Bench Press, a must?

[shakalaka]

Ok well heres the deal. What do you guys think about this?
Is doing bench press a must for getting the perfect chest shape?
I mean to say, that particular exercise lying on the bunch and pushing the barbell. For my chest workouts I do all the different exercises like straight bench, incline bench, decline bench, pec fly's etc. But I only use the dumbells. Not that I can lift much on the bench press or anything, its just that I never feel like doing it. With dumbells I can go pretty big. These days I am lifting 75lbs dumbells for my chest exercises. Its the same thing as the bench press is what I think, and will have the same results. Basically I lift a 75lbs dumbell in one hand and 75lbs in another and just do those lying on a straight, incline, decline bench. What I think sometimes is, "If it is the same thing as doing bench press?" Woudnt it have the same results on my chest as doing the bench press? Or is doing bench press a must to have that perfect shape. I have asked couple of body builders I know and am getting mixed opinions. Just wondering what you guys think?

[Forcefed]

Personally for a chest exersise bench is must for me, basically your grip can hit all your key muscle groups. However, I am not a fan fo the decline bench, not only is it a horrible exersise because everything it does you can achive by using a flat bench it also fucks with your system. So to answer your question yes, i'd say a bench press is a must for your chest. Now if you want to isolate then single dumbels in each hand works wounders!

Chris

[Tyler883]

if you can bench 75 in each arm, I'd hazard a guess that you could ber benching alot more than 150 on a straight bar.

nothing is the same as something else. And, as far as getting a perfect shape, that would depend on your current shape and how it needs to change.

Sorry, this isn't much help to you, I guess.

[~Leah~]

I'd agree with Chris as well.... I was also doing DB chest press for the longest time, but about a year ago, I switched over to bench, and I noticed a HUGE difference! Being a girl, I can't really tell you from personal experience about getting pecs... lol, but it's personally helped me define my chest better.

P.S. Keep your perverted comments to yourself lol

[three.eighteen.]

ditto on the DB -> BB switch over, huge gains, i guess it follows the fact that you need to change your work out once in a while to keep the gains steady, you can get big doing DB presses, but just try the bar and you'd probably impress yourself

[Forcefed]

I'd agree with Chris as well.... I was also doing DB chest press for the longest time, but about a year ago, I switched over to bench, and I noticed a HUGE difference! Being a girl, I can't really tell you from personal experience about getting pecs... lol, but it's personally helped me define my chest better.

Hahaha, thats why I love you leah! Anyways yeah, I mean depending on what you want well determin your workout. I mean It all depends on what your goals are and what you want. The key to a good work out is a good deit, good eating and proper vitamins ect. Also Do what works for you, everyone is different, I know people who cant get shit from some of the things I do, and visversa with there exersises.

PS- If you want Ill post you a pic on what a Bench can do just for your chest ;)

[shakalaka]

hmmm ic.
Well from what I have been noticing from my last 2-3 years of my workout career/time, for me I think its more about proper technique. Thats what I personally think. I mean to say, you could bench a 200lbs and not get the results you want if you aren't doing it properly. Same thing I guess would imply to any exercise. Before I used to do bench presses on a normal bases instead of dumbell one's, but I guess I got out of touch with those and just started doing the dumbell ones. I am seeing decent gains/affects for my pecs with the dumbells as well. In last two weeks I increased the weights by 25lbs for my each hand for all my exercises, so that might be the cause as well. The only thing I dont like is, some piece of shit who doesnt know shit about working out or doesnt know what the gym looks like, is most likely to ask you, "how much do you bench?" And I go I dont bench man, I do diff. exercises. "O really, you are not built then man, even I can bench this and that." Not that it pisses me off or anything, I just think its kinda retarded. I am so used to those dumbell exercises for the chest, I do incline, straight, decline, and flys all with dumbells, its prolly gonna be hard for me to stop doing those and start doing bench's. What I can do is try to fit the bench exercises in my chest workout. It will be more tiring I would guess but even lighter weights are better then nothing I guess.

