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the nature boy
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well which is worse in terms of causing injury, lugging around heavy, large and akward dubmells into position and dropping them on the floor or doing barbell bench presses?
Stillgoing
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HighIntensity said:
wait a minute.....I'm not a bb bench defender, but.....you don't have to stick your head up a bulls ass to have a good steak either (wtf?? I'm trying to remember that line from Tommy Boy when he is trying to sell that guy brake pads
)........you don't have to rely on any one particular exercise to build a good chest...you could insert any chest exercise into your above statement and it would still be applicable.........but, I still agree, most advanced bb'rs move on from flat bench it seems.......
Its obvious who the winner is on this thread, the 50 people who like the BENCH PRESS. I see some of nelsons and high intensitys points, but the fact is i used to only do dumbbells because i was embarrassed of a low bench, but when i finally got my ass on the bench and started using some WEIGHT, thats when my chest started to grow. Yes, it can be dangerous, but thats why i never recommend anyone to go below 4 reps, myself i stay in the 6-10 rep range. Maybe some people have better workouts from dumbbells, but i think the majority think bench is key for mass. I do do incline benches first in my routine, believing upper chest is harder to develop than lower, and a good upper chest leads to much better looking set of pecs. I do dumbbells on occasion, but my mainstay is barbell movements and flys for chest.-WULF
DB inclnes are better for 3 reasons.
1...The center of gravity is different. Because the weight is more overhead, the torso is abdorbing the gravitational pull as opposed to lying flat where the majority of stress is on the anterior deltoid.
2...Less weight can be handled on an incline which equates to a lesser chance of undue strain.
3...Dumbells require balance (stimulating the stabilizers) whereas a barbell keeps you fixed in one position. (Incresing stress to the rotator cuff)
Dogcraps comments are cutting edge -- for 1990. True, a muscle can only contract in one direction. In other words, there's no such thing as a "lower" bicep. But the chest is made up of hundreds of fastwitch muscle fibers and as anyone who has done an all "incline " or "decline" workout can attest from soreness the next day, you'll feel more on the top or bottom of their pecs respectively.
As far as more workouts creating more growth spurts, it's valid but arguable. I think that may work for a while, but everyone's recovery and growth ability is different.
I believe this technique is strictly for highly enhanced BB's.
I do agree that people think they must do specific exercises. Most people do too many pointless exercises and ignore some damn effective ones.
1...The center of gravity is different. Because the weight is more overhead, the torso is abdorbing the gravitational pull as opposed to lying flat where the majority of stress is on the anterior deltoid.
2...Less weight can be handled on an incline which equates to a lesser chance of undue strain.
3...Dumbells require balance (stimulating the stabilizers) whereas a barbell keeps you fixed in one position. (Incresing stress to the rotator cuff)
Dogcraps comments are cutting edge -- for 1990. True, a muscle can only contract in one direction. In other words, there's no such thing as a "lower" bicep. But the chest is made up of hundreds of fastwitch muscle fibers and as anyone who has done an all "incline " or "decline" workout can attest from soreness the next day, you'll feel more on the top or bottom of their pecs respectively.
As far as more workouts creating more growth spurts, it's valid but arguable. I think that may work for a while, but everyone's recovery and growth ability is different.
I believe this technique is strictly for highly enhanced BB's.
I do agree that people think they must do specific exercises. Most people do too many pointless exercises and ignore some damn effective ones.
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40butpumpin
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Nelson Montana said:
Oh man you're not kidding. The stuff I see at my gym sometimes is downright laughable!
Keep it beefy
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HighIntensity said:
aren't you a personal trainer? how can you generalize and say that this is the best for everyone? i've found that i can move the most weight on barbell, just cause i don't have to worry about all the stabilization issues. and in order to build the biggest foundation, your chest needs to see high poundages. and the only way to move 450 lbs, is with barbells, they dont' make no 225 lbs dumbells, and if they did, you'd have to waste half your energy with bullshit like getting them into position before you could even start. don't get me wrong, i do dumbells. but workouts where i used all dumbells, 150 lb dumbells on flat, 140's on incline, etc, have always sucked. the only way i can get thoroughly sore is by doing a heavy barbell for at least one exercise, whether it's incline, flat or decline. then i move onto dumbells and flies once i've exposed my chest to extreme poundages.
Yeah, most of the experienced bros on this board are doing great. much of what is being discussed here is picking down to the finest degree of separation. i think a great set of pecs can be built with many exercises including all of the ones mentioned above. i have just been sharing my personal experiences, not bashing high intensity or nelson they are very knowledgable bros.-WULF
Absolutely bigdelt69-I see so many guys with the rounded shoulder thing going on. Very few with a nice back, or much thickness there as well. A nice back makes the man! So many guys spend way too much time on chest or pushing movements and way too little on the pulling ones. I think a lot of people don't know how much a strong back, lats in particular contribute to a good bench.-valerie
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