Substitute for dumbell bench press

[sh50]

I am 45. I started strength training recently for toning my body. I don't have the time to go to the gym(I play Tennis and do yoga regularly). Apart from weighted pushups, is there any other substitute exercise for dumbell bench press? I mean what could one do if one had dumbbells but did not want to buy a bench? Kindly let me know.

Can someone confirm this:-

"1 pound of fat burns only 2 calories a day while 1 pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day "- Is the difference really so huge- nearly twenty five times?

[Cheesewookie]

You can do parallel bar dips for your chest.. dunno

[Joelift]

Here are some push-up variations. http://www.bboy.org/forums/how-get-s...on-thread.html

You won't get to be a monster off of push-ups alone, but you can actually get quite a bit bigger if you're untrained. I don't know about the other question.

[Pool_Shark]

You could try incline push-ups, with your feet on a chair or something.

You could also try super-setting your push-ups. I used to do a set of 10 wide grip push-ups, immediately followed by 10 close grip push-ups, immediately followed by 10 bench dips.

[chazzy1864]

Look into blast straps. Elite FTS sells the ones actually named blast straps, they are the most pricey, but it will let you know what I'm talking about.


You only need a door frame or something solid to hang them on, and it will be far tougher than any DB bench press you've done.

[Rectify]

You already have the DBs but not a bench? Well, you could fold a towel or two and lay on it so it raises the middle of your upper back (between shoulder blades) and do presses from the floor, if you're that stuck.

Ab benches are cheap though man and if you have DB they are a fine alternative to an actual BB flat bench... and they fold up to fit almost anywhere, more compact than a BB bench. You could also do flat, incline and decline off an Ab bench with DBs because they're designed for decline crunches. Just flatten it to do regular bench, though you'll be close to the floor, which doesn't really matter so much i suppose.

You could also get an exercise ball if you want something easier to throw into a corner, that takes up more room though.

[sh50]

You already have the DBs but not a bench? Well, you could fold a towel or two and lay on it so it raises the middle of your upper back (between shoulder blades) and do presses from the floor, if you're that stuck.

Ab benches are cheap though man and if you have DB they are a fine alternative to an actual BB flat bench... and they fold up to fit almost anywhere, more compact than a BB bench. You could also do flat, incline and decline off an Ab bench with DBs because they're designed for decline crunches. Just flatten it to do regular bench, though you'll be close to the floor, which doesn't really matter so much i suppose.

You could also get an exercise ball if you want something easier to throw into a corner, that takes up more room though.

Thanks everyone. Considering the amazing variety of pushups, one wonders if the benchpress is even necessary(The problem is of space). If one were to do twenty pushups and repeat that thrice, would that not be better than a bench press?

What about the second part of the original question- 1 pound of fat burns only 2 calories a day while 1 pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day "- Is the difference really so huge- nearly twenty five times?

[Marbleshade]

Thanks everyone. Considering the amazing variety of pushups, one wonders if the benchpress is even necessary(The problem is of space). If one were to do twenty pushups and repeat that thrice, would that not be better than a bench press?

That's not how it works. The number of reps you do in an exercise (with either the last rep failing or being somewhat close to failure) determines the type of growth that the muscle undergoes.

20 reps is considered warmup range. If you did an exercise program that focused on 20 reps or more of each exercise, it's unlikely you'd put on much muscle (that's typically considered endurance lifting, rather than strength or hypertrophy lifting).

Essentially, once 20 reps of pushups becomes easy, it's not going to do much for you.