One of the exercises I very rarely use or talk about is the bench press. It is arguably the most popular exercise used in the gym in particular with young males looking to add muscle size to the upper body. While it certainly can add some muscle to the chest and shoulders I tend to rate the bench press below several similar exercises and I believe it is highly over-rated in terms of its overall benefits, and under-rated for the risks it presents. In this article, I will explain why I don’t rate the bench press so highly and the many other exercises you can use instead that deliver a much greater result.
The Bench Press IS NOT A Good Measurement Of Strength
Firstly, let’s discuss the big myth surrounding its importance.
Have you ever been in a situation where someone strong walks in to a room and hear someone say “I wonder what he can bench?” As if how much you can push a barbell while lying on your back is the ultimate test of overall strength.
A better question would be “I wonder how much he can deadlift?”
The deadlift is a far superior exercise in terms of overall strength. It is a full body movement that requires incredible strength with the legs especially the posterior chain, high activation of the core to protect the back from buckling, and most importantly it demands incredible grip strength. More on this shortly.
The bench press DOES NOT require any of these factors.
•It does not use muscles of the lower body. You could even do this if you had no legs or were paralyzed from the waist down.
•It does not use the core much at all.
•It does not require incredible grip strength and some people hardly grip the bar at all.
Anyone who has good form with the deadlift and is lifting to their full potential will always find the grip strength is the limiting factor in the end. Interestingly grip strength is a much more reliable indicator of overall strength but can also be an important indicator of your overall health.
A study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research concluded that grip strength is a predictor of muscular endurance and overall strength. Other studies have found that a stronger grip correlates with a lower risk of heart attack and stroke. Researchers say the findings suggest a link between heart health and muscle strength.
Okay so that makes sense but what if you are able to do deadlifts well does this still make the bench press a “bad exercise”?
Well firstly it is not a “bad exercise” as such, just an inferior choice to strengthen this area of the body if you are concerned with moving well. If you want to look good in a mirror and you love to train with body-building styles that is fine, it may work really well for you and I have nothing against that.
Where I have a problem with this is with people who do not understand how to move well and just want to improve their overall health and fitness. They are led to believe that they have to exhaust their body with this exercise if they want to get stronger and that any other exercise will not yield the best results. This is not true at all as there are much better ways to do this that will deliver much bigger strength gains and also avoid potential shoulder injuries that are very common to this exercise.
Spending more time learning functional movements would be far more beneficial.
Watch the video below for more on this.
Many of the people who think that they need to isolate muscles with exercises like bicep curls and the bench press believe you cannot get big muscles using functional training exercises and methods. What they fail to understand is how much of an impact strong leg muscles have on improving strength to other muscles and are really missing out on some amazing benefits that may take them to the next level.
Those with a great understanding of the human body and physiological adaptation to training will know that leg training is a trigger for whole body growth.
“Heavy leg training causes your body to increase its production of testosterone and growth hormone – both essential ingredients for muscle growth.”
The reason for this is that the leg muscles are the largest muscles in your body and demand huge amounts of blood and testosterone in order to repair damage from heavy training. This is also why they take so much out of you when you complete them in your workout as we explained earlier.
Unfortunately this information is not passed down the average guy in the gym who spends all his time with bench press, ab exercises, and bicep curls looking to build the ultimate beach body. If only they knew how much benefit leg exercises would provide their body and get them much closer to their goal.
There are numerous leg strength routines such as the ‘squats and milk method’ that use this information with their approach to gaining whole body mass by focusing predominately on lower body exercises. Superior leg development is not an easy task but it’s this that makes it all the more worthwhile. Now before you rush off to the leg press and leg extension machine you need to know HOW to train the legs.
I discussed this information in great detail in this article – Why you should never skip legs day
You can watch a video below of where I show you several ways to gradually increase the strength to the pecs using functional methods.
Pattern Overload and Shoulder Injuries Caused By The Bench Press
Pattern overload describes an injury to soft tissues resulting from repetitive movements used too often or from restricted freedom of movement such as using certain machine based training exercises.
