Push ups vs Bench Press

Push Ups vs Bench Press

You probably have noticed that in gyms there are always people at the bench presses. But you rarely see people doing pushups. Why? Well it’s because it’s a gym, some people who go to the gym is to workout with equipment they don’t have. Other than that, bench presses seem manlier in some people’s mind because you’re pushing heavy weights off your chest.

I’m here to tell you the benefits of both.

Push Ups

Pushups are a basic body weight exercise that targets the chest and some triceps and anyone can do anywhere. You’re roughly pushing up 60% of your body weight. You can increase the intensity by adding weight on your back, for instance have a partner put their hands on your upper back and push down, or get a weighted vest. Or you can push down, than count to 5 slowly than go back up slowly.

Pushups are also safer than the bench because there’s a chance you’ll lose control of the barbell or dumbbell. Pushups also help with core development, balance in the muscles and if you increase your resistance, it will add chest mass.

Conclusion

Both these workouts are important in chest development and shouldn’t be over looked.

If you want raw power and strength I would do push ups, or get a partner to put weight on your back to increase the intensity. But if you want mass and big pecs, I would either get a gym membership or buy a set of weights.

Bench Press

There are 2 primary ways for bench pressing. Dumbbell, barbell, and machine:

Dumbbell bench press is a basic bench press variation where you grab two dumbbells and bench them up. It allows full range in motion and hits more muscle fibers than that of both the machine and barbell.

You can also train alone without a spotter for dumbbell bench. When you are about to fail, you can just drop the weights to the sides.

Barbell bench press follows pretty much the same motion as the dumbbell but you grab the bar with both hands opposed to one. But if you’re going heavy on the barbell, you must have a spotter, because it’s dangerous because there is a chance that you’ll lose grip of the bar and it comes falling down on your chest or your neck.

Also you can add more weights to the sides to lift heavier, where as dumbbells it can only be so heavy. However, due to the lack of motion, it won’t hit as much fibers as the dumbbells would. What I mean is the dumbbell press you can go beyond the chest, where as the barbell, you can go down as far as you can but the bar will stop when it hits the chest.

There is also the bench with the machine, but I won’t cover it. I find that it isn’t worth it because of how the motion is fixed. It has its benefits but I would prefer barbell and dumbbell over it any day.