Is dumbell chest press as effective as regular bench?!
Question: I usually never have a spotter work out with me, so I'm often unable to do bench press. I like to work until failure and I'm very untrusting of myself so I don't try bench unspotted. This week I was able to do 10 reps of 70's on dumbell press and plan to move up the weight for next week. Am I cutting myself short by not benching?
Answers: I usually never have a spotter work out with me, so I'm often unable to do bench press. I like to work until failure and I'm very untrusting of myself so I don't try bench unspotted. This week I was able to do 10 reps of 70's on dumbell press and plan to move up the weight for next week. Am I cutting myself short by not benching?
Using dumbbells allows for greater range of motion AND it forces each arm to press equal weight.
Both are great exercises, but if you only do BARBELL (straight bar) bench press, and never dumbbells, your stronger side will overcompensate for your weaker side and symmetry or a balanced physique, will be hard to achieve.
Dumbbells provide great Isometric (individual sides) training. Also, stop second guessing yourself and think confidently when you train. Tell yourself you can move the weight and visualize it all the way through.
Train Hard, Grow Easy!
It's actually better as your arms have more range of movement so your chest and triceps get a more well-rounded workout.
yes and no. you want to do different exercises so you don't plateau. however, you can switch the order of by doing incline first, last, etc. you still should do flat bench though, even if it's not to failure. i went up 10 lbs (per dumbbell) by doing two weeks on barbell bench.
Go for dumbell presses. You have a greater range of motion and you can squeeze at the top to really hit your pecs. If you you're going heavier and you can't do more than 3-5 reps, put the weights down and immediately do some more reps with lighter weights. By going heavy you're improving neural efficiency (strength) and by going lighter you're stimulating more muscle fibres (size).