bench presses

[jimmy_rules]

i dont have any barbells and joining a gym is too expensive for me, so is using dumbells for bench presses as effective as barbells?

[howardalex]

if they have the same amount of weight then yes, but they'd have to be big dumbells...

[NPayette]

I'm no sure about it, but I guess it's about the same, but bench press with barbell is I guest the best chest exercise. Even if you can get a better stretch down the movement with db.

[Maximum Lifting]

I've heard DB is better due to the fact that you also have to balance them and if one side is weaker, you'll know it. Don't remember where i read that. But yeah, I've done BB press maybe once.

[mitchcumstein]

Ask almost any pro he'll tell you Db press is the best mass builder. You wont need that much at first. If your doing sets with 150 on bb bench then youll probably be working with something like 50's.

[markkk]

jimmy_rules-

The paragraphs below are from a search I did on Barbell Vs Dumbbell. I dont know if its what you were looking for, but there is some information in there about benching with dumbbells. I personally think you will be fine just using dumbbells for now, but I wouldnt use only dumbbells forever. I had read/heard from many credible sources that mixing things up between barbells, Dumbbells, machines and freeweights produces the best gains. BUT, like you said, your options are limited so I know you dont have the luxery of using all those. With that said, I wouldnt worry too much about mixing things up right now. Dumbbells should be just fine for awhile I think.



Using a dumbbell rather than a barbell will require your body to stabilize the dumbbells. This will involve more muscle groups and therefore provides a different stimulus than a barbell bench press. It is always good to balance dumbbell movements with barbell movements.

The dumbbell movements help work stabilizer muscles and improve coordination, while allowing imbalances to be addressed - for example, if the left side of your chest is larger than the right side, you can perform one armed bench presses to work on correcting that imbalance.

Barbells eliminate the involvement of many stabilizer muscles and require less coordination, so a heavier load can be used to place more tension on the chest muscle. The dumbbell will also allow a fuller range of motion - but be warned, the lower you allow the dumbbell to travel, the more torque you place on your shoulder joint (stress) which can be dangerous, especially for someone with weak shoulders.

As you can see, there are many variations to the bench press. So which one is right? It depends on your goals! Incorporating a variety of movements is the best way to stimulate all muscle groups that are involved in the bench press. It also forces your central nervous system to constantly adapt to the new stimulus, which will help avoid plateaus. Alternating between dumbbell and barbell movements allows all aspects of the bench to be perfected.

[jimmy_rules]

Thanks for the advice guys, I think I'll just stick with dumbells for now.