Dumbell Bench Press and Bench Press?

[Mayodt]

Is there a difference in doing dumbell bench presses and a normal bench press, like muscle wise?

[Praetorian]

Is there a difference in doing dumbell bench presses and a normal bench press, like muscle wise?

With a barbell you can move more weight in a safe manner thus intensity is higher. Its difficult to throw around 200lb dumbells without a training partner to help...even then its tough on the wrists...
P

[japh]

Shoulders are trained to stabilize more in the shoulder with dumbbells. I've always liked heavy flat barbell bench followed heavy low incline dumbbell press then dips.

[Mayodt]

Alright, thanks.

[Dozer1980]

im a bit off when it comes to chest any barbell exersizes put alot of strain on my shoulders and cant go as heavy, i much perfer training chest with dumbells flat incline and decline i love em.

[japh]

decline put the least stress on the shoulders. Its a good option for individuals nursing their shoulders for whatever reason.

[riccosuabe]

you can also get a deeper stretch with the d bells and you get a deeper inner chest contraction at the top due to the hands coming together

[Adonis13]

im a barbell guy, barbell incline.

[GYMBRAT]

I am and always have been a DB guy

[Delt King]

im a bit off when it comes to chest any barbell exersizes put alot of strain on my shoulders and cant go as heavy, i much perfer training chest with dumbells flat incline and decline i love em.

Body positioning error, i did the same thing for years then finally checked my ego at the door and relearned the movement from the start. You need a high arch, chest up, rear delts pinned to the bench, elbow travel under the bar lowering weight to lower pec line etc, etc. Made a world of difference in my chest development over the last 3 years since switching from DB as my main chest exercise. I still use DB...just not instead of BB.

[faller]

you can also get a deeper stretch with the d bells

Brings a lot of shoulder work into play chaseing that stretch.

[Victor85]

(I dont mean to be a dick) Just do both. However, I find dumbells tend to fix left/right imbalances. Good luck brah!!

[japh]

Yeah, a powerlifting type of bench puts the least amount of stress on the shoulders when performing bench press for sure. Basically you would be turning your bench press into a low decline and lessenng the range of motion. Both would help shoulders. You could also narrow your grip from wide to medium while performing this style of bench pressing to lessen stress as well on shoulders.

[Praetorian]

Brings a lot of shoulder work into play chaseing that stretch.

Exactly and generally leads to rotator cuff problems..not better chest development. Chest development has nothing to do with the stretch...its about intensity targeted onto the pecs....you cannot get the same intensity with dumbbells...notonce you get somewhat strong.
Benching is done either correctly or incorrectly...there is no such thing as a BB bench or a PL bench.
P

[warlock]

Db are easier on the shoulders as you humerus can move freely.

Bb are better on your ego as you can push more weight.

Personally I do Bb and my grip is not too wide, that has made my shoulders asymptomatic for awhile

[beserker]

My chest sucks balls and i never really felt it working properly until i started using bells. i do them different though as instead of bringing my hands together at the top of the movement i keep them going in a straight line top to bottom without getting too much stretch in order to help keep the stress on the pec muscle.... im starting to see improvement with this method

[rated_rko]

i love benching with the bar lately...but use to always do dbs last yr

[Danger]

I think this is pretty valid, DBs are a more useful tool if you select the correct weight and your form is solid. However since most people have terrible form, inpartial rom and poor core position its probably better for them to use the BB since it tends to be more forgiving when it comes to poor teqnique; tho I am speaking purely about building size not strength.

[tiramisu]

I've always found dumbell work easier on my rotator cuff. I've never been a big "stretch" guy but I find that I can almost always find a strong pain free line with dumbbells whereas flat bench puts a strain on my rotator that often requires me to limit my range of movement.

