Press Up's v Bench Press
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First up, I'll thorw this out that I have always been pretty weak in this area, even when I was working out all the time and squatting huge amounts, I have only ever been able to bench a little over my own weight, and never more than 100kg! <br />
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Since the new year I been doing some weights, and find that I can feel my chest having been worked out better after press-up type exercises (normal, feet up on swiss ball) than when I use a bar or a DB's for flies or presses. <br />
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Obviously for variation using the bar and DB's wil be good, just wondering what the views are.... -
Are you always doing the BB and DB work on a flat bench?<br />
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Different shaped bodies react to exercises differently. For me the flat bench press doesn't really hit the chest that well.. I find a slight incline of about 10-15 deg with DBs is the best (although I try to go through lots of angles, dips etc)<br />
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What is your elbow position when benching? If you tuck them in close to your body you can shift more of the effort to your front delts and tris. If you keep them wider some people find that puts more emphasis on the chest.<br />
Maybe you have wide elbows during a press up but not during benching? -
my bench can be declined slightly but also inclines with 2 settings...<br />
actually enjoy press ups more too??? -
I'd expect that in the beginning they'd be pretty similar, particularly while you were building up strength. Once you've got to the point where push ups get pretty easy you can only really increase the reps or a swiss ball for difficulty etc...<br />
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With bench you can continue to add weight (as well as increasing reps if req). There are heaps of different variations you can do with push ups tho, different hand positions and even the flashy one hander!<br />
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You are bracing your core as well with press ups so thats an added bonus, esp if you are doing decline (feet on swiss ball, or is that incline?).<br />
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I've also seen people doing bench then straight away doing a set of push ups... -
[quote name='Paekakboyz']I'd expect that in the beginning they'd be pretty similar, particularly while you were building up strength. Once you've got to the point where push ups get pretty easy you can only really increase the reps or a swiss ball for difficulty etc...<br />
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With bench you can continue to add weight (as well as increasing reps if req). There are heaps of different variations you can do with push ups tho, different hand positions and [B]even the flashy one hander[/B]!<br />
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You are bracing your core as well with press ups so thats an added bonus, esp if you are doing decline (feet on swiss ball, or is that incline?).<br />
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I've also seen people doing bench then straight away doing a set of push ups...[/QUOTE]<br />
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The one hander is a great party trick but hard to balance properly. One of my more obscure aims in life is to be able to still do them at 70 odd like Jack Palance did when he won his oscar ! <br />
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I haven't done push ups for ages but agree if you get to the stage when you can bust out quite a few then the BP should replace it. -
I used to be able to do one arm ones, but TBH they dont really do much for the chest as toget the balance right....<br />
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I wont stop doing others, just a I feel I get more out of the varied Push Up exercises. <br />
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Plus, my son thinks it is fun to sit on my shoulders/back while I do them, so that helps... -
[quote name='BartMan']there is a myth about a roman legionaire who started squatting with a calf on his back, and as the calf grew into a bull, he just kept squatting, and ended up squatting a huge weight - onviosuly! Do that with your son and press ups![/QUOTE]<br />
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Where is Red Beard when you need him!!? this sounds like something he'd have a crack at! -
only allowed to eat it after you've done 100 push ups and 50 overhead lifts of a 20kg bag of charcoal!! hmm biceps with big ass bottles of bbq sauce maybe!?
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a press up variation I have on my current chest programme is a four second decent, with a standard push. KILLS you at the end of the reps. I do it on a machine though, as when you are coming down for the last rep, you always seem to just give way halfway down...<br />
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Great for a good burn though. COuld do it on the smith machine too no doubt - I might do that next Thursday as a variation from using the chest station machine thing! -
[quote name='taniwharugby']I used to be able to do one arm ones, but TBH they dont really do much for the chest as toget the balance right....<br />
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I wont stop doing others, just a I feel I get more out of the varied Push Up exercises. <br />
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Plus, my son thinks it is fun to sit on my shoulders/back while I do them, so that helps...[/QUOTE]<br />
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Push up variations are mean. Try the spiderman pushups, the medicine ball roll, the wide grip-close grip with varied timing etc. <br />
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The slow decent/explode up are an awesome way to stimulate muscle growth (anyone tried the 10/1 variation - freakin killer) -
I have "perfect push -up" handles - they really work.<br />
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also do medicine ball push ups - they are hard core.<br />
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also like doing hindu pushups and every now and then divebomber pushups.<br />
Havent done regular old school pushup for years.<br />
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My #1 gutbusting exercise involving a push up is with a 20 kg medicine ball ....(all while holding the ball) start standing, shoulder press -> squat - >burpee - >medicine ball pushup (or two) -> burpee return -> return to standing from the squat and repeat until you collapse which is a lot sooner than think!<br />
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Try it -
So it was late last night and since I haven't tidied the garage for about 1000 years I couldn't be arsed going out to bench so ripped into a few push ups. Shit ya feel the burn after 40 or so reps, completely different than benching big weights in the 6-8 rep range or whatever. I have a feeling I'll be sore later today ! definitely good for a bit of variation and to "keep the muscles guessing" or however the old cliche goes....
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[quote name='BartMan']there is a myth about a roman legionaire who started squatting with a calf on his back, and as the calf grew into a bull, he just kept squatting, and ended up squatting a huge weight - onviosuly! Do that with your son and press ups![/QUOTE]<br />
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Look up Milo of Crotona, a greek Olympic Wrestling Champion, who is said to have done this while the Etruscans still dominated the Italian Peninsula and Rome was still a swamp. Among other things, Milo is said to have a diet of 10KG of meat, 10KG of grains and 18 pints of wine per day. Being strong was clearly rated higher than being cut. -
