I know many of the lifters that do bench do it with a barbell. For me personally, I have found it hard to do it with dumbbells because of how it’s hard to setup the weights on top of you and getting the weights up seem to be a workout on itself as well :p. I do dumbell because I have read about how it activates the chest better and it’s also easier on the shoulder and offers a natural range of motion. Ofcourse it would harder to progress and max out on those dumbbells but I increase a few reps on the dumbbell bench (5-7 reps range) then try increase the weight, but once the dumbbells get heavy it seems real difficult to get it up to do your reps even with a spotter. My question is that the dumbbells work the stabilizers better and I have read they activate the full range of chest muscle fibers better and such does that mean they have a greater cns recruitment than barbell bench? I suppose that is the main reason athletes of Charlie’s philosophy used the barbell bench as it activates the cns (has 35% mu recruitment i think) and improve rate coding to help them with their sprinting and be powerful while it saves their legs at a muscular level. Do you guys think I should switch to barbell bench to stimulate the cns better (if it does have a greater cns recruitment than dumbbells) and will I achieve better results that way? I will do a very low incline barbell bench if that’s the case just for it be easier on my shoulders.
I’m a soccer player so my main focus is acceleration and developing speed reserve. I don’t even care about my 100m time. A stronger upper body would help me with my acceleration and also to hold off defenders and shield the ball better and also in 50/50 chances so I was wondering which one would be better but guess I’ll go with barbell as it’s easier to position myself to do the reps and also easier for linear progression.
#2- The best 0-10m of all time is kim collins…no weight training sorry man
#3- What is your 20 yard dash? 40 yard dash?
#4- Soccer players are as weak as my grandmother, and for your bench press to help you push other players they’ll have to be in front of you. I don’t know for you, but when I play sport people are behind me…
nobody can know if weight can help you if you’re so vague about your question…
Okay I understand that, but genetics have a big part on that too lol and starting off the gun and reaction time etc. I haven’t measured mines but everyone I play with tell me I am a pretty fast guy. Not all soccer players are weak, (Drogba, Ronaldo etc) but I get your point. Yes they will be behind me but your body works as a unit… ofcourse I’m not gonna push away players but having a stronger bench might give me an edge in 50/50 challenges and wrestling with taller, bigger defenders… that’s all I am saying.
Yes, I know it’s a sprint forum… I want to get faster but I don’t care about my 100m time because you like never run 100m during a soccer game.
I was just looking for people’s opinions because I was not so sure about it myself. I thought that’s what a forum was for? No need to be so rude man.
Not everyone wants to be the fastest 100m runner, I never did.
I do not believe the fastest runner is the strongest, far from it. As a coach I used the smith machine for bench because I felt more confortable because more specific muscles were targetted. I can’t see the sense in targeting the core with the bench by using dumbels.
My thoughts on the CNS is not to try and fatigue as fast as possible but to aim to increase the length of time it takes to fatigue.
After speaking with you Dreambig it sounds like you are trying very hard to do many things all at once which is normal. It’s very difficult also to achieve some of things you are attempting to do alone. I admire your wiliness to ask open questions and it’s a great thing that some have been willing to give you encouraging answers.
Until I met my husband I knew a few things about myself and I my training.
I knew I had talent and I knew I was fast .
I could not understand why all of that appeared to disappear.
I tried to keep going and training and doing what everyone said … Believe in yourself.
Well what I knew for sure was it made no sense that people I beat handily at 13 and 14 years old were able to crush me in training. Little did I know at that time the training was disorganized and based on little more than random crap that anyone can assign a bunch of athletes to do.
I became so frustrated I quit track. I saw no point as I was getting worse all the time.
It was at that moment I met Charlie again.
What did I learn?
I was very disorganized. ( see project Jane as we made this product to help people understand the non training issues sometimes have more to do with training than the training components)
My eating was off, I did not sleep enough and when I trained I did too much or not enough of the correct things.
You need to go somewhere or train with someone who knows how to structure your training. An academy or a club or a team. Training alone for the best is tough and only those who are already highly successful might continue to train alone once they know what they are doing.
I also learned that good intention to train might be ok but it’s simply not enough. Hard work is extremely important and wanting it is essential but once again without proper direction you are going to struggle.
Bench vs dumbells? How about do both? The general idea Dreambig or General Principle is to get as fit as possible first and foremost. HOw does one person get fit? One idea is to play to your general strengths first. If you are not super strong in your upper body now then use another component you are good at to get stronger all around. I really like dumbell bench for the stretch it gives and it’s versatility but alternate it from one session to the other. WHy not?
How is your warm up coming?
When we spoke you were sacrificing your warm up to make it through your games on the weekend. Have you made this change? If not why not? You must always warm up. This is the most basic aspect of training that there is. Establishing a proper , routine , repeatable warm up comes first.
I think you ask some very good questions here but I also think you need to walk before you run and study some of the information I have sent you and respect the time and energy some have and will continue to give you regarding your training.
Thanks for the posts guys. Angela yes it’s tough training alone but the only advantage I would have with club is it would be easier for me to improve in some departments skill wise and tactical wise definitely, but unfortunately I don’t have the chance to join a club right now. Yes, I’ve started doing proper warm ups… your body definitely feels safer and more ready and you are confident you can go 100% from the first second. I read speed trap and watched both of your videos. They offered much of information that I already knew or read in the past in the forum. I think you underestimate how much I know which is normal as you have a lot of experience and knowledge of training while I don’t have much application to my training and I am young and looking for advice. Thanks for everyone’s thoughts. I’m gonna try barbell bench.
FWIW - If you combine the weight of the two dumbbells and compare it to a bench press with a barbell (using the same weight, ie: 2 x 30kgs V 60kgs), you should discover you can bench the barbell weight better than the two dumbbells. The obvious reason is it takes more concentration & coordination to bench two pieces of equipment simultaneously than one piece of equipment (the barbell). The dumbbell bench press recruits more muscles to the action and brings into play a hand eye coordination aspect. Hence I prefer a dumbbell bench press.
You can also superset the dumbbell bench press with a dumbbell fly, without having to change over to another piece of equipment - you get a very good chest & shoulder work out from two exercises without leaving the bench.
Good point, but the overall motor recruitment throughout the body is greater in a barbell bench I guess and it’s a strength and power exercise used for decades. I think motor recruitment is important to consider as well as I"m doing the bench in high cns days and I want to get the most out of it on that day. Also, it’s a lot easier to spot up big weights on a barbell bench than put two heavy dumbbells over your head in my experience.