Thread: Bench Pressing normal vs on squat rack

Weight is weight.

Are you talking about using a smith machine that glides on a track? Using a smith machine could make it easier but afaik you don't use your stablelizer mucles so ther is some loss.

ah, thats what he's talking about. Smith Machine. I was really confused as to how the weight was easier in a squat rack???

To the OP, using a smith means that typically the bar is almost weightless or close to it so you'll add more weight, but because the bar travel is pretty much determined by the machine, it won't have tons of carryover to your regular bench because you aren't using stabilizer muscles very much

Don't benchpress on a smith machine unless you are doing rehab from an injury. Otherwise you will actually set yourself up for a higher chance of injury, and you will decrease your gains.

In my opinion:

Smith Press < Flat Barbell Press < Dumbbell Press

Do you think it would be ok for me to switch from barbell to dumbbell press? IF there is one exercise I despise doing is barbell bench press.

Absolutely. I haven't done barbell benches in almost a year, I use dumbells exclusively. If you're benching 200lbs, don't expect to be doing presses with 100lb dumbells though - you will likely have to use significantly less weight due to the increased use of stabilizer muscles. For example, I just started doing 75lb DBs which equals 150lbs total, but I know for a fact I can do 200+ with a barbell.

Originally Posted by danzik17

Absolutely. I haven't done barbell benches in almost a year, I use dumbells exclusively. If you're benching 200lbs, don't expect to be doing presses with 100lb dumbells though - you will likely have to use significantly less weight due to the increased use of stabilizer muscles. For example, I just started doing 75lb DBs which equals 150lbs total, but I know for a fact I can do 200+ with a barbell.

Would you say dumbbell shoulder press are also more effective than barbell military press?