Bench: Barbell vs. Dumbbell

[Actual God]

I lift by myself. Without a spotter, I'm hesitant to do barbell benches, and I don't want to use the smith machine, so I use dumbbells. Lame?

[Thremp]

No its fine. I've found I got much better chest stimulation with DB bench than barbell. I still use barbell for greater loading etc, but don't feel bad if you have to use DB for extended periods.

[checkmate36]

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Lame?

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Not at all. Use a bench with an adjustable incline to it as well.

[jah7_fsu1]

I don't see how avoiding injury is lame. That said, you can bench without a spotter and be fine. You have to know your body pretty well, and don't attempt anything near a maximal effort.

If you get in trouble slowly let the bar come to your chest and "roll" it off the front of your body.

Be safe...you don't have to barbell bench for good recruitment of triceps, shoulders, or chest.

[Actual God]

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Lame?

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Not at all. Use a bench with an adjustable incline to it as well.

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I do change it up with respect to incline. I do it kind of haphazardly, but make sure I'm always improving (more reps/sets/weight than the last time). Fine, right?

[skunkworks]

Dumbbells are arguably better for bench since they have a much better range of motion. The only thing that can suck is getting them into position.

When I first started benching on my own, I was very, very afraid to get stuck under the bar after a tough set. Once I learned to be a bit more conservative and know how much more is in my gas tank when I'm finishing off a set, it became much more comfortable. Now I can tell by my 2nd rep whether I'll be able to squeeze out the 5th one or not. Either way, you should be okay.

[That Foreign Guy]

Dumbbells = greater range of motion, use more stabilising muscles, force both sides to work equally.

Barbells = allow you to life bigger weights.

I know which I choose.

[DLKeeper1]

agreed dumbbells provide a greater range of motion therefore more muscle fibers are being stimulated...ideally you want a spotter with either dumbbells or barbell in order to push out a few more reps with the help of a partner (post-failure lifting)

[mattnxtc]

I personally use both and I think the change of pace is beneficial though I do prefer dumbbells b/c I generally work without a spotter

[zer0]

both have their benefits, your best bet is to substitute them for each other every 6 weeks or so

if you are uncomfortable BB benching, there is nothing "lame" about db benches

[AZK]

When I go with a friend or see a non-random friend at the gym, I bench press, military press, etc...

When no one is at the gym, I use dumbbells...

I'd say it's about 3-4:1 dumbell:barbell.

[SmileyEH]

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agreed dumbbells provide a greater range of motion therefore more muscle fibers are being stimulated...ideally you want a spotter with either dumbbells or barbell in order to push out a few more reps with the help of a partner (post-failure lifting)

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Lifting past failure - or even to failure is almost always counter-productive.

[NoRiverRats]

LOL - getting DBs into position for bench press. Right you are, right you are....

Some of the funniest things I've done in the gym(from a spectators point of view) involve benching DBs on my first rep of the last set.

This is where I use a spotter, last set when I am doing big weight(for me - 95-105lbs DBs). I only need a little help, so I find with a quick explanation most spotters are OK. Funny enough, the guys the spot the poorest are the guys who are huge and worry that a skinny kid like me (5'11 - 183lbs) can't handle the weight, they push it up for me. Best spotters are women, they won't do it for you and well, need I say more.

Watching other people benching too much weight with DBs, alternates between hilarious and terrifying.

[RedGladiator]

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agreed dumbbells provide a greater range of motion therefore more muscle fibers are being stimulated...ideally you want a spotter with either dumbbells or barbell in order to push out a few more reps with the help of a partner (post-failure lifting)

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Lifting past failure - or even to failure is almost always counter-productive.

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Please explain why you believe this.

This is dependent on the person. Dorian Yates goes past failure on EVERY set and has been very successful.

I think going past failure via forced reps is excellent when you have been stuck for weeks. Some people abuse force reps and use it every set when every they can find someone to spot them, I can't agree with this but works for some.

