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Welcome to another episode of myVERSUS SERIES! Last time we compared the SUMO DEADLIFT VS CONVENTIAL DEADLIFT and after reading all your comments, next up is the barbell bench press vs dumbbell bench press to finally answer the question of “Which exercise builds more muscle?”
When it comes to building a massive ”full” chest, I highly doubt any of you care what exercise you need to do, or how much weight you need to lift, just as long as it works. For men, our chest is the first thing we want to go through the door when we enter a room because a massive chest displays power and confidence! Yes, genetics will play a role in the shape of your chest, but we can always work on enhancing the “size” of your pecs by training them properly.
But before we begin, let us talk about the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor. The pectoralis major is the large fan-shaped muscle covering the anterior rib cage. This muscle makes up the entire visible portion of your chest and is actually split into two parts, the clavicular head and the sternal head. The clavicular head is the smaller, upper portion of the pec major and originates on the anterior surface of the medial half of the clavicle and inserts on the lateral lip of the bicipital groove of the humerus and anterior lip of the deltoid tuberosity. The sternal head, which is the larger lower portion of the pec major, originates on the lateral aspects of the manubrium and body of the sternum, the upper six costal cartilages and the aponeurosis of external abdominal oblique.
The action of the pectoralis major as a whole, so both heads working together, is to adduct the arm and bring it medially across the chest, so think of a chest fly, as well as medially rotate the arm. The clavicular head flexes the arm and the sternal head extends it and extension of the arm by the sternal head can only occur if the arm is flexed; the sternal head cannot hyperextend the arm.
Now, the Pectoralis Minor is a small, triangular muscle, which lies beneath the pectoralis major. It originates from the anterior surface of the 3 - 5 ribs and inserts on the coracoid process of the scapula (which is where the short head of the bicep brachii originates, which we talked about in the dumbbell bicep curl vs the dumbbell hammer curl article). The function of the pectoralis minor is the depression and downward rotation of the scapula, which is another way to say roll your shoulders back and retract your scapula.
All bench press variations, which include the dumbbell bench press and the barbell bench press, work the pec major. This is because when you retract your shoulder blades, the pectoralis major is stretched and as your arms move closer to your center, the muscle shortens. Also, even though you may not feel them, stabilizers in the area are working just as hard as the pectoralis major. These stabilizers are your deltoids, rotator cuffs, spinal erectors and transverse abdominis, and they are activated to help maintain body stability and balance throughout the movement.
The Barbell Bench Press
Now that we have a better understanding of the pec major and pec minor, let us talk about the barbell bench press. The set-up for the exercise is to lie on a bench with your feet flat on the ground, knees pushed out and your shoulders retracted. To maximize your strength on your lift you will want to adjust your positioning on the bench so that you can arch your back while keeping your core tight and butt on the bench. Once in place you will then lift the barbell, typically with your hands slightly outside of shoulder width apart, and proceed to lower it to your sternum and then push through the movement with your arms while driving your feet into the ground to return the barbell back to the starting position.
But why is there so much set-up time for the barbell bench press? It is because the sole focus of this movement is to lift as much weight as possible. Of course you will also stimulate your chest for muscle growth, but there are some limiting factors here that you need to be aware of.
The first one is range of motion. When pressing a barbell, your hands are locked in a single position on the bar.
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