Barbell Or Dumbbell Bench Press.. Is One Better Than The Other?

When it comes to picking the dumbbells or the barbell, the initial reason should be looked at first. In simpler terms, what are you lifting the weights for?

Do you want to gain strength, size, or just have more definition ?

Once you decide which one of these you are most focused on, that can help you in deciding..

The difference between the two is that with the barbell you will be able to lift a heavier total weight, improving your total strength. Doing it with the dumbbells makes each side have to stabilize its own weight, potentially using more motor units and having a greater range of motion. The barbell only allows you to move in a straight line up and down, where the dumbbells allow you to press the straight line into more of an arch.

If you are looking to gain strength you will want to focus more on the barbell bench press, and try to start your workout with this exercise. You will be able to move more weight in total with the barbell than with the dumbbells, but. you can still do the dumbbell variation in your workout. It would be best to start with the barbell so you can use your strength while you have it fresh and have not used your energy yet. Doing the dumbbells still is good, specifically one side at a time. This will ensure both sides are still being worked evenly and help prevent any imbalances, which can sometimes start to develop when we only focus on strength training with the barbell.

If you are looking to gain muscle or simply just get bigger, you may want to focus on the dumbbell press instead. This being because doing the dumbbells will make us stabilize more, using more muscle's and hitting different areas as our range of motion is also increased. As we bring our hands towards each other at the top, then bring our hands back apart at the bottom, we are getting a greater stretch and contraction with this exercise, fully working the muscle which will promote hypertrophy in all areas. When doing with the bar, we are just trying to see that number on the bar increase, having it supported by both hands will allow us to be in more control and press heavier.

Of course, we all want to be "toned". Sometimes we don't care about getting stronger or bigger, we just want to look good. For this a combination of the 2 can be good, promoting a more well rounded approach to see improvement in both ways. When wanting to tone our muscles this is more about the rep range we are working in, preferably being between 15-20. Doing more cardio will also promote a more toned look, as this will improve our loss of body fat and allow our muscles to show through. When we do exercise, specifically cardio, we cannot target specific areas. Body fat will start to decrease in different areas for everybody, some more rapidly than others. If you are trying to get a more toned look or work on endurance, you will probably be better off doing a push up to work this movement instead!

So do we need to do one or the other? Not necessarily..

If you are just trying to workout for your overall health, a combination of the two is best. We have talked about periodization before and when to change your workouts, so having the two integrated in your plan will compliment each other. Doing a single sided chest press with the dumbbell after you have done a heavy 5 sets of 5 for your strength will make sure you are still using both sides equally, and fully stretch and contract the muscle, still working on a bit of hypertrophy. Having more muscle fibre's will also help improve our strength, the more fibre's we have to make more dense, the heavier amount of force we will be able to produce! Hence why we need to change what are goals are and not do the same workouts all the time.

Incorporating the barbell bench press is also nice when focusing on muscle building to ensure we don't hit a plateau from only doing the dumbbells, and to still lift some heavy weight once in a while!