Push Ups VS. Bench Press

[Solid_Muscle210]

So I was wondering if I were to take a break from the bench and instead do push ups, would i be able to maintain the same strength?

[-Ironside-]

No.
Bench press = heavy approx 10 rep max (going with hypertrophy avg)
Push ups = Lots, most males can do over 50.
Endurance vs Strength

[Solid_Muscle210]

Originally Posted by -Ironside-

No.
Bench press = heavy approx 10 rep max (going with hypertrophy avg)
Push ups = Lots, most males can do over 50.
Endurance vs Strength

Even if I were to change in number of reps?

[-Ironside-]

Originally Posted by Solid_Muscle210

Even if I were to change in number of reps?

Maybe by adding weight so I think than you would benefit greater in stabilizers than chest strength.

[crystallinentity]

It might help maintain it. I know benching helps maintain my pushups, and I never go above 10 reps on bench.

You could also put weights on your back for pushups, or in a backpack on your back, etc etc. That would help more for strength.

[-Ironside-]

Originally Posted by Jernasty

It might help maintain it. I know benching helps maintain my pushups, and I never go above 10 reps on bench.

Unfortunately it only works one way with benching and pushing.
Benching will help push ups but push ups won't help strength all that much.

[crystallinentity]

Originally Posted by -Ironside-

Unfortunately it only works one way with benching and pushing.
Benching will help push ups but push ups won't help strength all that much.

It has to help some, even if only a small difference.

More important is why OP would want to take a break from bench. If youre going on vacation you may as well do pushups.

[Heavy_Beats]

No, push ups are to easy.

However dips are easier to add weight to compared to push ups, the downside is that dips are initially more challenging (e.g. 150lbs for your first set of bench press) so varying intensity will be limited for a weaker trainee.

For a trainee with greater relative strength this should not be an issue.

Imo Keep doing bench press, if you cannot do bench press or dips for some reason beyond your control then do plyometric push up.

[Solid_Muscle210]

Thanks for the info guys

[Attacus]

Put a backpack on and stick a plate or two in the bag and you bet they can replace your benching for awhile if that's gone stale for you.

[speed650]

pushups will actually increase the amount of weight you can bench cause they work on your form, so doing both exercises is a good thing. Try doing the pushups with dumbbells for handles using a wide grip to make it harder.

To the guy who said that most guys can do 50 pushups. Thats cause they don't know how to do pushups. Most guys do pussy little pushup shrugs, not real pushups. I want to see you do 50 slow, deep pushups, 1 second down, 1 second up... Most guys will not be able to do 20.

[EoR]

It will help reduce the impact of strength loss but none can replace the other. Unless you are doing push-ups with 5 college girls on your back.

[JoseAlonso]

Nope, if you'd like to keep your strength, stick with the bench press.

[LactoseTolerant]

Originally Posted by Solid_Muscle210

Even if I were to change in number of reps?

Changing reps means nothing if there isn't concurrent change in load, unless you're doing something like a deload.

[djansen]

maybe if you pre-exaust the chest and do clap pushups with a pause at the bottom, those kill you pretty quick

[HeavilyBeastin]

do heavy weighted pushups

[HowLeTT]

Originally Posted by -Ironside-

No.
Push ups = Lots, most males can do over 50.
Endurance vs Strength

eh? 50?... is that a fact or just a guess, because I don't know many average people who could do 50 pushups in a row.

[Drekkor]

Originally Posted by Solid_Muscle210

So I was wondering if I were to take a break from the bench and instead do push ups, would i be able to maintain the same strength?

You'd be fine for a few weeks, at most a month before you'd notice a sharp decrease in strength. A break is fine, but obviously you can't quit pressing and expect your press str to be maintained.

[crystallinentity]

Originally Posted by HowLeTT

eh? 50?... is that a fact or just a guess, because I don't know many average people who could do 50 pushups in a row.

I read a health survey that says the average guy can do about 27, so who knows where that 50 came from.

[lightningwatche]

Do one handed push ups. They should be as difficult as body weight bench press, except they require a lot more stabilizer work. If you typically rep more than your body weight, they won't maintain your strength, but will slow the loss down dramatically. You can also do one legged squats to maintain your squat ability a bit, but they don't work your lower back liek squats do.

[lightningwatche]

Originally Posted by Jernasty

I read a health survey that says the average guy can do about 27, so who knows where that 50 came from.

Depends if you count the average guy at a gym, or the average american.

If you include all the old people and fat people, the average is 27. (50+0)/2 is approximately 27.

I'm a skinny guy and don't workout out as often as I should, and I can do 75 push ups.

[crystallinentity]

Originally Posted by lightningwatche

Depends if you count the average guy at a gym, or the average american.

If you include all the old people and fat people, the average is 27. (50+0)/2 is approximately 27.

I'm a skinny guy and don't workout out as often as I should, and I can do 75 push ups.

He said most males, to me that kinda sounds like he meant everyone.

It would make more sense if he meant people who excercised regularly, though.

[mjw8204]

My bench strength tanks pretty quickly if I don't do it for a while. The only other exercise that gives me decent carry-over is incline bench.

The bottom line is that if you care about bench strength, you don't want to go long without benching.

[watchngars]

I've always had shoulder problems that has limited my bench press abilities. In October, I started P90X which is loaded with push-ups. Several days ago, I did the chest and back and afterwards counted up my push-ups. With all the variations, regular, wide, military, decline, side to side, etc.., I ended up doing 306 push-ups during the routine. For the first time since September, I went to the gym today to do Bench. Even after 4 months of doing hundreds of push-ups routinely, my bench strength was no better. So, in my experience, the push-ups have been great for me, but didn't help my bench press all that much.

[Pain_FreaK]

Hmm...my experience seems to be different from everybody else's. I took about three months off about a year ago from doing benching (I only bench dumbbells) on my chest days (I couldn't seem to add any more weight). Instead, I did LOTS of pushups. I did 10-20 pushups between every exercise. I still did all the other chest exercises I usually do besides benching. My workouts definitely seemed more exhausting. When I started benching again I was surprised to see that I could do 3x10 with 75's, 80's, then 85's, whereas before I was doing 3x10 with 55's, 60's, then 60's.

I guess I got kindof a weird case or maybe it just helped me overcome my plateau...

[-Ironside-]

Originally Posted by HowLeTT

eh? 50?... is that a fact or just a guess, because I don't know many average people who could do 50 pushups in a row.

That was a guesstimate of the avg physically active individual.
When I said 'most males' I mean most males who can call themselves men, not computer geeks and self loathing emos that believe it's ok to wear girls jeans.
Uhg, I hate emos.

[iSkinny]

Adaptation says no.