Benching with dbs is to light, is it time for barbells in my chest training?

[ghettocandyman]

I been doing dbs as long as i can remember for incline flat and decline. I like to lift heavy around 4-6 reps and my gym has dbs only up to 135 and im at 4sets of 10 with 135s on all three no matter how i order it or how fatigued i am i can get 10 and i get tired easily...but yeah
is it time to move to the bar? Or maybe a new gym? I couldnt even press 225 on incline today that makes me feel like im weak af

[JJinSS]

yea man give barbells a shot. i can't barbell bench because my left forearm is surgically shorter. by what the doctor says he shorted the ulna bone by 4 mm to match my radius bone. but in the x rays the ulnas still longer, guess the doc doesn't wanna cut out 2 much bone... and the entire forearm i think in a while is shorter than my right naturally.

when i bench my friends can see the bar tilt. and it causes imbalances in chest muscle activiation, hurts my wrists and always hurts my right elbow.

so i have no choice but to do DB's for upper body.

as for you, go barbells man. barbells is always the way to go bro. Just in my case... sadly i can't. . . thank god i can still deadlift and squat with barbells or else i woulda left the gym a long time ago. and just turned into some cardio fanatic and just run in circles all day.

yea... idk what im gunna do with the DB's when i get to the weights your doing. most gyms probably won't go past 150's with DB's. so yea... guess ill have to just do like 20 reps or something than...

[firefox16]

i'd say start training with the barbell ... its not worth looking for a new gym and most gyms dont have much heavier dumbbells than that anyways...

[ghettocandyman]

Damn bro props for still lifting despite the challenges u may face

and i live by quads gym they have over 200 pound dbs but its 50 a month i pay abt 15 for mine

how fast will the strength come on with the barbells? I mean....i couldnt even do 225 and i can prolly hit 150 plus with dbs easy which theoretically i should be in the 405 area i would think...if im pressing low weights for awhile thats gunna destroy me mentally lol

[JJinSS]

nah man. barbells u should go up quick. My roommate we started at about the same place, but he has normal even sized forearms... and at about 190's i just hit a wall. and he just kept going.

hes still going. i can't get past 210. but hes doing 275 now.

and its been like 1 semester of school.

and d/w you can't compare DB's and barbell bench to each other. they are completely different exercises. depends whichever once you've been doing for a while.

once you barbell bench for a long time. go back to DB's and try weights you will divide your barbell weight in half. and you will fail. and your going to say. wtf? i used to DB bench 135's for ****s and giggles.

[JJinSS]

stick wit the gym that u been going to man haha 15 bucks compared to 50! no brainer!

just barbell bench, its the **** anyways. i just can't do it... cry...

i tried 80'lb DB's last week. ima try 90's this time. hopefully i can knock out 3x5 easy so i can try out the 100lb DB's. Ill try to get the max DB weight in my gym with 3x5. than ill have to work to 3x10 haha.

should give me something to do for the next year haha. my gym goes up to like 180.

[Bradster101190]

I been doing dbs as long as i can remember for incline flat and decline. I like to lift heavy around 4-6 reps and my gym has dbs only up to 135 and im at 4sets of 10 with 135s on all three no matter how i order it or how fatigued i am i can get 10 and i get tired easily...but yeah
is it time to move to the bar? Or maybe a new gym? I couldnt even press 225 on incline today that makes me feel like im weak af

Barbell bench is very useful , it just depends on your goals. For maximum chest growth do a wide grip for example, or if you want tricep gains( which dumbells don't hit as much for most people and could be your weakness) do close grip benching. Also 99% of gyms will not have heavier dumbbells ,it would cost me 9000 dollars to get 120-150s in my gym.


Your bench is weaker now probably just because you are not accustomed to the movement yet , once you get the movement pattern and technique down you should make gains really fast.

[toneekay]

Barbell bench is very useful , it just depends on your goals. For maximum chest growth do a wide grip for example, or if you want tricep gains( which dumbells don't hit as much for most people and could be your weakness) do close grip benching. Also 99% of gyms will not have heavier dumbbells ,it would cost me 9000 dollars to get 120-150s in my gym.

Your bench is weaker now probably just because you are not accustomed to the movement yet , once you get the movement pattern and technique down you should make gains really fast.