[riccosuabe]

Exactly and generally leads to rotator cuff problems..not better chest development. Chest development has nothing to do with the stretch


yeah if your sloppy!and i highly disagree with stretching not giving you developement,if thats the case why are fst-7 and doggcrapp methods providing great results?stretching the fascia is highly beneficial if done right.and me personally and im sure i wont be the only one,when i achieve a good stretch on flyes it has filled out my outer chest loads

[steve_d]

and i highly disagree with stretching not giving you developement,if thats the case why are fst-7 and doggcrapp methods providing great results?

Because these methods involve working out. Working out hard gives you great results. Like P said, it has nothing to do with the stretch - its all about the intensity.

If stretching made you huge, then all those little yoga girls and guys would all be hitting the bodybuilding stage. Not saying stretching is a bad thing, but stretching isn't the key to development

[riccosuabe]

Because these methods involve working out. Working out hard gives you great results. Like P said, it has nothing to do with the stretch - its all about the intensity.

If stretching made you huge, then all those little yoga girls and guys would all be hitting the bodybuilding stage. Not saying stretching is a bad thing, but stretching isn't the key to development

i never said it made you huge or was the key in development but it does play a big role in your OVERALL development.look at some of the main exercises for chest:flyes,dbell pullover,bench press etc all these movements involve a stretch in them,if you didnt youd be doing a 1/4,1/2 rep and id like to see what overall developement youd get from a movement with such a short range.

and if you wont listen to me saying it how about a 6 x mr olympia emphasising the stretch at 1:46 of this clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US4JpqVie-0

[cyto33]

i will use both. with the DB the stabalizers are worked on more and the BB well i just like it. lol

[natenator]

i never said it made you huge or was the key in development but it does play a big role in your OVERALL development.look at some of the main exercises for chest:flyes,dbell pullover,bench press etc all these movements involve a stretch in them,if you didnt youd be doing a 1/4,1/2 rep and id like to see what overall developement youd get from a movement with such a short range.

and if you wont listen to me saying it how about a 6 x mr olympia emphasising the stretch at 1:46 of this clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US4JpqVie-0
stretching and full ROM which stretches the muscle are 2 very different things.

FULL ROM is going to stretch the muscle but is NOT stretching.

[steve_d]

^exactly. I just don't like the word stretch, or how it is used to say the stretch is what gives the muscle its look. Its sort of obvious that half the exercises that everyone does in the gym will give you a "stretch" if your using a good range of motion. ex. bicep curls, tricep extensions, flies, squats, leg curls, and so on...In fact, there really isn't many exercises that don't give a good strecth to the muscle if you're doing it right.

[riccosuabe]

FULL ROM is going to stretch the muscle but is NOT stretching.

then why is a full rom classed as the full range of motion?surely because of all the aspects of the lift even the part when the muscle is stretched at the bottom making the stretch part of the rom?

[riccosuabe]

^exactly. I just don't like the word stretch, or how it is used to say the stretch is what gives the muscle its look. Its sort of obvious that half the exercises that everyone does in the gym will give you a "stretch" if your using a good range of motion. ex. bicep curls, tricep extensions, flies, squats, leg curls, and so on...In fact, there really isn't many exercises that don't give a good strecth to the muscle if you're doing it right.

never once did i say the stretch is the only thing that gives the muscle its look!!it benefits overall development,and why are you now agreeing with what you disagreed with in the first place?i said you get more of a stretch(call it full rom if you want) and you disagreed in stretching,but now your admitting all exercises have a stretching element to them if (in your words) "you do them right"? surely if the stretch element of the lift was useless then why do we use the full rom?surely we wouldnt elongate the muscle if we didnt need too?

[natenator]

yawn.

How about you do what you want and we'll do what we want and see whose bigger and more muscular on stage?

k?

[natenator]

then why is a full rom classed as the full range of motion?surely because of all the aspects of the lift even the part when the muscle is stretched at the bottom making the stretch part of the rom?
did you know you can stretch your penis by tying a weight to the end of it?

just sayin

[OntariOMuscle101]

One week Bench Press will be the main movement and heaviest set with DB incline press being the number 2 exercise then the following week will be the opposite, heavy on DB inclines and higher reps with less weight on the bench....these are the 2 main workout io do for chest with Flys, weighted dips and pushups coming after...

