Dumbbell VS Barbell Bench Press

Dumbbell VS Barbell Bench Press

1️⃣ The main benefit of using dumbbells is that each side of your body gets trained individually. This helps prevent excessive muscle imbalances.

With dumbbells, you also have more control over how the weights move. There is more freedom in terms of how to grip the dumbbells and what direction to press, compared to a Barbell Bench.

2️⃣ The main benefit of a Barbell Bench Press is that you can generally lift more total weight, as supported by research [1]. Both arms work together lift 1 weight. So the stability requirements on the barbell exercises are lower.

Also, with the Barbell Press, you can more easily overload the exercise. Most dumbbells move up in 5-pound increments. While with a Barbell Press, you can use 2.5-pound or even smaller plates for overload.

🔑 To get the best of both worlds, I recommend combining the two. Personally, I like to do the Flat Press with a barbell and the Incline Press with dumbbells when I train the chest.