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Kettlebell Not Doing The Bench Press

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Matt L

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Hello Guys,

I would like to know some of your insights regarding not doing the bench press. I am not a fan of doing the bench press and I find that i prefer preasing over head rather than lying down.

what strength gains of benefits am I missing out if I dont do the bench press?


Thank you!
 
Well, the bench press is the best press. If you don't believe me, there's some guy named Pavel who seems to think so as well: The Best Press Exercise | StrongFirst

I have found personally there's more carryover to the overhead from the bench than other way round. I also agree with Pavel about the necessary training volume.

Have a look at what the top Track & Field athletes in Javelin, Shot Put etc are doing; they all have a big bench.

Now, of course, it isn't necessary to bench press. One can get very strong without any kind of weights. But it's also naive to think that the bench isn't great, and that it isn't used for a good reason.
 
Can I substitute the kettlebell floor press for the bench press? I workout at home and I dont have a bench. Is it a viable substitute?
 
The bench is a great exercise and I would say excluding it from of your training is leaving a gap in your armour.
Use what you have available, if all you have is KBs then go for floor presses & their variations.
 
Just press kettlebells overhead and do pushups if you are worried about pec development. Painful truth is that Weider had fetish for males with big boobs and that's why bodybuilders started to do so much bench.
Naturally you can lift more because you have back support.. just like in leg press. Leg press is also very good compound movement actually.. but is it better than squat? :)

Yes. I know that this was bit provocative answer. :)

Short answer: you can do floor presses/pushups or bench, but you don't have to do those.
 
I think the biggest benefit I've found from the bench press is upper back strength. Arching the back has been really beneficial for me. Not so much because of the arch in the back, but getting the shoulders under the chest and keeping the upper back tight on the bench. I feel it ties together the shoulders, lats, arms, and all the back muscles. My posture is better and my shoulders seem happier.

I didn't bench press at all for my first three years of strength training. My overhead press was strong, but I had very little strength on the bench press when I started training it 2 years ago in preparation for SFL. A set of 5 at 70 lb was difficult for me in the beginning. Now I can easily do sets at 5 at 130 lb.

It helped me towards the one arm push-up for sure, although bench pressing alone will not get you there at all because there are so many other skills involved in the OAPU.

Anyway, I definitely intend to keep bench pressing. I feel like it has brought me a lot of benefits, and if I could go back I would have started doing it sooner.
 
Only exercise I've (recently) found that comes close to bench press (bar or dumbbell) for a big horizontal push, is loaded pushups.

I actually think the loaded PUs might be better overall, but are definitely more difficult to load up - the sandbag falls off, you have to use weighted vest, chains etc.

That said, I don't think they are anymore essential than overhead pressing. You can eliminate all sorts of effective lifts as long as you replace them with equally effective ones.

I find incline bench to be more effective overall. Too much emphasis on lower pec development is a burden as you age, and most day to day stuff engages the upper pec more than lower anyway.
 
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Noticed that you mentioned you're not a big fan. I respect that. I, however, also believe that you're better off doing the BP than not doing it at all. It's not mandatory but if you can do it, you might as well do it at least once a week. You can OHP twice or thrice with a barbell or the kettlebell.

When it comes to effectiveness, I'm pretty sure there are alternatives but they're alternatives nonetheless. Some may be even more effective than BP. IMHO, it's one of the best upper body strength builders after the OHP. The KB military press rules the roost, of course.

As I said, it's better to bench than not to. Especially if you don't have a nagging injury that prevents you to bench often or ever.
 
Simple & Sinister, swings + get-ups, is fundamentally all you need for GPP (general physical preparedness). So that's your base. If you don't have a goal that requires bench presses, then I would say there is no need to do them. But if for example, your goal is to get as strong as possible (not just certain parts of your body), then I would say that you should try and incorporate them into your training.
 
If you're goals are to either maximize upper body strength and/or mass you'll probably want to utilize the flat bench press. Definitely the recipe for big arms.
I know a lot of kettlebell guys will denounce it they don't want too big breasts/pecs, but I don't see that as an issue unless you're carrying too much body fat percentage or you're on steroids. Look at true natural body builders. Their pecs aren't outrageous.
The only caveat is to make sure you use good form and don't go crazy on volume if you like to keep your elbows and shoulders pain free.
If you do floor presses you can conceivably press more weight if you can get it in the starting position because you have a smaller range of motion. Floor presses probably a good alternative if you don't have a bench. Floor presses probably won't work your pecs as hard, but probably easier on your shoulders. JMO
 
Hello Guys,

I would like to know some of your insights regarding not doing the bench press. I am not a fan of doing the bench press and I find that i prefer preasing over head rather than lying down.

what strength gains of benefits am I missing out if I dont do the bench press?


Thank you!
@Matt L
Depending upon your goals... you aren't missing a darn thing by not bench pressing. The last time I benched was in 1977...
 
In my experience and knowledge the bench press is good for 2 things...
1. Building the pecks
2. Building the bench press

Unlike other lifts the bench press doesn’t have many benefits outside the gym. So unless you have bodybuilding or powerlifting specific goals it’s not a lift that can be classed as needed.
 
Im doing fine and I have only (incline) benched once in my life. my uncle had a home gym in his basement and he had the bar loaded to some weight. did once, that was enough. I prefer pushups, you don't need a rack and a special seat to do them.
 
Pavel names the bench press the best press exercise in his article because it is safe and easy to learn as well as beneficial; not because it is the most beneficial press exercise. His criteria are listed in his article on the best hip hinge.

I’ve gone without benching for years and never missed it. I have more time to train better exercises that do me more good without it. JMO.
 
Can you elaborate on what you mean here?
Lower pecs tend to sag a bit between workouts as you get older, even if they are all muscle. I actively avoid all targeted lower pec exercises now, even in my BB days I prioritized incline and fly/pec deck work.

Most day to day pec involves clamping across, or working in unison with the anterior delts when lifting or stabilizing objects.

Decline and flat bench have the least carryover- just my opinion, even from an aesthetic standpoint most folks upper pecs lag behind the mid and lower.

Lately I'm really enjoying loaded pushups- using these has yielded immediate increase in my unloaded PU numbers.
 
I am very thankful for all your insights about the bench press, and horizontal pressing movements. I may just use pushups instead as a form of loaded stretch in a way. Are there benefits in performing low volume slow repitions of the pushup? or should I perform high volume explosive ones?
 
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