Pattern overload is caused mainly when there is these three things present.
1.An inability to correctly sequence a movement
2.Being isolated or restricted to a specific movement without freedom to use more planes of motion
3.Overuse of any particular pattern of movement
An example of pattern overload is seen with something like the Smith Machine bench press that does not allow any freedom of the shoulder or scapula to move versus a cable or even a dumbbell chest press that does. This means the person often has to sacrifice some stability in order to move around the load which is never a good idea. This is not always the case with every person but is very common to those with poor posture or previous injuries.
Below is a video where I compare the push-up to the bench press to illustrate this concept.
While a normal barbell does allow for some movement in comparison to a machine or even a smith machine it still does not have much give or freedom with the shoulder due to the fixed position of the bar. Many people may need a slight variation with their wrist or arm position from left to right hand and this can be easily obtained with cables and dumbbells, but cannot be achieved with a barbell. Even the smallest margin of movement that you can hardly see visually can mean the difference between rubbing a tendon and not rubbing the tendon.
This is impossible to do with a barbell as both hands must be identical.
If you ignore this signal and keep trying to push your way through the shoulder will be exposed to instability and shearing forces which is where all the trouble begins.
Added on top of that is trying to force the barbell into a depth too low that forces the anterior capsule of the shoulder to lurch forward as seen in the picture below. This is the beginning of the shoulder impingement and massive problems for the rotator cuff and overall stability of the shoulder.
While this can still happen with the dumbbell chest press and the cable chest press it is not as likely for they both require much greater stability and control that prevent the shoulder from sacrificing control or going to depths too low. You don’t need to be taught to not go too deep as you can sense it as they need much more control.
You could correct these problems by restoring muscle imbalances and improving scapula control which I will discuss shortly. Unfortunately, these exercises take some time and the chances of many guys doing this is extremely low.
Many do not believe they even need to do this as they have no pain. However, pain is not a reliable indicator of when there is a problem present. The problem will be there well before you experience any pain and this is another reason why so many people ignore my advice. It is only once pain has set in that they ask for help which is a lot harder to do and will take a lot of time to restore.
The better solution is to use other exercises that will provide better results without the risk.
What can you do?
Alternative Exercises To The Bench Press
There are a lot of exercises you can use and I usually follow the order I have listed below to introduce someone to learning how to strengthen this area of the body. This is to set good foundations to minimize the risk with the more aggressive and challenging exercises later on.
The first exercise is the single cable push.
Cable Push Variations
Firstly, I like to use this exercise first for it provides good freedom with the rib cage and thoracic spine but more importantly allows for strengthening of the core via the anterior oblique sling which is essential for movement efficiency.
If you are unfamiliar with the slings this system tells us that the obliques help provide stability and mobility in the action of walking or running. They are both important in providing that initial stability during the stance phase of gait and then contribute to pulling the leg through during the swing phase.
The anterior oblique sling is where the obliques and the contra-lateral adductors work in perfect sync to create movement. Many people will find this movement really trains the oblique muscles more than their arms for the rotation element is significant.
Secondly, it is an excellent way to strengthen the serratus anterior muscle in combination with the pecs which is always a massive problem with shoulder and neck pain. By using this exercise first it helps to avoid problems later on when you progress to dual arm exercises that apply massive compression into the shoulder joint such as dumbbell chest press.
Thirdly, it is really easy to avoid pattern overload with this exercise as I can easily manipulate the angles and positions of the body to allow the tendons to strengthen more effectively as opposed to continually compressing them with the same angle every time.
There are so many progressions to use with this one exercise that I could go on for another 10,000 words.
Below is a video showing you how you could progress this exercise in several ways.
Once you have mastered the single cable push you can easily include dual cable push variations as well to have more of a chest dominated movement than focusing on the slings and the core.
The most important thing to take from this exercise is that it still has a massive emphasis on the pecs, shoulders, and triceps just like the bench press does, but it includes so many other important muscles and functions that the bench press does not include. Don’t underestimate the value of using your legs with this exercise for it can be a great way to enhance glute function and overall stability if you are injured, or power and explosive speed if you want to develop sporting performance.
