Push Ups vs Bench Press for Muscle Hypertrophy - ULTIMATE Comparison (8 Studies) 

Thank you, that's extremely kind of you! :)

100th like

Is that really all you got out of this video was the guys soothing voice and how it was explained instead of the exercise itself

SOOOO TRUE BRO!

Just discovered this channel today. You right.

i tested the same thing a few years ago. placing the feet on a higher surface increases the percentage but at some point it becomes a shoulder exercise.

You aren't lifting your lower arm, and you're lifting only half your upper arm, in a push up.

@Nicky Bobby Weighted Dips build your chest? Please explain

@Nicky Bobby you're right though. I do feel it in my chest too not. Just my triceps when I do dips

@Nicky Bobby true! But more the lower and midle chest. But it's definitely a top chest builder.

Awesome to hear, congrats dude :)

Hey man not trying to insult you but the idea you noticably gained any size at age 54 after a few weeks of push-ups and calisthenics is pretty unlikely ESPECIALLY because you’re a long time lifter, unless maybe you haven’t been working out for some months/year and are quickly regaining some lost muscle

Well , I noticed your gains ( ;

It maybe due to newbie-gains to specific movement patterns. You challenged the body to do something which you do not usually do ...... SO MAYBE

I noticed the exact opposite. Switching to bench, with heavier sets - I gained more strength and size than I did for 2 years of doing calisthenics.

150%; more reps, more weight, weaker leverages etc. You won't grow if you don't progress.

not really. If thats the case people won't do pull up because its far easier to do progressive overload on lat pulldown.

So is building every part of the muscle 360 through the whole movement, calisthenics, gymnastics, kettlebells and cables build muscles that you didn't know you had lol

@@ggh_-ts6pn pullup is way better in a compound sense and stability mobility sense too being able to shift side to side and do much more plus it makes you ways stronger with hand, wrist and forearm strength and size

ok but this doesn’t remove exercise selection as a factor This is like responding to a comparison of tires by saying the key to winning an F1 race is going faster.

Awesome stuff :)

won't the plate/s fall off though? im new to calisthenics but i feel that need to add more weight as my exercises are getting easier

@@yami-9436 Backpack

@@yami-9436 There is a way to do it with rings/ elevation if you have a belt ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QqTlnhzku5c.html

do you mean fail or fall ?? ples tell me

Awesome, that sounds ike a solid way to incorporate both of them :)

Usually just bench until you cant do a single pushup though lol

I’m gonna try that

@@phoenixharker1833 push up is more likely less load. So unless you're unloading after maxing your bench, pushup to failure seems much more straight forward

I do push ups then do bench. Knee bends then squats.

Going slower on the downwards does a lot of good for building muscle

I can do push-ups anywhere any time which makes it better for Me anyways.. 250 to 500 a day 350 situps every morning Best shape of my life at 40 years old.. Eat whatever I want and hike 5 to 10 miles a day.. Push-ups win in my book

@@adambozentko5877 that's incredible

@@adambozentko5877 you're in great shape. I'm 37. I can maybe do half of that followed by me throwing up all over the place

For long armed people like me the Bench Press works mainly the front delts. And over time the movement is a delt destroyer. I started dong weighted Push-ups and occasional dumbbell fly's and my chest grew and my delts stopped aching.

Thank you so much dude, I appreciate you!

Thank YOU for checking out the videos dude, I appreicate you!

Great to hear! Barbells are great, but you can achieve a lot with bodyweight and dumbbells :)

I appreciate the kind words! I plan to make much more videos :)

Thank you so much for your kind words, they mean a lot to me. I have been (and continute) to study statistics so I can better interpret research! :)

@@HouseofHypertrophy As someone who studied statistics and done a few studies I really appreciate the effort, it's certainly not easy to read and understand all those studies. That's why we need more channels like yours to adequately explain them.

Thank YOU for checking out the channel dude!!!

Thank YOU for your kind words, I appreciate you!

Thank you so much dude, that truly means a lot to me!

Awesome to hear, thank you!

Hell yea

I guess if that's how you want to spend your time. I used to do push ups but my chest wasn't getting bigger like I wanted it to. My core was strong but the muscles didn't grow till I started benching because I can add more weight and do the same number of reps as push ups. You can't always stack plates on your back. Besides the injury implications, stacking more than one plate would be difficult if you're alone. Seems all that effort doing so is solved by just benching. Keep it simple and straight forward.

@@karimamin2 who cares?

@@eddiedevereoxford4995 Who cares about what? Are you asking a question or making a statement?

