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manual benching vs machine benching

darkvard

Member
I just switched to dumbell benching and mostly changed most of my lifts to manual ones i can feel my chest much better what kind of changes can i expect in the next few weeks?

p.s not a beginner im 202 pounds... no flaming
 
I'm not sure exactly what you're saying. Are you saying that you don't use free weights(dumbbell/barbell) and have been using only machines?

If this is the case, then you can expect a lot of progress to come. I find machines to be the least effective workout method; body weight and free weight being a better choice. Expect significantly better results from free weights, short term and long term.
 
Theres many benefits of maunal vs machine machine constricts your motion to a set path making it unnatural and it does not work your stabilizers. But on the other side you can often push more say with benching on smith machine then benching normally which will still give your chest a great workout and unless your competing in something that involves actually having to do a bench press movement i havent noticed a ton of difference between the two i still get a great workout primarily in my chest doing smith machine.

My view is machines will give you the muscle you want i.e build up your chest but you miss out on some of the other benefits of doing free weight. What i have been doing recently is do 3-4 sets of incline dumbell free weight then a few sets smith machine benching, works well for me.
 
darkvard said:
so combining machines with dumbbells you say would be best?

Yes i am switching to mostly dumbbells
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Well for me it worked well this may not be the case for you or everyone else but from what ive realized is that the smith hits my chest really hard cause i can add on more weight, and it certaintly is working your chest because your pushing up that weight. and what ive found is because i dont tend to like flat benching with barbell that doing smith machine flat then incline dumbell works well for me. But try out different things that work best for you.
 
This is all good stuff. However, a problem with doing a lot of smith benching is chronic overuse injuries because your range of motion is limited.
 
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