[quote]detazathoth wrote:
Before you get angry, even though you probably are just because of the title of this post, I do not believe this is true.
This point was mentioned in an article be Menno Henselmans recently, I believe in February. His point is defended by him comparing the muscle hypertrophy obtained by squatting and doing Chin-Ups.
I believe the Bench Press is an incomparable way of developing the Upper pec the outer pec muscle, the inner pec Muscle, and get that deep separation with the Chest
Besides, it allows you to build muscle in an astonishing way on other parts of the body when you bench decent weight and learn to lift explosively, not to mention how tight you have to get in every skeletal muscle to accomplish this lift.
Questions:
What do you believe about this claim of the Bench Press not being a great mass builder? (does somebody actually agree?)
What muscles do you think the Bench Press is best for developing [for most lifters]? (Not taking height of the lifter into the matter for practical purposes of this discussion)
*In the mentioned article, Menno does not state the Bench Press is not good for building muscular mass, but he believes there is an enormous difference with the squat and the chin-up.
again, though i understand that detazathoth is having some fun here, but there is a little bit of “real” mixed in as well, my advice to the younger or more inexperienced guys is to listen to Dave Tate, John Meadows, Jim Wendler, ect, the guys who look the part as well as have a bunch of degrees and letters after their names.
As an indication as a teenager I deadlifted 635 and benched 295 in the same meet. I didn’t even bother benching for the first two years because it was too awkward and painful. It took a decade to bring that goddamned lift up to a respectable level, and I didn’t build it by bench pressing. I did floor press, dips, and overhead presses only for several years. When the time came to do “touch ups” for a beach body I lived on cable crossovers and Gironda neck presses.
Dorian Yates said the same, for his body type benches sucked and he preferred declines. I’m sure someone like Jeremy Hoornstra would disagree with him.
There was a guy at my gym today who was doing decline pushups with his feet on a 36" box and each of his hands balanced on a medicine ball. It looked like a way better muscle builder than the bench press.
