Bench or push?

[Cutthroat]

Are push ups more effective than Bench pressing? This guy in my 8th period (Sophmore) does around 400 push ups a day, and he barely started benching since he joined football. He says he uses 200lbs to warm up. So, which is more effective? Benching or push ups?

[Verstyle]

push ups....

[michaelface]

push ups - bench builds too much bulk

[hemichromis]

do 200 pushps a day will only build anaerobic endurance the bench press wil increase strength but its main focus is te pecs whic are not used that much while punching

[Southpaw16]

Both, variety is the key

[PunchDrunk]

And the winner is....... SOUTHPAW16!!!!

[Nelson da Cruz]

Both are good - both hit the pecs, delts and triceps directly. I prefer bench press with dumbbells as it helps equalise the strength of both left and right shoulders (with barbell bench press or any barbell movement your stronger arm will do more work then the weaker arm) and you also use stabliiser muscles to control the movement of the dumbbells.

Generally weights will generate more intensity and make you stronger in a shorter period of time. You don't need to be pressing really heavy weights - just do 70%-80% of your maximum and the strength benefits will help you in boxing.

Push ups are great as you can do them anywhere, and you can do variations - eg feet up on a chair (hits the delts more), hands closer together (hits triceps more), etc. They are also great as a warm up before weights, although I wouldn't do hundreds in a workout (did them in my teens and gave me no benefit).

[lifetolive]

yeah, most definately. i do a few sets of push-ups daily, and after i use the bench-press on workout day, i finish with a set of push-ups.

[NJFighter91]

pushups...works the core and stabalizes more of the body...

plus theres different variations of them so pushups can be used for max strength as well.

[KingDosia]

push ups - bench builds too much bulk

I hate seeing answeres like this one. BENCH PRESSES WHEN EXECUTED IN A MANNER THAT IS SPORT SPECIFIC DO NOT BUILD TOO MUCH BULK!
no weight lifting does. Now if you train to build bulk and have a diet to support that training yes you build mass. Are there that many people in this sport so clueless about how there body works. Just because you have a weight in your hand your going to become Weider like? If thats the case why don't the NBA players "who do use weights bench press included" have too much bulk? Or how about track and field athletes? Wrestlers do bench presses, why are they so well built for combative athletics? Even power lifters dont get too big, why?

Both exersizes are benificial in there own way. Use them both would be my advice. Lower reps higher weight for strength, and power. Do not isolate the pectoral muscles with a lot of exersizes and do not train to failure. You will not gain too much mass. The Bench press is an esential compound exersize to boost upper body strength not so much to sculpt your chest it takes other body building techniques to do that.

One thing you need to keep in mind is if you train for max strength, you need to counter that training with some endurance and flexibility training in order to keep a balance between the three.