+1... Solid advice.

What i'm interested in is seeing a video of you doing 135 lbs DBs 4x10. Your depth is probably lacking.

This could be a part of it as well; a lot of people that use DBs don't even come close to having their arms parallel. I know body mechanics plays a big role here, and if you can't then you can't, but if you really can, and even more, push past that point, then you'll be in a whole new world when it comes to DB pressing.

[RainingBlood]

**** like this worries me and deters me away from going DB only.

[toneekay]

**** like this worries me and deters me away from going DB only.

Lol it's good to have a mixture of both BB and DB in your routine.

[RainingBlood]

Lol it's good to have a mixture of both BB and DB in your routine.

I have problems with the barbell bench press and it's barbell variants.

[odangdude]

Wait, so is it better to bench with DB's than with a barbell? i can only bench like 135 and ive been doing BB.

[tryingtobb]

Wait, so is it better to bench with DB's than with a barbell? i can only bench like 135 and ive been doing BB.

If you choose to use DBS you should go deeper than you do with a barbell. Barbells allow you to put on more weight.

[ghettocandyman]

What i'm interested in is seeing a video of you doing 135 lbs DBs 4x10. Your depth is probably lacking.

I dont lack depth, i go to parallel if not a tad lower. im not some dumbass that tries to lift **** i cant. i know thats rare but Ive maxed out on this shyt and thats all there is to it lol and im just trying to get big as hell. That is what i desire

[odangdude]

If you choose to use DBS you should go deeper than you do with a barbell. Barbells allow you to put on more weight.

ok and one more question. Is it bad if i don't touch the bar to my chest? I go to the gym alone so i use safety racks. its only a few inches from my chest, but yeah i don't wanna risk benching alone.

[Retardo-pex]

What i'm interested in is seeing a video of you doing 135 lbs DBs 4x10. Your depth is probably lacking.

5'4" 210 lbs wouldn't shock me if he was blowng through that weight. Another alternative is chnage your range to a top end of 15 and go for 3-4x12-15 instead of 10.

[DCSpartan]

If youare doing the same number of reps for your incline DB press as your decline DB press, you are doing something wrong.

[ThickAsABrick]

What i'm interested in is seeing a video of you doing 135 lbs DBs 4x10. Your depth is probably lacking.

brb pressing 135x10 for 4 sets yet not being able to incline 225

i'm guessing there's about a 1 inch ROM involved, maybe less.

[Retoaded]

brb pressing 135x10 for 4 sets yet not being able to incline 225

i'm guessing there's about a 1 inch ROM involved, maybe less.

thats the first thing I thought when I read thread - just doesn't make any sense at all. you can inclince 135s for goodness sake but you can't incline 225 on a barbell? makes no sense at all.

[Xuaxace]

brb pressing 135x10 for 4 sets yet not being able to incline 225

i'm guessing there's about a 1 inch ROM involved, maybe less.

This.

OP's lockout strength might be great, his delt power... no so much.


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I can still related though. I went all the way to 110dbx3 realised.. how the hell am I going to progress without more db. that was 9 months ago and now I do PL benching. Much better progression

[foreverSNAFU]

If you're doing full ROM, sure, switch to BB.

If you're doing half/quarter ROM, try doing it full ROM.

[ghettocandyman]

Mmmmmmm today i took a buncha hemo rage and spike shooters nd felt ballsy got 315 easy on decline didnt try nething else or more cuz it was bak day nd needed to conserve energy. Not very happy as for not doing 225 i have never been able to put up much with barbells no matter what kinda press it is, Im not exactly used to it, but im sure ill be piling it on sooner or later i hope
Also as for weight and reps for decline my titties and body in generl are done by that point
after incline flat then incline cable flies supersetted with crossoverfs then finally decline im swollen and can barely move but still do.. U all should know that feeling, i wuld think...

[ghettocandyman]

Wait, so is it better to bench with DB's than with a barbell? i can only bench like 135 and ive been doing BB.

Mmmm u can do dbs, sounds dumb coming from me but ****ing for me the progress was quick Even when i was natty..and grew my stubborn chest that i couldnt get with barbells....try it...u wont face my dilemma for a few years anyway.

[Ivarr84]

Video please. I find this really hard to believe.