[YCB]

Start switching it up, maybe change it every week, I only use the bar right now and should start using dumbells.. maybe today??, if you think you can't do much on the bar who cares, you haven't been doing it much so you basically need your body to "learn" the excersise. Within a few weeks you should be the one saying "oh i bench 225 with the bar, and 90's with dumbell's". Shock your body once and a while... keeps you on your toes, plus you'll notice that your chest or whatever muscle you worked on is sore (which doesn't always mean that anytime your sore your muscle had been worked, but something is working) haha

[1-Cent]

If you actually asked "a bunch of bodybuilders" there wouldn't be mixed opinions, BP is a must for overall chest development. A good number of people fear the big compound movements (squat, deads, bench, cleans), so it wouldn't be surprising if you asked random people at the gym and a few said BP isn't needed, but no bodybuilder would ever say that.

[shakalaka]

Well to be specific I asked like 2-3 guys only. One of them is the trainer at the gym I go to. Pretty built guy, and hes the one who said that I "should" do it. And I quote, "Its a good thing if you do, I would say that you should, but its really upto you as to what suits you better." And the other guy I asked is some 25-30 year old guy at the gym who I have seen benching 340lbs. He said, "I know a lot of people with perfect shapes and who never did bench press." Well either way, I have thought about this, and most likely I am going to start with my normal routine of dumbell presses and alike with normal heavy weights I can lift. And then I am going to get on the benches, however I will be fatigued by then so whatever weight I can lift, I will prolly just do that.

[heavyD]

Decline BP is the best for shaping your pecs. Doing just regular benchpress can lead to man-boobs if you are of the body type that carries a little bit of fat around with you or if you gain wieght down the road.

[Wildcat]

not only is BP a key chest exercise its also a critical for developing tricep mass. i usually dont change up my exercises, rather i change the order in which i do them in. do your chest routine in opposite sequence; HUGE gains.

[shakalaka]

Originally posted by Wildcat
not only is BP a key chest exercise its also a critical for developing tricep mass. i usually dont change up my exercises, rather i change the order in which i do them in. do your chest routine in opposite sequence; HUGE gains.

So are you saying that I should start with as heavy on the bench press as I can when I am still fresh, and as I get tired move on to the dumbell presses?

[1-Cent]

Originally posted by shakalaka
Well to be specific I asked like 2-3 guys only. One of them is the trainer at the gym I go to. Pretty built guy, and hes the one who said that I "should" do it. And I quote, "Its a good thing if you do, I would say that you should, but its really upto you as to what suits you better." And the other guy I asked is some 25-30 year old guy at the gym who I have seen benching 340lbs. He said, "I know a lot of people with perfect shapes and who never did bench press." Well either way, I have thought about this, and most likely I am going to start with my normal routine of dumbell presses and alike with normal heavy weights I can lift. And then I am going to get on the benches, however I will be fatigued by then so whatever weight I can lift, I will prolly just do that.

One thing I can tell you from personal experiance is that gym trainers are pretty near useless. By gym trainers I mean the ones that work for golds or worlds or where ever you may go. I've taken all the certificates needed to do that and have done it on and off when I was at university for spare change. The training they get is very very minimal, its basicly safety, very basic anatomy, demonstrations on proper form, just all the basics you need to know to make it sound like you know what you're talking about to some obease idiot with lots of money. :D

If you want a big chest you need bench presses in your split, dumb bells will keep you "in shape" but you won't get big with them alone.

[Tyler883]

I can't imagine giving up the bench press, nothing like that feeling you get when you sit up from a good set. it's the closest I've experienced to Arnold Swartnegger's "cumming all the time" comment

[~Leah~]

Originally posted by 1-Cent


One thing I can tell you from personal experiance is that gym trainers are pretty near useless. By gym trainers I mean the ones that work for golds or worlds or where ever you may go. I've taken all the certificates needed to do that and have done it on and off when I was at university for spare change. The training they get is very very minimal, its basicly safety, very basic anatomy, demonstrations on proper form, just all the basics you need to know to make it sound like you know what you're talking about to some obease idiot with lots of money. :D

If you want a big chest you need bench presses in your split, dumb bells will keep you "in shape" but you won't get big with them alone.
Ahem.... all of us Gold's trainers at my location have or are a year away from getting their Kinesiology degrees majoring in exercise and health physiology... such as myself for example :rolleyes:

[shakalaka]

Originally posted by 1-Cent


One thing I can tell you from personal experiance is that gym trainers are pretty near useless. By gym trainers I mean the ones that work for golds or worlds or where ever you may go. I've taken all the certificates needed to do that and have done it on and off when I was at university for spare change. The training they get is very very minimal, its basicly safety, very basic anatomy, demonstrations on proper form, just all the basics you need to know to make it sound like you know what you're talking about to some obease idiot with lots of money. :D

If you want a big chest you need bench presses in your split, dumb bells will keep you "in shape" but you won't get big with them alone.