It is really is the ultimate chest exercise.
I suggest to read this detailed article to see more – Why the single cable push is so much more than a simple strength exercise
Push-ups
Push-ups are without doubt one of the oldest and most common of all exercises to strengthen your chest muscles in a similar way to the bench press and unfortunately it is either abused with excessive volume or under-rated in terms of its value.
This differs to all of the other chest exercises in that it is a closed chain exercise. These are exercises where the hand (for arm movement) or foot (for leg movement) is fixed in space and cannot move. The extremity remains in constant contact with the immobile surface which in the case of the push is the ground.
Closed-chain exercises are usually much less coordinated and easier for people to find the correct sequential muscle activation to effectively control joint movements. Typically, most rehabilitation protocols begin with closed-chain exercises because of the belief that they not only enhance the body’s capability to produce stability, but also allow the muscles to provide the optimal amount of exertion around the joint and encourage proper centration.
For this reason it often avoids pattern overload that is created by machines or the bench press. In all of our advanced online programs for injury and rehabilitation, stability is a big part of the early stages and many of the exercises used are bodyweight.
I like to use this exercise as part of my assessment with people on their first day of training to identify scapula dysfunction and core weakness. This particular movement reveals hidden weaknesses like winging of the scapula and extension related back pain very easily, and for that reason it makes a great assessment tool.
It also is a great exercise for correcting weaknesses, as long as it is completed correctly and the right type of progression is used.
This movement I also use in a regressed form often in our rehabilitation programs, in particular for neck and shoulder pain, but also with overall integrated skill development with spinal injury and various nervous system diseases. This is something that is overlooked and under-rated with many of the fundamental movement patterns like squats, lunges and bending. Improving the efficiency in these movements can change multiple muscles and joints all at once.
While a bulk of the workload is performed by the chest, shoulders and triceps, the exercise cannot be done correctly without almost every muscle in the body participating.
The abdominal muscles must stabilize your torso to keep your hips from sagging or lifting up too high, and various other muscles such as Serratus Anterior play a role in assisting the stability of the head, shoulder and spine. As with all closed chain exercise this exercise teaches you how to correctly sequence movements which is very important for developing core stability.
Even your breathing must be right to be able to ensure you are effectively bracing the spine. This is one reason why exercises like these work so well with people suffering from nervous system injuries or disease. It helps to rewire the faulty program being communicated to the muscles via correct timing and sequence.
You can read more about this in the article – Why push-ups are a great exercise to build a healthy body
Okay so we have covered cables and push-ups what about dumbbells?
Dumbbell Chest Press
This exercise is the most similar to the bench press and uses the least amount of legs and core muscles as opposed to the other variations. The most obvious choice here is to use the bench to lie on as you would for the bench press which is okay but to get more out of it I prefer to do it slightly different.
My first choice is to use a Swissball to like on and also use only one arm, instead of two!
While it looks like it is more of an arm and chest exercise, it really begins to become more of a glute and abdominal movement!
The single arm being loaded up forces instability into the core and the only thing that can stop you from falling to the ground is your glutes, hamstrings and abdominals all working together as a team to keep you still while your upper body does the movement. An excellent exercise for improving glute and pelvic control.
For this reason I use it a lot with people suffering with hip pain, back pain, and even knee pain for it forces them to use their hips correctly.
This is also a great choice for someone working on their own looking to lift maximal load safely. Your spare hand acts as a spotter and allows you to lift loads that you could not do with two hands. Apart from the incredible core stabilizing benefits it is perfectly suited the person looking to go real heavy in their training.
Once I have mastered the single arm it is easy to progress to two hands and as with the cable push from before apply a more muscle based approach.
My next choice is to use resistance band to help engage small stabilizer muscles that are usually overpowered to prevent injury.
Using tubing during this exercise helps to activate the often overpowered internal rotator subscapularis, by feeding the external rotators, which gives the shoulder more space and freedom to work.
