Hey, it’s me again!
I’m heading off to the gym in a few hours and I’m going to be benching today. This new gym doesn’t have decline benches. I’m wonder what would be the best replacement for dumbell decline benching that I used to do.
I was thinking that Dips would be the best replacement? Gerdy told me to avoid these because they might hurt my sternum at my age though.
Another question:
I’ve been thinking of adding dumbell Flys instead of the Pec Deck Flys to my chest routine. How do the two compare? Should I switch over?
I would say dips or Gironda dips for replace decline bench. And I can’t see a problem with changing from DB flys over Pec Dec Flys, this kind of seem like a beginner question but either way, good luck with training.
I’ll check out what Gironda Dips are. I’m switching from mahcine Flys to DB Flys, or thinking about it.
I’m not really sure if I should. That’s why I’m asking for a contrast between the two. This is going to sound dumb and I’m going to have people yelling at me for comparing my training to that of a pro, but I’ve never seen or read of pros doing Prc Deck and only see them doing DB Flys. That was my reason for thinking of a switch up.
I also like to use free weights as opposed to machines as much as I can.
IF you find a gym with that setup then great.
If not, then regular chest dips. also try the hammer strength wiiiiiiide-grip dips leaning over the machine will work the chest very nicely (superior to the hammer decline bench imo)
It’ll take you a day or so to find your sweet spot where you can squeeze the chest muscles in the HS dip (too many people just do it blindly and work their triceps). Once you’re in, add the weight.
And DB flies are a good assistance exercise for the DB bench, and thats about it. The mid to top part of the movement is useless. if you want to work your chest, choose the pec dec or cable crossover (optimal) for post exhaust or whatever you kids call it these days.
And here at 0:25 is Lee Priest using a homemade pec deck, to answer your other question.
Try dips. If they hurt, don’t do them. I’ve always had that problem (and I don’t think it has much to do with age), but I can do them with gymnastics rings no problem. I’ve never liked decline bench anyway, but ring dips give me a huge stretch at the bottom so they hit my chest like nothing else.
I’ve actually stuck a wooden board under one end of a bench in order to get an approx 30 degree decline (the regular bench just seems to steep). Or, you can do cable crossovers, making sure you get a nice crunch in the lower pec region.
Assuming your gym has plates and a bench (the kind that you can move around) then why not just put few plates under the other end to make it decline. Also the incline board for situps could work.
Those are pretty much what I always do since there are no actual decline benches where I go. If I use barbell then I would do this in the power rack and with dumbbells you don’t even need the rack.
[quote]mr popular wrote:
FightingScott wrote:
Dips. The answer is weighted dips.
I can’t tell if this is meant to be sarcastic, but I sure hope so.[/quote]
I’m super serious. Dips are one of the best exercises for the upper body. They’re arguably better than the Bench Press.
If that little 6 year old bodybuilder could handle weighted dips with 100 pounds hung around his neck, then they’re not going to rip apart your chest if you do them before the age of 25.
I did Dips throughout my teens and I never had any shoulder problems.
If you can do Dips pain free, then you should probably be doing them.
