pushups or bench press

[paulsinghnl]

i favor pushups cuz i suck at bench press for some reason. you can much easier get injured doing bench press than doing pushups, you have different variations with the pushups which can be very effective too.

for more functional strength, go for pushups (and variations of it). if you want to go for size, strength, power, go for the bench press and don't be afraid to go for the heavier weights.

[BrooklynBomber]

We're talking about traditional benchpressing here right? With your back on a bench?

I don't ever remember benchpressing and feeling as though my legs were involved in any significant way.

It always felt like a complete isolation movement on my body.

Traditional bench press movement starts with the leg drive, you specifically arch your back, and slightly pick up the backpart of your foot so that when you lower the barbell you actually start the lifting portion of the movement(eccentric part of the movement) with the leg drive, which then contracts the muscle on your lower back, your core muscles, then your upper back and then finally into your arms, delts and pecs.The guys who lift heavy would never be able to lift crazy weights like 500 +pounds with just the strength of their upper bodies, no amount of training and steroids would get them there.
The only real problem is that most people have a **** form and complete misunderstanding of the exercise.

[Bastian Loc]

i favor pushups cuz i suck at bench press for some reason. you can much easier get injured doing bench press than doing pushups, you have different variations with the pushups which can be very effective too.

for more functional strength, go for pushups (and variations of it). if you want to go for size, strength, power, go for the bench press and don't be afraid to go for the heavier weights.

You can be just as buff as some guy who benches 500 and look better too just by doing pushups.

I posted this in a thread in the lounge on a similar subject.

Herschel Walker, no weights.

[Bastian Loc]

Traditional bench press movement starts with the leg drive, you specifically arch your back, and slightly pick up the backpart of your foot so that when you lower the barbell you actually start the lifting portion of the movement(eccentric part of the movement) with the leg drive, which then contracts the muscle on your lower back, your core muscles, then your upper back and then finally into your arms, delts and pecs.The guys who lift heavy would never be able to lift crazy weights like 500 +pounds with just the strength of their upper bodies, no amount of training and steroids would get them there.
The only real problem is that most people have a **** form and complete misunderstanding of the exercise.

I'm not saying its totally useless, I just think there is much better and effective ways of going about it that doesn't require any gym memberships or equipment.

[Jack3d]

You can be just as buff as some guy who benches 500 and look better too just by doing pushups.

I posted this in a thread in the lounge on a similar subject.

Herschel Walker, no weights.

Do you honestly believe that bull****? That he did nothing but push-ups and bodyweight exercises to look like that?

I also heard that nowadays he says he is able to maintain what he has by eating nothing but soup and salad.

That is 100% bull**** and if for some reason it wasn't, not everyone can follow that routine and diet and look like that.

That's like trying to teach someone how to fight like Roy Jones

[BrooklynBomber]

I'm not saying its totally useless, I just think there is much better and effective ways of going about it that doesn't require any gym memberships or equipment.

It's possible, but not likely. Take sprinters for example, I dont like using boxers because you cant get good at boxing by just throwing a bunch of punches in the air, you can get really good at sprints by just doing sprints all the time, however if you look at serious sprinters who compete on state or national level, they all bust their asses in the gym as well as the court. Why? because weight training helps you achieve your genetic potential based just on how versatile it is compared to just running. Your body very quickly adopts to bodyweight training, and the better you get at exercise A, the faster you will adopt to the next exercise you choose. It does not work that way with weight training.

[BrooklynBomber]

Do you honestly believe that bull****? That he did nothing but push-ups and bodyweight exercises to look like that?

I also heard that nowadays he says he is able to maintain what he has by eating nothing but soup and salad.

That is 100% bull**** and if for some reason it wasn't, not everyone can follow that routine and diet and look like that.

That's like trying to teach someone how to fight like Roy Jones

No way that dude is natural, just no way.

[Jim Jeffries]

You can be just as buff as some guy who benches 500 and look better too just by doing pushups.

I posted this in a thread in the lounge on a similar subject.

Herschel Walker, no weights.

At age 48, no less. Reminds me of a good friend of my dad's, Ray Mordt, who played for the South African Springboks back in the 80's. Dude never touched a weight in his life, but was ripped as hell, just from bodyweight exercises. Came over here and tried out for the USFL in the mid 80s, smoked everyone in the 40, but was rejected because they said he was too old (at like 26 I think) to learn football.

I went into basic training weighing 155, benching about 215 and came out weighing 175 benching 245 never having touched a weight in 8 weeks. When I went to Phoenix last year to visit friends, I hadn't touched a weight in over 3 years and still managed to bench 265 twice, just from doing push ups, dips and pull ups.

So I don't think there's a hell of a lot of difference, though I do miss benching with olympic style free weights.

[Bastian Loc]

Do you honestly believe that bull****? That he did nothing but push-ups and bodyweight exercises to look like that?

I also heard that nowadays he says he is able to maintain what he has by eating nothing but soup and salad.

That is 100% bull**** and if for some reason it wasn't, not everyone can follow that routine and diet and look like that.

That's like trying to teach someone how to fight like Roy Jones

There's other people that look just like him that do the same thing. I've seen interviews where he does thousands of reps of pushups, dips, pull ups etc.

With that kind of volume of course he can look like that naturally.

Try doing 30 pullups a day nonstop and I guarantee you'll look pretty damn good, much less doing 300.

Of course its possible, how do you think guys got big in the past before the invention of gyms and workout machines?

Come on man, you ever see a Roman centurion waiting to use the curl machine?

[Bastian Loc]

At age 48, no less. Reminds me of a good friend of my dad's, Ray Mordt, who played for the South African Springboks back in the 80's. Dude never touched a weight in his life, but was ripped as hell, just from bodyweight exercises. Came over here and tried out for the USFL in the mid 80s, smoked everyone in the 40, but was rejected because they said he was too old (at like 26 I think) to learn football.

I went into basic training weighing 155, benching about 215 and came out weighing 175 benching 245 never having touched a weight in 8 weeks. When I went to Phoenix last year to visit friends, I hadn't touched a weight in over 3 years and still managed to bench 265 twice, just from doing push ups, dips and pull ups.

So I don't think there's a hell of a lot of difference, though I do miss benching with olympic style free weights.

Of course its possible, I think some people are just threatened by it because they do weights and they feel like we're diminishing weight training.

You wanna do weights? Do weights, but don't sneer at those who choose other paths because you can get results other ways that I would argue are better for overall fitness anyway.

Without wasting money and time driving to a gym all the time.