Why Bench?

[sensational]

What is more manly than the three kings of iron?

You see how much physical weight you can pull off the ground..

You see how much weight you can pile on your back and still go into a prone squat position and stand back up.

And you see how much you can power off your chest!

My test is rising thinking about the three

 

[djeclipse]

I think a good measure of strength is calf raises, hands down!

pfft Everyone knows it's all about the CurLZ YO!

 

[u418936]

I don't think most serious lifters are awed by a big bench press. I'd be more impressed if I saw someone squat 405 ATG than I'd be if I saw someone bench 405. I've seen one or two guys bench 405, but I've never seen anyone squat 405 ATG. Hell, I've never seen anyone squat 275 correctly. I've seen plenty of half-squats with 500+, though.

 

[Elementality]

I used to think benching isn't that great for athletic performance, and I still do - BUT, we don't just lift weights to perform well in sports, we lift for the looks. I think benching a long with other exercises will just help for when you take your shirt off in front of the ladies.

 

[deathdroprob]

I used to think benching isn't that great for athletic performance, and I still do - BUT, we don't just lift weights to perform well in sports, we lift for the looks. I think benching a long with other exercises will just help for when you take your shirt off in front of the ladies.

Agreed.
With out Bench, hows your chest gonna gorw. Dips?
But only to a certain extent.
And why not bench, its easy to set up etc.
And You can handle soo much more weight than OH press, its surley going to give better pressing results that OHPing

 

[drsketch]

I love doing bench.. Bench press and military press are my favs.

Why bench? because it's much better than machines.

 

[Edmund]

I think too much emphasis is placed on how much you bench. Of course if you are a powerlifter it's different. Benching has to be part of a routine but I grow more from other chest movements like flyes for growth. I get alot out of flyes.

You can't ignore the basic power movements, they do make you grow and then you build from there. I am not a strong bencher at all, although if you saw my chest you would think I am, but I never workout my chest without benching.

It's not how much you lift, it's how well you lift it.

 

[djeclipse]

I think too much emphasis is placed on how much you bench. Of course if you are a powerlifter it's different. Benching has to be part of a routine but I grow more from other chest movements like flyes for growth. I get alot out of flyes.

You can't ignore the basic power movements, they do make you grow and then you build from there. I am not a strong bencher at all, although if you saw my chest you would think I am, but I never workout my chest without benching.

It's not how much you lift, it's how well you lift it.

Your chest does not grow from the flies you do, it is the bench press that makes your chest grow.

 

[mikediesel04]

Squatmonkey who is that in your avatar?

 

[Klown]

I think bench has it's place amongst the compound lifts. The problem is the that it's hugely overemphasized at the expense of other lifts. I rarely see deep squats, deadlifts, rows, or overhead presses. I'd say benching is done at least at a 10:1 ratio of all those other exercises.


I feel overhead pressing is a lost art. I always thought push presses were a great sport specific lift, with lower body force being transfered to upper body pressing in one motion, on the feet. One of my favourite lifts.