this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
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Physical Education
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I've never done a bench-press in my life. It's an overrated exercise, which can create injuries in your shoulders. Instead I do dumbbell presses, my max was 27.5kg on each arm. So combined it's 55kg. Today I'll see how much I can lift, but I've struggled to go past 25kg on each arm for a long time now.
Yes. The dumbbell press is so much more natural because the distance between your hands isn't fixed. It's also probably builds muscle faster because you need stability which seems to work muscles in a more thorough way. The problem is testing a 1rm is really intimidating and not worth the risk if you work out at home. There's a big intimidation factor just getting into position. I also remember stopping at 60 lbs each arm. I might have tried 70 once, but it felt dangerous to rep too close to failure because it's just a lot of weight to drop in an apartment. I increased the number of reps and sets at 60 lbs but never felt comfortable to go any higher without a spotter. It seems to really make progress in this exercise you need to go to a gym and have a spotter, but going regularly was a problem for me.
For 1rm it makes more sense to use the bench-press. If I'm not mistaken, the bench-press was created to be a strength test, not an exercise.