This is something that I've been wondering for a while. I understand that Dumbbell Press is mainly for isolating the chest and that Bench Press hits both chest and tris hard. I've been wondering, is there an equivalent amount of weight that one should be doing on one exercise that would translate to the amount of weight to the other? For example, say I can bench 210 on Bench Press, what pound DBs should I be using for DB Press to get the same intensity?
I know that adding the weight of the two dumbbells doesn't equal your best weight on the bench press so that's out.
For a real life example, I've been stuck at ~70 lbs with DB Press but for Bench Press I cap at around 180-200 (220 is my 1 rep max when I last tested). Is this an ok ratio? If not, what should I be focusing on? Thanks. Sorry if this is a silly question.
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03-25-2009, 06:59 AM #1
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DB Press and Bench Press weight conversion
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03-25-2009, 07:06 AM #2
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No, good question,
i do around 190lbs for 10 reps on the flat bench but the funny thing is i only do 65s on the flat dumbell bench for 10 reps..means nothing i believe.~~~~~~~~~~
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03-25-2009, 07:20 AM #3
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03-25-2009, 07:41 AM #4
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03-25-2009, 08:11 AM #5
Thats around where I'm at I'd say. I don't know how many reps you do with your sets but i do a 5x5 for bench and on barbell flat bench i end with 190 and with dumbells I'll end with 85's, though I have gotten 85's up 7 times on the last set two weeks ago. But it really varies from person to person.
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03-25-2009, 08:28 AM #6
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03-25-2009, 10:56 AM #7
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Alot of people who have a big gap between the amount they BB bench press and the total amount of weight they can DB press (two 50's = 100 lbs.) are guys who probably bounce the bar off their chest or otherwise use poor form. If you can BB bench 375 and only DB bench with 110's, there's another explanation. I think the consensus is that your combined weight on DB bench press should be about 80% of what you do on BB bench.
190 x 0.8 = 152/2 = 76 lbs.
So you doing 70's on DB bench is pretty close to where you should be.
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03-25-2009, 11:08 AM #8
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01-02-2011, 06:10 PM #9
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01-02-2011, 06:18 PM #10
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I've found it tends to work out that each DB weighs ~1/3 of the bench press weight. So if you bench 135, you'd DB bench ~45's, if you bench 180, you'd DB bench ~60's, etc.
SQ 172.5kg. BP 105kg. DL 200kg. OHP 62.5kg @ 67.3kg
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01-02-2011, 06:28 PM #11
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01-02-2011, 06:46 PM #12
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01-02-2011, 06:48 PM #13
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01-02-2011, 07:06 PM #14
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01-02-2011, 09:02 PM #15
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01-02-2011, 09:43 PM #16
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01-02-2011, 10:47 PM #17
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01-03-2011, 04:00 AM #18
ive seen this question asked and answered many times, any the only right answer is thats its different for everyone. Some people are better at barbells and some dumbells.
My flat bench is around 240 max, 225 for 4 reps, 185 for 12 reps
My flat dumbells is 95 x 4, 85 x 8, 75 x 14, everyonce in a while ill go up to the 100's if I have a spotter for a few forced reps.As of 02/10/16
170 lbs
Bench - 225 x 10
Deadlift - 385 x 5
Squat - 315 x 5
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01-03-2011, 04:50 AM #19
There is no general conversion between DB and BB that works for everyone. The conversion rate is specific to each individual and depends on severel factors, mostly what lift the individual focuses on more and emphasizes. For some people, their DB press is 80% of their BB bench, for others 90 and some can even DB bench more than BB bench.
For example, last time I BB benched about 2 months ago, I could only get 225 for a few reps, which is very little when you consider I can Incline Dumbbell Press 120 lbs dumbbells for 4 reps with full ROM.
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02-28-2012, 07:17 PM #20
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02-28-2012, 07:32 PM #21
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02-28-2012, 08:09 PM #22
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11-03-2015, 06:21 PM #23
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