so while traveling and using a pretty small gym near the hotel out of necessity i had to adapt my routine for that day due to the free weight area being very bare bones.
i was doing bench press and after warming up and doing three heavy working sets normally i would do dumbbell bench press for 8-10 reps/3 sets, but they only went up to 50 lbs at that gym so it didnt really work.
so instead i put less weight on the bar and continued with barbell bench press for 8-10 reps/3 sets
it was harder than dumbbells obviously and i liked the feeling so i tried to research to see if there was any practical evidence for this being beneficial for strength gains and not necessarily for just size or mass, but i couldnt really find anything.
has anyone else tried this or know of the principles or proven theories that would be involved if i continued doing this for bench and other lifts for strength gains?
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I am inclined to believe that lifting weights will make you stronger. Keep it up and see what happens
[/quote]
definitely agree, and in my past that has always been my mindest, keep things simple.
the reason i made the post was that ive found that doing barbell bench will increase my dumbbell bench but if i just do dumbbell bench my barbell bench will stagnate, so why do dumbbell bench as an assistance exercise?
should just increase the reps, shorten the rest period, and hit all different muscle fibers and energy systems involved in the lift, if im just going for strength and not necessarily muscle development, similar to the idea of doing board presses to develop strength within different phases of the lift.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I am inclined to believe that lifting weights will make you stronger. Keep it up and see what happens
[/quote]
Lol. With an ambiguous amount of smart-assness.[/quote]
Honestly wasn’t my intent. I just like to keep things simple and try to prevent overthinking when possible.
[quote]the reason i made the post was that ive found that doing barbell bench will increase my dumbbell bench but if i just do dumbbell bench my barbell bench will stagnate, so why do dumbbell bench as an assistance exercise?
should just increase the reps, shorten the rest period, and hit all different muscle fibers and energy systems involved in the lift, if im just going for strength and not necessarily muscle development, similar to the idea of doing board presses to develop strength within different phases of the lift.[/quote]
If dumbbell press isn’t giving you results you need, definitely don’t do it. Exercises only have value insomuch as their ability to meet your goals.
I would also say don’t discount the ability of muscular development to aid in strength. It all contributes. Watch and see if your numbers go up. I honestly think it would be difficult for you to not get stronger if you simply went in with the goal of moving weights violently and with purpose, regardless of specific programming.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I am inclined to believe that lifting weights will make you stronger. Keep it up and see what happens
[/quote]
definitely agree, and in my past that has always been my mindest, keep things simple.
the reason i made the post was that ive found that doing barbell bench will increase my dumbbell bench but if i just do dumbbell bench my barbell bench will stagnate, so why do dumbbell bench as an assistance exercise?
should just increase the reps, shorten the rest period, and hit all different muscle fibers and energy systems involved in the lift, if im just going for strength and not necessarily muscle development, similar to the idea of doing board presses to develop strength within different phases of the lift. [/quote]
Do you only care about strength or looks too. If you want looks to DB bench is a great addition. If just strength then stick with bb variations