Cerebralbore101 said:
Farsala said:
I will be honest, I don't really like pushups, so I am not a strong advocate. If we are strictly talking bench press vs pushup, I mainly do bench presses. But.... the science says that both result in similar strength gains. Benchpress will make you better at benchpress of course, pushups will make you better at pushups, both will make you strong. Sure if you want endurance, then you do 100 regular pushups at Bodyweight. But you have to remember pushups are a very complicated maneuver. You can add weight to pushups if you want, same as Bench Press. You can do 6-8 weighted pushups at max capacity just like Bench Press. You can do handstand pushups, you can do pike pushups, you can do one arm pushups, you can do archer pushups. You can change the lever of your body for a harder pushup. You can add rings to the fray. People who can do 100 pushups can't bench at advanced levels typically, but people who can bench at an advanced levels can't do advanced pushups typically. |
Well, if you add weight to pushups such as a weighted vest, then it's no longer a bodyweight exercise. The problem with doing pushup variations is that they are often harder because they work different muscles than a standard pushup. Handstand pushups work the shoulders instead of the chest. They are akin to a military press. Pike Pushups are more like an incline or decline bench than a standard bench. A one arm pushup is akin to doing a bench press with both hands in the dead center of the bar. Not a good position to put your wrists in, and it works your triceps almost exclusively. The wider your grip the more your chest is involved and the narrower your grip the more your triceps are involved. Rings are a great way to figure out how to get external shoulder rotation (bending the bar cue) but don't add more weight to the exercise. Archer pushups are like a pec fly, which is great, but definitely not something to make the main focus of your chest routine.
This is why people that can bench can't do advanced pushups. Advanced pushups work different muscles than the bench press.
I gotta get going to work, but I'll link to some scientific articles that show that low rep, high weight results in greater strength gains, compared to high rep low weight.
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I already know low rep, high weight gets greater strength results hence the weighted push ups. You were comparing bodyweight push ups vs Bench Press, but I wanted to give more options for building strength over endurance. Calisthenics can use weights too.
