Best Form of Bench Press for a Bigger Chest (GAINS!) – ATHLEAN-X™

Build a bigger, more ripped chest in 90 days –

If you want to build a bigger chest you will have to perform the bench press at some point. That said, what is the best form of bench press if you want to get a big chest as fast as possible? In this video, I’m going to put the barbell bench press head to head with the dumbbell and cable variations of this popular chest workout staple.

Going to put the science back in strength as I break down the benefits of each of the different forms of bench press to help you decide what is best for you. I can actually ruin the surprise for you and tell you that if you can get access to all three chest exercises you will want to do them all. This is because each version of the bench press has its own unique benefits that are exclusive to it.

In the barbell bench press, you are able to lift more weight than you will be able to on any other version of the bench. This allows you to build a stronger chest that is capable of recruiting as many motor units as you are capable of. The stronger the contraction that you are able to generate through better motor unit recruitment, the more effective all of your chest exercises become in your training.

That said, the barbell limits the range of motion at the shoulders that is important for experiencing a complete chest contraction. A fully contracted pec must experience horizontal adduction at the shoulder. This means that the arm must be able to cross over the midline of your chest when it is extended out in front of your body. At best, the barbell limits your arms to about sixty degrees of adduction at the shoulder. In order to see best results however you will want to get past ninety degrees or at least to ninety.

This is where the dumbbell bench press comes in. The dumbbells share the same strength curve as the barbell but allow for a greater range of motion that addresses what we just discussed. It’s true that you will likely never be able to press with dumbbells what you could with a bar however so your top end strength might not be trained as well here. That’s ok, that is not the only point of the movement. As noted, the degree of contraction is going to be most beneficial here to making this an important irreplaceable part of your chest workouts.

Finally, the cable press variation takes the range of motion even one step further. You can actually weight the movement as you cross beyond midline. This allows for an even greater contraction of the chest. The cables also provide for a way to safely cheat and move through failure on the exercise which allows you to overload your chest muscles even more.

As you can see, all three exercises has their own benefit when it comes to building a bigger chest. Knowing when to incorporate all three is not only important but key to seeing your best results in your chest workouts. For a complete workout program that lays it all out for you day by day, head to and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System.

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