Bench press is the most popular training exercise in the gym. It helps us build thick chest muscles and develop upper body strength! Using bench press as the main part of the upper body exercise allows you to take advantage of the benefits of compound exercise: effectively exercise multiple muscle groups at a time, and release testosterone in the system faster to speed up recovery, fat burning and muscle growth. When planning your upper body training program, maintain compound exercises at the beginning of the exercise, such as bench press, and then continue with more isolated exercises, such as curls, elevations, and crosses, to further drain muscles.
Curious friends often ask, which one is better, barbell bench press or dumbbell bench press? Should I choose barbell or dumbbells for bench presses?
Today I will introduce the advantages of barbell bench press and dumbbell bench press!
Read More: Benefit of bench press
Read More: How to bench press
Advantages of barbell bench press
1.Stability
The stability of a barbell is greater than that of a dumbbell. A long horizontal bar is easier to stabilize with both hands, while a two-handed single-claw dumbbell will require more strength to stabilize the weight.
2.Training weight
Because the barbell is relatively stable, the training weight can be larger. On the contrary, the most common dumbbells in the gym are only 50Kg. The weight that the barbell bench press can load is not comparable to the dumbbell bench press. Breaking through the weight limit, barbells can handle higher weights than dumbbells, so usually barbell training is scheduled to be completed before dumbbell training.
3.Increased muscle strength
Because barbell training can use larger weights, it has an advantage in low-repetition, focused muscle training, so barbell training is more conducive to improving muscle strength.
Read More: How to do barbell bench press
Advantages of dumbbell bench press
1.Larger range of motion, activate more motor units
We all know that the best and most efficient exercise method is to make your muscles move in the full range, from the most stretched to the shortest. This way the muscles will get the maximum stimulation and growth. Due to the horizontal bar, we cannot better adduct the shoulder joints during the barbell bench press, especially when using a wide grip. When we push up the barbell and reach the highest point, the distance between our arms is relatively far! The full range of motion for shoulder horizontal adduction should be the closer the two arms are, the better.
As a result, the range of action of the pectoral muscles is shortened, which leads to a large part of the muscle fibers that are not activated when our pectoral muscles drive shoulder adduction. When the dumbbell is pushed up, because there is no restriction of the horizontal bar, we can get our arms close and retract our shoulders as much as possible! Let our chest muscles contract to the maximum.
2.One-handed training
Another great advantage of dumbbell bench press is that you can train with one hand. One-hand training is very important. It is one of the important action modes in life. And one-hand training has many advantages, which can help you improve your muscle imbalance. The control is different, and one-handed training is also great for improving core stability! (One-handed bench press and alternate bench press are good choices).
3.Changeable grip
Dumbbells are more flexible, without the restriction of bars, and you can change the grip more freely. The slightly externally rotated shoulder grip and the (neutral) grip are more friendly to the shoulders, and will also give you new muscle stimulation.
Read More: How to do dumbbell bench press
If you want to do a high repetition bench press, dumbbells are better than barbells
Dumbbells are most suitable for bench presses with 8-20 repetitions. For those who have strong triceps but can't train their chest muscles, they have a great effect on pectoral muscle hypertrophy. Dumbbells are not like barbells, which will fix the path of pushing out, so they allow more horizontal adduction of the shoulder joint. You can squeeze your chest muscles a little bit by combining with the feeling of dumbbell flying when you push to the end, to contract the muscles more effectively.
If you want to put more weight, a barbell is better than a dumbbell
For those who want to practice strength, dumbbell bench press should never be used instead of barbell bench press. Because before you lie down with the dumbbells, you will not be able to retract your shoulder blades because of the super heavy dumbbells. Don't even think about having the opportunity to adjust the position of the shoulder blades after you lie down, so that the shoulder joints are easily injured. Therefore, do not use dumbbells for heavy bench presses, please use barbells.
To sum up:
IFAST TIPS: both the barbell bench press and the dumbbell bench press are great exercises, and each has its advantages. No one is good or bad. For the trainer, it is the smart choice to change the training equipment in time to serve us.