[SmileyEH]

http://www.cbass.com/KevinDye.htm

I just googled training to failure and this came up near the top. Don't know this guy but his arguements are basically mine. Traning to failure consistently is counterproductive because you need a lot more recovery, it's very taxing mentally and to your nervous system and is just plain dangerous if form suffers a lot. For beginners I don't think these issues are too big a deal.

The best evidence I can give you though is that afaik almost no successful o-lifters/powerlifters train to failure outside of new one rep max attempts. Personally I never do forced reps although in the past I almost always went to failure. Since abandoning that regime I've stopped hitting plateaus constantly and feeling like [censored] all the time.

[fatgirl_lover]

when i started at the gym i was too shy but now i just ask strangers for a spot when doing benchpress, why not do that op?

[mediaslut]

related topic-- is there a general rule for converting bench press weights to DB press for similar effect (even I know its not 1:1)

For instance, I bench 185 10 times now until fatigue. What dumbbell weight would be roughly the same?

My guess is 60# weights. but this is relly based on nothing.

[pal=m]

AG,

Not at all, dumbells in general offer a little more than a barbell for the reasons some of the other posters already explained. I usually workout by myself also and will not do a flat barbell bench unless someone is in the area I truly trust. You can do incline benches more easily with the barbell by yourself though, which is what I usually do.

pal

[Thremp]

All,

For Smiley's reasoning on not training to/past failure (You are going to hate me for this) look at his log and reference overtraining.

[Reef]

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related topic-- is there a general rule for converting bench press weights to DB press for similar effect (even I know its not 1:1)

For instance, I bench 185 10 times now until fatigue. What dumbbell weight would be roughly the same?

My guess is 60# weights. but this is relly based on nothing.

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probably 80's.

[Spellmen]

60 is way light. I only bench 155 and use 60s

[Luke]

Just to reiterate what a lot of other posters are saying: there is nothing at all lame about using barbells. I've been lifting for over 10 years and generally prefer DBs to straight bar for most exercises.

One thing you will find though is that as you move up in weight, especially on bench presses, the weights themselves will become difficult to manage. By that I mean, getting 100s over to your bench and then getting that first one up can be very tough. You'll want to use a spotter for that as you can drain a lot of hand/forearm energy just getting the 1st one up, not to mention risk injury. Also putting the weights down delicately can be a little tricky without some help.

Don't let that discourage you and don't be afraid to ask for a spot. Just explain how you'd like the spotter to help you. You'll find that people often tend to workout on bit of a schedule so you'll start to find the same people there and you'll eventually have "gym buddies" who know exactly how to spot you.

[jah7_fsu1]

Training to failure has it's benefits (and I can list them off for people/argue against that link Smiley presented if asked), but more so for bodybuilding types.

Obviously if you are training for maximal strength it is not nearly (or probably not at all) important.

The overtraining aspects are real, but the majority of people don't work hard enough to overtrain. Overtraining was sort of a buzzword there for a while, and even though it does exist, it's not as common as some PT's/coaches have us believe.

I will take a look at the log as Thremp suggessted, but training to failure has its place in the weight room...it's just extremely dependent on what your trying to accomplish.

Edit: Don't have time right now, but I will elaborate later if asked.

[Thremp]

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All,

For Smiley's reasoning on not training to/past failure (You are going to hate me for this) look at his log and reference overtraining.

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Feeling "flat" ie a lack of motivation and your weights stalling going down. Sometimes I've heard a few people who do "pump training" report they have a lack of a pump when overtrained.

[jah7_fsu1]

Top of the head here...I think I had some info on a few other things to check. Still...it can't be overstated that overtraining is NOT EASY to do. So don't say, "wow I don't feel that motivated, I'm overtrained" etc. Ways to get beat overtraing: Rest and great nutrition!

Some common "symptoms" of overtraining (all things being equal):

Quicker to fatigue
Appetite loss (big one!)
Lack of motivation
Lack of focus
Decreased performance
Decreased maximal force output (harder to accelerate)
Decreased immunity
Increased heart rate (check your resting heart rate in the morning)