It also helps to activate the lazy but very important serratus anterior. A great exercise for teaching your shoulder how to move correctly again. It is amazing how different people feel when you add the tubing to their hands. You may need to use it for some time until the brain remembers to switch on the subscapularis and the serratus improves with overall strength.
Overall the dumbbell chest press is the most similar to the bench press but requires a lot more stability, coordination, and control to master. This is why you very rarely can lift the same amount of load with dumbbells as you can with a barbell.
The value to your body using this exercise is more to do with the stability and control than just the load.
Barbell Squat Press
These exercises are arguably more leg exercises than specifically chest exercises but once again their value is really misunderstood. The shoulder muscles have a much bigger role to play as well but even with all of that the main component to getting these right is the strength of the pecs. While I mainly use these variations with sporting athletes the simple variations are great for the everyday person wanting to get in shape and move well.
These are often referred to by many as landmine exercises and are an excellent way to integrate the upper body and lower body in a standing pushing movement. By far the biggest tip I can give you with this and for all the landmine exercises that involve squat and pushing is to use what is known as TRIPLE EXTENSION.
This is seen in most sport movements where the athlete pre-loads the legs to harness the triple flexion-extension benefits needed to execute an explosive movement.
On extension, a ‘heel release’ ensures:
1.Power is developed across the ankle that the hips are free to trigger power and the core able to rotate through
2.A greater range– both key to the transfer of power through the body
3.Full triple extension when athletes are encouraged to drive from the legs and shoot through to fingertips
4.The kinetic sense of whole body strength application and multi-joint explosive power
In terms of building muscle size this really comes down to the tempo being used. As the exercise is meant to be used at an explosive speed it is unlikely to develop the muscle size you might expect from a bench press, however its value is with fast twitch fibres and maximal strength is much greater. Also the amount of energy this burns makes it a fantastic exercise for weight loss and improving metabolic rate.
There are endless amounts of progressions you can use for this exercise from single arm, to double arm, and even lateral movement.
Watch the video below to see some examples.
Do You Need More Ideas?
There are many different workouts I use. Pyramids, wave loading, and contrast loads are some of my favourites.
For a complete break up of all these workouts make sure you get the Little Black Book of Training Secrets below that provides you with everything you need to know about strength training and 101 different workouts to try.
Click here to see more about this awesome resource and get your copy instantly.
Summary
As you can see there are many exercises that will develop the same strength requirements with the chest, triceps, and shoulders as the bench press but simultaneously improve other things like core strength, gluteal strength, anterior sling, or even sports power. Most importantly these alternate exercises help to avoid the trap of pattern overload and causing serious shoulder problems. I don’t know about you but I would rather use an exercise that delivers a bigger bang for its buck that has the least amount of risk.
Don’t get me wrong the bench press is not the worst exercise you can do, the point of this article was to show you that there are other exercises out there that may be more beneficial to you, but you didn’t know about it.
Hopefully this article gives you some good ideas and enables you to achieve better results.
About The Author
Nick Jack is owner of No Regrets Personal Training and has over 20 years’ experience as a qualified Personal Trainer, Level 2 Rehabilitation trainer, CHEK practitioner, and Level 2 Sports conditioning Coach. Based in Melbourne Australia he specializes in providing solutions to injury and health problems for people of all ages using the latest methods of assessing movement and corrective exercise.
References
- Movement – By Gray Cook
- Athletic Body in Balance – by Gray Cook
- New Functional Training for Sports – by Mike Boyle
- Corrective Exercise Solutions – by Evan Osar
- Scapula Injuries In Sporting Athletes – by Sports Injury Bulletin
- Motor Learning and Performance – By Richard A Schmidt and Timothy D Lee
- Assessment & Treatment Of Muscle Imbalance – By Vladimir Janda
- Scientific Core Conditioning Correspondence Course – By Paul Chek
- Advanced Program Design – By Paul Chek
- Twist Conditioning Sports Strength – By Peter Twist
- Twist Conditioning Sports Movement – By Peter Twist
- Twist Conditioning Sports Balance – By Peter Twist