Bench press vs dumbells

[manny78]

Dumbells movement is natural... bench press is painful. I stopped the bench cause i was unable to have a good workout. But this is very personal.

 

[Maxx Out]

I started useing d-bell's only about 6 weeks ago because of a shoulder injury(I couldn't even bench 135 on the straight bar because of the injury). My strength has been going up dramatically and my chest is already starting to even out! Also I tried benching a few weeks ago w/the straight bar and I've worked it in as my 3rd exercise. So far I've been going up to 185lbs on St.Bench for about 10-12reps for my last set. I'm almost healed but I think Im going to leave db's as my main exercise for anther few months and then see where that takes me, hopefully it will have helped my bench alot.

So I think it will help alot w/your bench!! Give it a shot, what do u have to loose?

 

[marky c]

Dumbells are just as good or better BUT before you swear off the bench try varying the width of your grip on the bar - experiment is the name of the game

 

[Cackerot69]

DB's are better than BB for pecs.

BTW, that comment about muscles not knowing the difference between exercises is flawed because the nervous system can differentiate between exercises.

 

[HappyScrappy]

ha ha - so my nervous system can tell if I'm doing bench over db shit? all it knows is that it is under a different stress and the different range of motion stimulates different fibers - but if you genuinely belive that the body knows what you are doing or what weight - you're a bit off.
it is oblivious to what you are doing, all it knows is how much of a load is on what muscles and it reacts accordingly for the future.

 

[MaGilicuti]

good to change it up from time to time i think. some people do both dumbell bench and bench press in one workout

 

[maxellyz]

I would recommend doing both dumbbells do give you a better stretch but the bench press is still a great exercise

 

[Liberator]

Speaking for myself

Ive started using both, but I always do bar first.

Bar seems to make you thick as hell, especially flat bench, incline seems to polish it off

Can dumbells make you just as thick?

I dont seem to get the same satisfaction with dumbells as I get with bar, I like the feeling of huge weight

I always thought

Barbell for mass

Dumbells for refining

 

[goahead]

Initially, it is easier to go heavy with the barbell than with db presses due to stabillizing issues. Therefore the first few barbell workouts render more result

BUT after giving the dumbells a try for 3 months I must conclude that when I was able to stabilize really heavy dumbells I got better result than from benches...

Might be a personal thing but if u need my 0.2 cents, take it

 

[Robboe]

As a general rule of thumb [notice i said 'general']:

Dumbells are best for upper-body.

Barbells are best for Lower-body.

this is, however, a general rule and doesn't apply to all. All Individuals are different.

I personally mixx them up for upper body and use barbells are machines for legs.