@@karimamin2 yo! I was not concentrating on building my chest up to start with I was doing it for the overall benefit that push-ups can bring you besides I've always had a big chest naturally that was sculpted through genetics, on the other hand when I was doing bench presses and maxing out at 300 lb my joints hurt more and I was looking for something less impact on my joints and shoulders and I found it doing push-ups and setups also

Great comment, very interesting to read. I appreciate it :)

Thank YOU so much my friend, I appreciate that!

that definitely could be what's going on! asnd thank you for your supports

Only with a forward lean (pseudo planche), but then the push ups work mostly the shoulder and the upper chest. There's so many push ups variant you can target pretty much any muscle you can think of.

I did loads of push ups for years, and my biceps didn't grow at all. After a few weeks of curls and incline curls, they got bigger straight away.

@@goodyeoman4534 yes, isometrics on there own don't so much and you need to do them with intensity.

@@hicoteo Will certainly look into that, mate. I like the idea of isometrics. I'm assuming the injury risk would be minimal too.

What kind of pec development did you gain?

Thank you dude! :)

Thank you so much my friend :)

Thank you my friend!

No problem :) Rows and pull-ups are probably a great combination for back development. It's likely rows target the middle of the back more, while pull-ups do a better job for the lats. Indeed, an electromyographic study supports this (www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/certified/april-2018/6959/ace-sponsored-research-what-is-the-best-back-exercise/) Therefore, they together are a great partnership for back development.

Thank you so much, I'm not actually a student, haha :)

Thank YOU for checking out the video dude! That sounds like a pretty awesome thing to do, gymnastic rings are great :)

All great points :)

If you are planning on slowing down the reps, slow down the descent, and make the ascent as explosive as possible without actually leaving the ground

Or narrow pushups Side staggered pushup Negative incline pushups Weighted pushup Archer pushups One arm pushups Explosive pushups / w/claps There's a lot of variations

i add a weight vest and it works quite well.

Thank you! :)

Fantastic insight! I am in similar position with regard to dumbbells and chest development over many years. I'll take your advice! Thank you.

@@AlphaMale_1 The only weighted exercises i do from time to time is after my chest workout as some kind of finisher are front raises with dumbbells but palm points upwards, you can also do a hammer curl position from the beginning where palms point to the body and rotate when you raise your arm above and slightly to the center of your body to get some pump into the chest. For the other exercise i use cables, similar like cable flys but arms are not straight, arms are tight to the body and just push the weight from one side of the body to the other. I felt my chest a lot from that exercise as you hit it much more than with any fly or bench press because you can really squeeze your chest much more. If you put your arm in front of you and tighten your chest like you do a bench press, you can put your other hand on the chest to feel it, if you than move your arm more to the center than you feel how much more you can produce pressure on the chest, that's why most people get better results from dumbbells compared to barbell.

@@FLYSKY1 is it possible to you to share your workout routine? i do calisthenics and have been struggling to develop a nice chest and other parts of my body.

@@IdkWhyMyNameIsB The question on first is if my workout routine would help you developing your muscles as my workout is a specific workout for my personal needs and i don't know how experienced you are. But i do for example Chest and Biceps on monday, 6 exercises for biceps and 4x10 sets, 26 sets just for biceps which could be a too high volume for any other athlete. For chest i do 7 exercises, also high volume so i get about 28 sets, tuesday is leg day, wednesday is triceps and back, 4 exercises each 4x10 sets, so 16 sets in complete, back are 7 exercises also about 4 sets each except for one exercise, it's one arm pull up, i do about 6 sets with 1 up to 3 reps. On thursday biceps again but light weight and 3 sets each exercise with 15 reps but 6 exercises, chest about the same, 3x15 reps each exercise. Exercises are the same like on monday just with the difference in weight, reps and sets (my so called recovery workout). Friday is triceps again (light weight, same exercises like on wednesday but 3x15 reps each) and shoulder, 3 exercises and 3x15 reps. One exercise is planche on parralel bars. But as i said, my routine works for me, doesnt mean that it will work for you aswell as in bodybuilding and also calisthenics you have to get to know how your body will react on the workout, recovery, diet and so on. For my chest i mostly use just rings and sometimes cable mashine, i would recommend ring workouts from chris heira for example, i do pelican push ups, deep push ups, push ups with lifted legs, bulgarian ring dips, dips on parallel bar, for back i also use front lever on rings or high bar. Oh, and i do core workout every day, leg raises on high bar and leg raises on parallel bar, on each i do 10 sets each, so 20 for both, first set i do 10 reps, 10 seconds rest, than 9 reps, 9 seconds rest 8 reps and so on until i reach the last set with just one rep. Core workout is the most important for any calisthenics, if you struggle with any exercise like leg raises, just make longer breaks between the sets for example.

I'm gonna combine both.

Thank you my friend!

Haha, thank you dude!