[japh]

riccosaube.... full range of motion is full range of motion, strecthing is stretching, cardio is cardio......

You can incorporate some strecthing into some exercises with FULL RANGE OF MOTION do doubt. Do guillotine presses to your adams apple with a 3 sec. pause for instance. Theres a stretch there no doubt but it still doesn't make it strecthing in general. Same with the stiff legged deadlift. Its lifting with a greater than normal range of motion causing a greater than normal stretch. I do incorporate stuff like that for some flexibility and rom but don't really count it as full on stretching per se. Do a bikrams yoga class for an hour and a half. Thats stretching and definately part of the equation fpr physical fitness for sure. Semantics that all

[riccosuabe]

yawn.

How about you do what you want and we'll do what we want and see whose bigger and more muscular on stage?

k?

well if you look at my profile pic , stretch/full rom whatever you want to call it aint done me no harm in over 10 years of competing

maybe in the near future we shall see whose more muscular on stage

[natenator]

well if you look at my profile pic , stretch/full rom whatever you want to call it aint done me no harm in over 10 years of competing

maybe in the near future we shall see whose more muscular on stage
great physique for sure. Look a bit like Mentzer!

[riccosuabe]

great physique for sure. Look a bit like Mentzer!

what........dead??

[riccosuabe]

and just to REALLY flog a dead horse.

arnie is said to have one of the best chests ever and this is from an article on the flex website now

ARNOLD ON HIS FAVORITE CHEST WORKOUT

“I always like to start my chest routine with barbell bench presses. I'll use the pyramid principle, starting with a lighter weight and going to a heavy weight for six reps. After that I’ll do barbell presses on an incline to hit the upper chest. These I like to do for 10 to 15 reps and get a good pump. After that I do dumbbell flyes on a flat bench to really stretch out my pecs and hit the inner part. And finally I’ll end my routine with dips, and I lean into these a lot. This also stretch out my pecs and get a lot of blood in there. Dips also focuses more on my lower pecs.”

dont hate the playa hate the game

[ironwill]

what........dead??

lolol, bazinga!!!

[ironwill]

yawn.

How about you do what you want and we'll do what we want and see whose bigger and more muscular on stage?

k?
That would be neat, but one has to actually make it up there and compete????NO???funny stuff....!!!!:flagC

[PdH]

Lookin pretty thick there Bro. :)

[riccosuabe]

Lookin pretty thick there Bro. :)

funny how sayings are totally different in other places.
in the u.k you have just said im pretty stupid!hahahaha

[faller]

K, how bout this, Getting that stretch while doing DB press's kills MY shoulders. :)

So if we say you're looking stupid is that a compliment??

Kidding aside, shit man you're huge!!

[GYMBRAT]

LARGE bro!!

[ironwill]

You are a Freak!!!!! im pretty sure its universal language....

[riccosuabe]

K, how bout this, Getting that stretch while doing DB press's kills MY shoulders. :)

So if we say you're looking stupid is that a compliment??

Kidding aside, shit man you're huge!!

im just going by my experiences,my outer pecs weren't tying in very well with my delts and my coach told me to go deeper on the stretch(not to the point of pain though) and it made a huge difference.and out of all the injuries to my shoulders barbells have always caused them but you just cant leave them out as there awesome!!i normally cycle,1 week dumbbells next barbells.both are great and both can cause damage but if you warm up properly (and i dont mean touch your toes and ready to go) and know your limits then you can reap the benefits of both.

[japh]

definately looking solid!

[Jazzy]

I've heard great things on this post!^^

For me, I like the 2, but I prefer DB because I can feel the strecht with DB and It's make a good change in my pecs's expansion!^^

Bench press are good because you put a lot of wieght, of course and more weight with proper form= more mass after a certain time!

Both are good, just use them in differents goals or just change your programm!

it's my opinion!:)