Lol at Leah!
Anyways I understand what you mean, thats what my opinion was for them before. But you cant really generalize this for every trainer out there. Like this guy I mentioned hes pretty built. Like if you look at him you will go, the guy knows what hes talking about. I mean too say you dont get big just like that, besides the dedication its all the knowledge and information that plays as well. Him being a trainer as well is just a plus I guess. Me personally, I would trust any built guy, cauz they have been through what I am going through. Thats just how I look at it.

[1-Cent]

Originally posted by ~Leah~

Ahem.... all of us Gold's trainers at my location have or are a year away from getting their Kinesiology degrees majoring in exercise and health physiology... such as myself for example :rolleyes:

If that was true why would you be working there for a miniscule fraction of what you could make going solo. One of my closest friends is a strongman trainer, he charges $60,000 USD per year, per client for his BASIC package and has clients lining up out the door, hes got the same degree and just turned 25... If you have the same credentials and work at Golds, something is seriously off.

[shakalaka]

lol...I dont want a war starting off in my thread. So just make another thread if you guys want to fight about this and such. It was a simple question and thanks for all the input by all you guys.
Plus I got another question.
What are your opinions about Decline Bench Press or Decline Dumbell Press? I read lots of articles for "perfect chest workouts" and such by different body builders. None of the ones that I read (and I read like 5) had any mentioning of decline chest exercises in their chest work outs. This makes me think, that its not even a necessity for the perfect pecs.

[~Leah~]

Originally posted by 1-Cent


If that was true why would you be working there for a miniscule fraction of what you could make going solo. One of my closest friends is a strongman trainer, he charges $60,000 USD per year, per client for his BASIC package and has clients lining up out the door, hes got the same degree and just turned 25... If you have the same credentials and work at Golds, something is seriously off.

No war starting here, but for one, I have 1 more year of school left. It's called getting the experience and the client base. I have my own solo thing as well on the side that I'm not going crazy over yet, because frankly, I don't have the time while going to school. Everyone there quits once they have been finished their degree usually within 6 mths. I am also starting another training business at the moment with 2 other guys who are finished. And I'm 20... so I'm pretty sure I've got some time to establish myself, but thanks for coming out, champ.

[Wildcat]

Originally posted by shakalaka
lol...I dont want a war starting off in my thread. So just make another thread if you guys want to fight about this and such. It was a simple question and thanks for all the input by all you guys.
Plus I got another question.
What are your opinions about Decline Bench Press or Decline Dumbell Press? I read lots of articles for "perfect chest workouts" and such by different body builders. None of the ones that I read (and I read like 5) had any mentioning of decline chest exercises in their chest work outs. This makes me think, that its not even a necessity for the perfect pecs.

the lower part of the pec is trained during decline, and its the easiest part to develop. the hard part is developing a large upper chest that rounds out from the collar bone. plus, the lower part of the chest is being hit on a flat bench anyways. so decline is redundant, akward and just unecessary for developing "the perfect pecs" lol.

[Tyler883]

Originally posted by Wildcat


the lower part of the pec is trained during decline, and its the easiest part to develop. the hard part is developing a large upper chest that rounds out from the collar bone. plus, the lower part of the chest is being hit on a flat bench anyways. so decline is redundant, akward and just unecessary for developing "the perfect pecs" lol.

with all that said, do you still incorporate into your workouts for variety?

[Wildcat]

^no, i havent done decline for over a year. as said before, for variety i change the sequence of the exercises for my chest routine or use dumbells instead of barbell or vise versa.

i dont have a formula for this persay, its pretty random and based on how i feel/ what i feel like doing that day.