How would you compare bench pressing on a machine to bench pressing the traditional way?
Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at
8:24 pm
i just maxed out at 150 pounds on a bench pressing machine (i know haha, not a lot). the machine was one of those were you sit up on a chair and then push the bar forward, using pulleys to lift the weight up. is that different than benching while laying back on a bench the tradition way? and if it is, about how much do you think i would have maxed out on if i had done it that way. thanks very much.
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Well I hope you understand a bench press bar adds 35 pounds to your total lift….
you would probably be somewhere around that more or less
But one thing that makes a traditional bench different is you have to balance the bar, unlike the machine one. also a traditional one allows the bar to go all the way down to your chest and a machine one does not.
give it a shot and see for yourself
Not at all comparable. Free weights require all of the stabilizing muscles to keep your motion steady, while machines take that out of the equation.
When I first started lifting, I spent the first couple months or so using machines before venturing to the free weights. It didn’t take long before I was doing nearly the whole stack on the benchpress machines. Then I tried free weights, attempted a really light benchpress, and had trouble holding the bar steady! LOL! But it didn’t take long to build up the stability. I recommend moving on to free weights soon–they’re much more effective for gaining functional strength.