pushups or bench press

[Mickey Gomez]

This thread reeks of bull****.

[Spartacus Sully]

This thread reeks of bull****.

so your opinion is? push ups? bench pressing? neither?

[Darkstranger]

I read the bolded and had the "lmao" moment.
You do realize that bench press movement starts with the legs, it is NOT an isolation movement. Correct bench press form, the form that lets you actually press serious weight, recruits almost every major muscle group on your body.
Now, I got to admit that bench press is not the best exercise in the gym for overall strength or fitness, but to dismiss it as "for the show" is completely bias and unnecessary.

This is 100% correct.

If you bench press properly you'll feel it in alot more places than just the chest.

As far as having a defined chest, only diet will make the difference.

[the_blueprint]

surely your somatatype has something to do with it?

i'm not part of a gym and dont have enough room for a bench at home, which sucks, but for getting bigger then bench for definition push ups

[josh-hill]

exact samething i do

oh good. dose it work?

[aciovacco]

Bench Press modification

A great modification to bench press for any combat athlete is to do Dumb Bell press. Its more realistic in the sense that you can use 1 are at a time, in boxing you will never throw a right and left at the exact same time. I like to use 70 percent of my max weight with dumb bells.

Do 1 side at a time and with the other side hold the weight slightly above your chest so there is still resistance

Do 12 to 15 reps then switch sides. Do 3 sets no rest. It will recruit every muscle fiber in your chest for an incredible burn and pump. It will also strengthen your shoulders and stabilizer muscles.

[Tejas]

Pushups are far superior and provide you with functional strength unlike benching which just isolates one part of the body.

Don't listen to all this disinfo, you can be plenty ripped doing pushups alone and bodyweight exercises in general are just better for all around fitness.


Pushups also work out more parts of the body at once so you get more **** for your buck doing one pushup.

Weights are literally a waste of your time except for very narrow uses.

I'm pretty sure there are guys here that can bench a **** load of weight and look cool at they gym in front of other guys but probably couldn't do the more difficult push up variations, much less something like a one handed pushup or a planche pushup.

Push ups can give an incredible chest ....... just work your way up to tougher versions... after mastering standard push ups try diamond ....... if even that seems easy try uneven (with one hand on a basketball)..... eventually do the one arm push up, without legs splayed..... that is equal to (if you are 170lb) bench pressing 220 pounds.... combined with athletic benefit and healthy shoulders..... it blows bench presses out of the water

[jaded]

To build real power you want to use the heaviest weight for the fewest reps...ie:1 x max bench press. Push-ups only use a small percentage of you body weight which is why you can do so many of them. I can bench close to 2 times my body weight for 1 rep...but I can do 75 push-ups before muscle failure. And you will definitely be using your legs and pushing off from you heels to bench heavy weights...a lot of people don't know how to bench properly for power...but anyone who does will tell you that they are using their whole body when they do. I did push-ups for years before I started lifting weights...but didn't develop my chest or body to any great extent until I started lifting weights.

BTW...Hershel Walker claims he no longer lifts weights...but back in the day when he played in the NFL he was a monster and weight training was a big part of his life. And as for big muscles making you slow...ever hear of a guy named Mike Tyson? Evander Holyfield hired Lee Haney (former champion bodybuilder) to take him from Cruiserweight to Heavyweight and still lifts weight in the mornings as part of his boxing training.

[IronBoxer]

which one would be more beneficial to a more defined chest? Is one better than the other or are both about the same?

Resistance is resistance. Your body doesn't know whether you're doing a bench press or a push up, it simply contracts to a specific load. However I tend to favor push ups over the bench press for the following reasons

1) All you need is your own body-weight and some floor space
2) Push ups seldom affect speed
3) There are endless variations to make them more challenging(i.e. knuckle, feet elevated, diamond, clap etc)
4) Your shoulders are not locked when doing them(this is why alot of people get shoulder injuries when doing bench presses aside from improper technique and/or too much weight).

However if you want to do bench presses, then thats fine. Just remember to keep both feet on the ground, don'tr arch your back and use proper weight and technique.

Note however that muscular definition is not the result of doing high reps. It is the result of diet and exercise. So if you want to shed the pounds morning roadwork, boxing training and proper dieting is most important.Good luck.

[sammiza567]

this thread fails. both.