I understand the need to perform a flat barbell bench press if your sole goal is strength or power but why use it for bodybuilding?
We all know that dumbells and incline/decline are better than flat barbell bench press yet everyone in gyms are doing it.
If you are training purely for bodybuilding, is there any reason for the flat barbell bench press?
[quote]Roughyed wrote:
If you are training purely for bodybuilding, is there any reason for the flat barbell bench press?[/quote]
Sometimes yes.
Sometimes no.
Pros
-Moving alot of weight through multiple muscle groups, especially if you’re built right for it (short arms large ribcage)
-Keeping with traditional weightlifting
-Possibly enter Bench Press competitions
Cons
-High chance of injury
-Doesn’t stimulate chest well in many people
-Hard on joints with higher poundages compared to other chest pressing movements
Anyone feel free to add anything to the list. There are many alternative’s to the traditional bench press that work the chest better (better meaning they don’t depend as heavily on supportive muscle groups) and are less prone to injury.
It works for some people though, and if you’re interested in PLing that would be another reason to keep it.
Gillotine(?) benchpress ftw
Who the fuck says inclines and dumb-bells are better? It’s solely based on the individual and how they respond to each particular exercise. Some people get better chest stimulation from flat bench than anyother pectoral movement. I didn’t know that because someone sees better results from a certain movement than I’d see better results from that movement too.
[quote]Roughyed wrote:
I understand the need to perform a flat barbell bench press if your sole goal is strength or power but why use it for bodybuilding?
We all know that dumbells and incline/decline are better than flat barbell bench press yet everyone in gyms are doing it.
If you are training purely for bodybuilding, is there any reason for the flat barbell bench press?[/quote]
A great, profound question.
Answer: It delivers the results SOME people want - a bigger chest.
Why not do both?
I imagine you see people benching all the time because it’s an ego lift. Plus most people stick with what they’re familiar with, and bench press is pretty familiar. How often are you asked how much you can bench?
now when’s the last time somebody asked you how much you can DB incline?
um, use the bench to build a foundation of strength, then move to dumbell work once you reach your chest mass goal
I think big three need to be an expertise before anything else comes into play
Floor Pressing is much better IMO!
[quote]Roughyed wrote:
I understand the need to perform a flat barbell bench press if your sole goal is strength or power but why use it for bodybuilding?
We all know that dumbells and incline/decline are better than flat barbell bench press yet everyone in gyms are doing it.
If you are training purely for bodybuilding, is there any reason for the flat barbell bench press?[/quote]
Yeah, what is Kai Greene(and every bodybuilder ever) thinking!
Dorian Yates recently said that the traditional bench press is “a shitty pec exercise” and the article on chest and tricep exercises proved that it’s overated.
Also, Doggcrapp training advises that you avoid the bench press and Dr. Clay Hyght is really against the exercise and tends to train bodybuilders without using it.
Finally, every guy I know with any pec or shoulder injury got it through…the bench press
Just makes me think I should generally replace it with incline, dumbells, hammer strength machines and dips.
Lots of things that aren’t too good for me, but I like em.
Have you tried using the bench press for chest hypertrophy? It could work for you. You don’t know until you try.
I enjoy it as a test of strength; I don’t think it’s the best hypertrophy chest exercise, however. If you’re an ‘optimizer’ type then, yeah, do what Dorian did, and hit the decline. But I say, none of us are going to enter the Oly this year: do what makes you happy. And doing flat doesn’t mean you can’t move on to incline db or hammer, or dips, or whatever…
[quote]Roughyed wrote:
Dorian Yates recently said that the traditional bench press is “a shitty pec exercise” and the article on chest and tricep exercises proved that it’s overated.
Also, Doggcrapp training advises that you avoid the bench press and Dr. Clay Hyght is really against the exercise and tends to train bodybuilders without using it.
Finally, every guy I know with any pec or shoulder injury got it through…the bench press
Just makes me think I should generally replace it with incline, dumbells, hammer strength machines and dips.[/quote]
Bench press doesn’t tear pecs, people tear pecs. People are stupid and a) bench too often cuz it’s really fun/are obsessed, b) have terrible muscle imbalances, or c) are just spazmods.
Weight lifting can cause injury. Heck, walking to the shitter can cause injury if you do it wrong.
Why are you all answering this guy. He is clearly trying to look cool by affirming things like this. It’s not like it’s the first time we read this on the forum.
if we quit answering dumb questions…the forums will die.
Meh purely individual. Some people will flat press and feel all shoulders, some people flat press and can hone in and get good chest work done. My opinion and mine only is, that for most people it’s overrated, yet there’s always exceptions :). I think for most wanting to hit the chest a A low incline press (30 degrees or so) > flat bench, all day.
Is it for every body? No.
Is it a good exercise for putting on overall size and increasing strength in many people? yes.
Do I use it? No, it bothers my shoulder too much, and even when I was moving a ton of weight in my earlier years, my chest looked like crap. It’s an individual thing that most smart trainers figure out after a while, whether it is produces gains or not. (honestly, this is a real question?!)
S
Flat bench is beast for my chest in terms of feeling it in it. I hardly feel it in my triceps/shoulders its all chest baby when I do it.
I wish I had never even been shown how to bench press, waste of my damn time for chest growth. Sadly, it took me over 4 years to realize that 