One of the most common confusion that gym goers often face on their chest day is whether they should perform the presses with a dumbbell or a barbell. Both have their own advantages, so let’s discuss each one and take a look of what each one has to offer and why you should incorporate both of them in your workout plan –
Benefits of Barbell press:
Barbell bench presses are one of the most traditional and popular choices for chest workouts. Listed below are some of its advantages –
- A great thing about using a barbell is that you can lift more weight, this way you can reach failure quicker and exert more force on the muscles being trained.
- Using a barbell for pressing reduces the chances of shoulder injuries.
Benefits of Dumbbell press:
Although many gym experts regard Barbell press as the king of all chest exercises, dumbbell press has its own set of advantages –
- Since each arm gets its own system to press, each arm moves independently to lift the weight. This allows each side to do equal work and develop equally.
- Pressing with dumbbells requires both your hands and your arms to lift the dumbbell and allows you to extend more, which increases your range of motion.
- If you are facing issues such as muscle imbalance, dumbbell bench press should be your go to exercise to balance your chest muscle and get that symmetry.
Final word:
Both barbell and dumbbell bench press are different and should be used concurrently when training since each is a compound movement that is essential to any program.
At the end of the day it all comes down to personal preference, I prefer dumbbell presses more than that barbell press because of its increased range of motion and more muscle involvement.
To round it all up, use the barbell bench press for overall upper body mass and the dumbbell bench press for better thickness and fullness in the chest muscles.