Thank YOU for checking out the video dude! :)

I just bought some rings last summer and I LOVE them. I keep them at my office so I can crank out dips, push-ups or leg raises between appointments. They were wicked humbling at first but I love the challenge.

Exactly, they should have chosen a testing method on which neither group was familiar with, say for example a push machine.

It occurred that what was smaller?

Thank you so much for your kind words dude, that means a lot!

Thank you dude! :)

Very interesting to hear, thank you for sharing dude!!

Awesome stuff, thank you for checking out the video and you kind words :)

Haha, I appreciate that, thank you :)

Cool. 55 just getting started again.

Awesome stuff dude! :)

Thank you dude, I truly appreciate you!

Very interesting!

Thank you for the kind words, they mean a lot to me :)

Haha, awesome to hear :) L'Indécis as a whole produce awesome tunes

Really nice to hear, thank YOU for checking out the video!

Thank you again my friend, I appreicate you!

Awesome stuff, great to hear!

You need both there is no better

@@rayansimaan856So true, combat fighters do both

...all depends on your goals. Weight training > calisthenics when it comes to things like body building or power lifting.

Best exercise is the one you enjoy enough to do consistently

@@ToddTommow Again, best for what? Of course basically any exercise is better than no exercise, but certain exercises are clearly better for different goals or needs.

Thank you, and yep :)

Very interesting, awesome stuff :)

Awesome to hear!

I hear clicking from my right shoulder doing bench presses. Eventually I couldn't raise my right arm over my head. Have done bench press with dumbbells, no clicking, no shoulder pain. No clicking from push ups either.

Thank you! and sorry to hear about your biceps tendon, I hope it gets better! :

Awesome stuff ! :)

Awesome stuff dude!

A tip to help with higher weight: Use a backpack that has both an upper chest strap, and a hip belt, and which is heavy duty in nature (can carry 50+ lbs no problem). But more over, put foam pads in the backpack. This helps to keep the weight from moving/shifting around as you move up and down--keeps them more stable (it also cushions your back from the weight). Put a foam pad in the backpack, then a weight on top, put another foam pad on top of that, and then a weight on top of that, etc, etc. Some foams, like EVA foam, is quite grippy.

@@justinw1765 Never thought about the foam between weight nor the belt, two great ideas man thank you!! BTW when I went from bench to doing pushups I thought I would be able to easily do pushups no problem, but it was harder than I thought. I think pushups work good for bench but not the other way around. Thanks again for the ideas, I have some thin neoprene foam laying around, need another backpack with a belt buckle 🙂

@@johnkkkj No problem, hope it helps. Interesting about the non translation between bench to pushups. Seems like the video and studies cited agree i.e. easier to go from pushups to bench than going from bench to pushups (as to keep the weight similar).

Did you notice good Hypertrophy gains as well as strength?

It will stimulate hypertrophy, it just might not be as optimal. Are you performing all those combined push up variations in one single go (no rest between them)?

@@HouseofHypertrophy I do 2 sets of 10 push-ups on day 1, then 2 sets of dive bomber push ups on day 2 (5 + 4), rest on day 3.

Interesting! that could have something to do with the biceps gains, also, yeah, strength is best attained with lower reps :)

Yep!

Very interesting to hear!

Very interesting, nice to hear!

You don't need nothing.. Slow them down.. 30 sec to go up 30 sec to go down.. Do a set of 5 reps

@@commantrosexetlos4700 That is also another great way to increase intensity but I find 30 seconds up and 30 seconds down is way too long Try 5 seconds down and 5 seconds up. You should go to failure between 60-90 seconds .

Interesting, I had not thought of the smith machine point, thank you for sharing! Also, good point with the push-up being easier to train harder with when someone does not have a bench spotter :)

Unfortunately I don't know enough about it to provide advice, sorry I cannot be of more use!

Rather use hand positions. Hands at your navel or lower, then at chest and last at your heads height.

i think that wider footing makes it easier.

I’m a certified personal trainer and Strength & Conditioning coach. I use all 3 progressions of push ups as well

You can add wide and narrow pushups too, diamond pushups, etc. Makes it less boring and helps stimulating muscles from different angles.

@Tony yeah, i laughed too when i thought about it, but after 5 sets to failure of the other 2, it still hits.

Good points.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Definitely racking and unracking would work biceps.

Unfortunately, there really isn't any research looking at this (as far as I'm aware). In general, thicker grips will probably just recruit the forearm muscles more (at least with the pull ups and curls).

@@HouseofHypertrophy but I feel even better chest pump if I do push ups on bar with fat grip.... 😊

Very interesting! I'm not too sure what could explain that, but I guess grip thickness could impact recruitment. Hopefully future research explores it :)

Awesome :)

Awesome stuff!

Solid suggestions! :)