltoids help with the bottom half of the shoulder press.

Closing

At this point, I would suggest a range of 72% – 80%. Lower ratio may indicate lagging side delts, core, or technique versus a higher ratio could indicate lagging upper chest, triceps, or front delts. Although these are estimates at best since every one is different in their strength distributions, a quick estimate can be:

Shoulder Press = 75% of Incline Press