chest building: weighted dips vs bench

[squatlover]

Both are mass building exercises, but which one is the best for plain putting on mass. ideally you would occasionally switch, but which one is the bread and butter?

[chip]

weighted dips

[Jcfreak_02]

Bench, all forms such as incline decline and flat.

[BRIT_BEEF]

Originally posted by squatlover
Both are mass building exercises, but which one is the best for plain putting on mass. ideally you would occasionally switch, but which one is the bread and butter?

If I had to choose one I would go for bench press, but as I don't have to I include both in my routine.
Not very helpful I know, sorry.

[Bignbuff]

IDK, they're both great exercises IMO.

[AMG]

Bench

[squatlover]

I think that dips tend to neglect the clavicular head of the pectoralis muscles, and they tend to put much more emphasis on the triceps. I also vote for bench, but wanted to see peoples opinion because there has been a lot of cussing the bench press in the past

[D&G]

Dips are far superior to bench - more stabilizing muscles involved and because you are moving the whole body you get a greater release of GH - bench doesn't even compare!

[Cardinal]

A lot of guys can't go super heavy on the dips due to the pressure it puts on their shoulders. Some of this is form related I admit, but not all of it.

The fact that you have so many options with the bench press makes it superior imo. You would need to specify what type of bench you are talking about and an exact form. It is difficult to compare one or two basic types of dips with a much more general class of bench presses. The bench presses would win due to variety in that instance.

[Ulyanov]

Originally posted by D&G
Dips are far superior to bench - more stabilizing muscles involved and because you are moving the whole body you get a greater release of GH - bench doesn't even compare!

Bump

[ironlung]

D&G - I agree, Dips are far superior to Bench. Much greater release of GH, powerful exercise!
It also depends on your form with Dips which muscles are worked to a greater extent, ie; how much forward lean, elbow flare, etc.

[hotshot5820]

I think if you're trying to build mass it woudn't be fair to pick one of those exercises. If you want to put on the most mass you need to do both weighted dips and different forms of bench IMO. Both are great exercises anyways



HS

[cramron]

for pectoral mass gotta go with bench obviously, but sheer overall upperbody mass would be dips for sure

[Scar]

do both

[squatlover]

Originally posted by ironlung
D&G - I agree, Dips are far superior to Bench. Much greater release of GH, powerful exercise!
It also depends on your form with Dips which muscles are worked to a greater extent, ie; how much forward lean, elbow flare, etc.

aahh... i feared this as much. dips and inclines for me in the future.

[hardtribe]

Without a question - Bench, Bench , and mode benc. Flat, incline, and decline.

Dips work the shoulders

And besides dips are not a mass building exercise.
Dips work (according to a book called Strength Training Anatomy) is the lower pecs (page48)

Peace

[chip]

Originally posted by hardtribe
Without a question - Bench, Bench , and mode benc. Flat, incline, and decline.

Dips work the shoulders

And besides dips are not a mass building exercise.
Dips work (according to a book called Strength Training Anatomy) is the lower pecs (page48)

Peace

I disagree , it's a matter of form when doing dips.If you want awesome triceps - elbows in , if you want a great looking chest flare your elbows out.Fact is very few people can do dips and look for a different way .Pushups are one of the best exercises out there but again most people hate do do them.

[bluehazard]

Originally posted by chip
I disagree , it's a matter of form when doing dips.If you want awesome triceps - elbows in , if you want a great looking chest flare your elbows out.Fact is very few people can do dips and look for a different way .Pushups are one of the best exercises out there but again most people hate do do them.

Good point. I like doing weighted dips.

[hardtribe]

The thing about dips, weigted or otherwise - is they work the chest. The question asked - are they are good mass exercise for the chest.

The answer is no - I beleive that dips are a good finishing movement.

For mass it's best to stick with the basic press / incline movements and use the dips, push ups, etc as finishing movements.

[amusclehead]

both. you can't compare leaning-forward dips to, say, incline db press. that's comparing apples and oranges. if i had to pick one though, i'd say stuff like benching for best pec growth

[REN]

dippidy dips

[DavetheDog]

Originally posted by REN
dippidy dips

Yep. Dips.

[drewbie 51]

Incline barbell press. I dont think flat barbell bench press is that great of a mass builder. Dips are good but too much stress is placed on the tricep. Incline bench followed by dips will build a perfect proportionate chest

[bluehazard]

It's a rough choice. Both are tremendous mass builders for your upper body because they call into play so many different muscles.

I've always put my weighted dips after bench, mainly because I'm into powerlifting so I want my bench to go up more than my dips. Personally, the bench itself really didn't put much mass onto my chest until I was repping 200+ lbs, but I'm sure that's the same for anyone.

I'd go with the bench, but keep the dips in the program.

[squatlover]

You see, you now have changed my mind again. The problem with doing both dips and bench (and incline) in one chest day is that I can't lift as much weight as I would like on my second exercise. For example I am doing dips with plus 20kilos, and then will have a tough time with 80kg bench. I want to build mass, and I think concentrating on one exercise would be the best, or would be easiest in my book.

[SuperZERO]

Alternate

[Athlete84]

Do Bench one day, and on other day of the week add weighted dips to your workout.
I think Bench Press is a better builder of chest mass, but weighted dips are really good also, you should do them both, not use one to substitute the other.

[squatlover]

alternating sounds a good idea: 4 weeks of flat bench, then 4 weeks of weighted dips, with all the supplementary exercises as well of course.

[ironman42]

imo

whenever you work a muscle you should blast the heck out of it and then finish it. On my heavy Chest/tri day i blast my chest with my flat bench and then follow that with some intermediate movements to help develop it such as: (incline, decline, fly's, whatever) then use dips to move from chest to try. Since dips use mainly your lower pectoralis muscle and your tri's, you'd be finishing your chest with dips and blasting your tri's setting up your following exercises to finish your triceps off.

But i would have to say use them both.

[cramron]

Originally posted by ironman42
imo

whenever you work a muscle you should blast the heck out of it and then finish it. On my heavy Chest/tri day i blast my chest with my flat bench and then follow that with some intermediate movements to help develop it such as: (incline, decline, fly's, whatever) then use dips to move from chest to try. Since dips use mainly your lower pectoralis muscle and your tri's, you'd be finishing your chest with dips and blasting your tri's setting up your following exercises to finish your triceps off.

But i would have to say use them both.

excellent advise