Have you ever heard of the term ‘free weights’?
Alright, many of you have heard about it. For those who don’t know what it means, I’ll be explaining to you.
Free weights are the sort of resistant weights that aren’t attached with any equipment and let you freely workout with it.
And the most popular free weights are dumbbells and barbells.
Now, you might be wondering which one is better for you? Is barbell bench press better than dumbbell? Or it’s the opposite?
That’s where our dumbbell vs barbell bench press weight comparison guide will help you a ton.
So, without further ado, let’s hop into it.
Is barbell bench press better or dumbbell bench press?
Is barbell bench better than dumbbell? Or, is dumbbell bench better than barbell?
We won’t be leaving you in the dark about which one of these two free weights is better than the other.
Because knowing it beforehand will help you to understand the rest of the parts.
Dumbbell lovers, we hate to break it to you, but regarding bench presses, the barbell is better than dumbbell.
In research it is found that you can do 20% more bench presses with a barbell than dumbbell. To get more detailed stats you have to follow us till the end.
We will be proving our statement in the later parts of this article.
Which bench press is easier between the barbell and dumbbell?
Barbell bench presses are easier than dumbbell bench presses.
Both of the bench presses are thoroughly dependent on weight benches. And doing barbell bench presses on a weight bench is far easier than dumbbell bench presses.
Barbell bench presses mostly focus on your triceps. On the other side, dumbbell bench presses focus on your biceps.
Lifting up weights using your triceps is easier than lifting up weights using your biceps. And weight benches make it look effortless. Whereas, dumbbell bench pressing with a weight bench is a bit difficult as you have to make an arc with both of your hands.
But is barbell bench press safer than dumbbell bench press?
No, actually, dumbbell bench press is safer than barbell bench press because you don’t have to lift up a huge weight bar upon your chest. If by any chance, you lose your grip and the weight bar falls on you, you will get seriously injured.
But that doesn’t mean dumbbell bench presses are completely harmless. If you put more weights than you can hold, the same thing can happen with dumbbell bench presses.
Which bench press is more beneficial between the barbell and dumbbell?
If we are talking about benefits, both of the bench press methods are equal here.
Barbell bench press will enhance your triceps muscles and dumbbell bench press will enhance your biceps muscles.
If you are willing to do heavy lifts, a barbell is a safer option, as triceps can hold more weight than biceps.
Dumbbell bench presses can make better use of your stabilizer muscles compared to barbell bench presses.
Also, if you are willing to enhance your chest, dumbbells are a better option here.
Both of the methods have their pros and cons here. So, regarding benefits, both are equals.
But you are here for a dumbbell vs barbell bench press comparison. So why are we describing the benefits and usage of these free weights?
These are some factors that should be considered when you are looking for which free weight is going to be more useful to you.
Also, if you are looking for stuff on the internet to win an argument about which one of these bench presses are better, you can throw these factors to win the argument comfortably.
Dumbbell bench press weight vs barbell bench press weight
Alright, the part you guys were so eager to see. THE STATISTICS!
The male beginners can do 32-37% more bench presses using a barbell compared to using dumbbells.
The female beginners can do about 33-47% more bench presses with a barbell than dumbbells.
Now comes the novices. The male novices can press 24-26% more using a barbell than dumbbells.
The female novices can do 26-30% more presses with a barbell compared to dumbbells.
The intermediates step forward. The male intermediates can do 13-19% more bench presses with a barbell than dumbbells.
The females can do approximately 17% to 18% more bench presses if they are doing barbell bench press than dumbbell bench press.
When you go to the advanced stage the difference most likely reduces. Still they are noticeable. The males can do 6% to 14% more bench presses with a barbell compared to dumbbells.
And the females can do about 8% to 12% more bench press using a barbell compared to dumbbells.
So, the average percentage of males doing more bench presses with a barbell than dumbbells stands at 22%.
And if females do barbell bench press, they can do 28% more presses than dumbbell bench press.
So, the average barbell vs dumbbell bench press difference stands at 20%.
We proved our point from earlier when we said that barbell bench presses let you do more weights than dumbbell bench presses.
Best weight bench for barbell and dumbbell bench press
We mentioned it earlier that these two free weight bench presses are dependent on weight benches.
It is a lot harder for you to do bench presses without a proper and genuine weight bench. In some regards, it is impossible to do bench presses without a weight bench.
We also mentioned that barbell bench presses are a lot easier with a weight bench.
Also, bench pressing becomes a lot safer with a weight bench.
That’s why we will be suggesting you some of the best weight benches for barbell and dumbbell bench press.
For barbell bench press:
- Steelbody Deluxe 6 Position Utility Weight Bench
- FLYBIRD Weight Bench
- Bowflex 5.1S Stowable Bench
- YouTen Adjustable Weight Bench
- Marcy Multi-Position Workout Utility Bench
For dumbbell bench press:
- Marcy Flat Utility Weight Bench
- Advenor Foldable Weight Bench
- MCNBLK Adjustable Weight Bench
- Fitness Reality SuperMax Weight Bench
- Body Champ Olympic Weight Bench
Conclusion
We hope that we have let you know most of the information you wanted to know.
If we missed something feel free to comment or mail us. We’ll try to add that information to make sure our readers are utilizing their time correctly here.
At the end, our verdict goes that you can lift more weight on the barbell bench press compared to dumbbell bench press.
But if you are still willing to do dumbbell bench presses, we won’t demotivate you. As you can see from the stats that in the advanced level, the difference is noticeable but not as much as it could harm your workout sessions.