Incline press or dumbell?

[Inhibitor13]

Why do some perfer incline dumbell over incline press? Work the muscles harder or something?

 

[Neo22]

BB you will be able to lift more weight

 

[odoyal rulez]

i do db, to keep my stronger arm from compensating for my weaker arm...each side gets the same treatment.

 

[ZGzaZ]

You stronger arm cant over compensate for your weaker one with a barbell either, both arms must fully extend to do a rep, thereby doing the same workload.

 

[odoyal rulez]

It sure can compensate. If one arm is lifting 60% of the weight..the other is only lifting 40% of the weight...together they lift 100% and fully extend.

Next time your in the gym look around..and see how some guys lift one side a little higher when moving the weight...that makes it easier to lift the other side.

Same goes with curling. Try it yourself.

Of course I could google why I feel this way and post 20 links proving my point...but ill let you do the work.

 

[gettnlarge01]

You can't bounce the bar off your chest if there isn't one.

 

[mrgravez]

I feel the bb puts a lot of stress on my shoulder joint =\ . I can actually do more incline DB then incline BB bench, for some reason I just find dumbbells easier and they give me a great pump!

 

[odoyal rulez]

Should really do both though...once week with the DB next week with the BB...the BB lets you really pack on the mass and size...the DB let you fill out the weak areas..at least in my experience...

 

[ZGzaZ]

It sure can compensate. If one arm is lifting 60% of the weight..the other is only lifting 40% of the weight...together they lift 100% and fully extend.

Next time your in the gym look around..and see how some guys lift one side a little higher when moving the weight...that makes it easier to lift the other side.

Same goes with curling. Try it yourself.

Of course I could google why I feel this way and post 20 links proving my point...but ill let you do the work.

If youre lifting a barbell, one arm can't lift 60% of the weight and the other 40% if they're starting and ending point is the same. They both go through the same motion, and travel equal distances from the starting point to the ending point, lifting the same amount each time.

One arm may be stronger, and the other will fail before it, making it unable to finish another rep. But since you can't finish another rep with just the strong arm, they are still doing equal work.

 

[Madcow2]

Next time your in the gym look around..and see how some guys lift one side a little higher when moving the weight...that makes it easier to lift the other side.

Actually when people tend to favor a side, the strong side stays low.

Also, if one side is stronger you limit your stimulus on this side by selecting dumbells only as strong as your weaker side. Theoretically, I guess that could result in atrophy.

The real additive effect of a dumbell is a bit of range of motion and lack of bracing brings in more stability and maybe coordination. These can be useful, carryover can be good. It's a great exercise.

Biggest issue is that you lose A LOT of load, so unless there is some specific reason the stock range of motion and stability enhancements cannot compensate for this as the load differential is very large. A muscle only knows resistance/tension. A barbell provides a lot more inherent stability and allows for greater load and tension as evidenced simply by the weight used. This is greater stimulus. Just because something is harder doesn't mean it's better, squatting on roller skates is hard and requires independent stability but that doesn't mean it is necessaily supperior.

Stuff to think on anyway.