The barbell bench press is one of the most popular exercises in the world, and one of the best chest exercises you can do. It’s actually the most popular one in our workout log app, for both male and female lifters.
The bench press is a cornerstone exercise in strength training, regardless of whether you’re looking to build a big chest or to become stronger.
However, there could be many reasons why a lifter needs to avoid the bench press for some time. Whether it’s due to equipment limitations, personal preferences, or the need to avoid strain due to injury, we’re going to present seven bench press alternatives in this article. Hopefully, you’ll find one or two that suit your needs.
Bench Press Alternatives
- Dumbbell Chest Press
- Floor Press
- Dips
- Push Ups
- Machine Chest Press
- Cable Chest Press
- Smith Machine Bench Press
1. Dumbbell Chest Press
Using dumbbells instead of a barbell increases the demand for stabilization. It can also be a great opportunity to work on any muscular imbalances or strength differences between the sides. Working with dumbbells instead of a barbell also reduces the risk of getting stuck under the weights if you fail.
Many lifters experience that they can lift in a better position and with a better range of motion when they use dumbbells, but due to its stability challenges, the total weight lifted will probably be lower than the barbell bench press.
2. Floor Press
The biggest differences between the regular bench press and floor presses are the limited range of motion in the floor press and the fact that you won’t be able to use any leg drive. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though.
Thanks to the shorter range of motion, you might be able to use a heavier load than in the traditional bench press. This might help you improve your lockout later on. The shorter range of motion could also reduce the stress on your chest muscles in the bottom position, which might make the floor press a great alternative for maintaining your strength and muscles while rehabilitating a chest injury or similar.
The barbell bench press is a better choice for developing all-around upper body strength and muscle mass, but the floor press can be an effective exercise when you need to target a specific need or work around an injury or other limitation.
Read more: Floor Press vs. Bench Press for Strength: Benefits & Differences
3. Dips
Dips are also a compound exercise that targets the upper body, but they place more emphasis on the triceps and the lower part of the chest than bench press. Dips require more stability than the bench press, and will therefore challenge your core more.
Bar dips emphasize your mid to lower chest which is heavily utilized in the bench press – especially if you arch. Therefore, it could be a good complement to the bench press as well.
4. Push Ups
The push-up is an exercise that strengthens the upper body and engages the core, enhancing overall body stability and functional strength. Push-ups are a very versatile exercise, easy to modify to increase or decrease difficulty, and can be performed anywhere, without any equipment.
The push-up is probably one of the most overlooked upper body exercises out there, and many bench pressers out there look at them as something unworthy of their attention. However, it can be a great tool to increase your bench press strength. Our CEO, Daniel, has tried it. Here is what he has to say about them:
I’ve twice used this simple exercise to improve my bench press in 10 kg / 22 lb leaps: first from 140 to 150 kg, and then again from 152.5 to 162.5 kg. I don’t believe that there is something magical about the push-up itself, but simply that the accessibility of the exercise allowed me to drastically increase my training volume and frequency without interfering with work or family.
Do them strict and deep to reap the most benefit from them.
While both push-ups and bench presses share similar muscle targets, their demands on the body differ a lot, which makes them complementary in a well-rounded fitness program.
5. Machine Chest Press
The machine chest press is an exercise that offers more stability and requires less balance and coordination than the bench press. That could lead to increased focus on the muscles worked, and also makes it easy to learn for a beginner.
However, due to the stability, all the supportive and stabilizing musculature (for example, your rotator cuffs) gets less of a challenge. It might not be something negative, but it’s good to keep in mind.
Read more: Chest Press vs. Bench Press: 17 Pros and Cons
6. Cable Chest Press
The cable chest press has a different resistance curve than the bench press, as the direction of resistance comes more from the sides. That might make it easier to keep tension on the chest muscles throughout the whole movement, and thus possibly benefit muscle growth.
They both target the chest muscles but differ in a few key aspects. The bench press allows for lifting heavier weights, lying on a bench, and building strength and muscle mass with variable resistance. While the cable chest press, as mentioned above, might offer an easier way to keep constant tension in your chest muscles.
7. Smith Machine Bench Press
The Smith machine bench press might look very similar to the regular bench press, but there is one big difference – the bar path. The Smith machine bench press has a completely straight bar path instead of a slightly arched one as the regular bench press has. The exercise also has lower requirements for stabilization and balance, which could make it easier to focus on the muscles trained.
This stability can make it easier to focus on lifting heavier weights with potentially less risk of injury. However, this also means fewer stabilizing muscles are recruited, which can limit functional strength gains compared to the regular bench press.
Incorporating Bench Press Alternatives into Your Routine
If you’re looking to replace the bench press in your current workout routine, it’s important to first reflect on the role it plays in your program. Recognizing the initial reasons for including the bench press will help you make your decision on an appropriate substitute.
If your goal with the bench press is to increase your 1RM strength in the pressing muscles, it might not be the best idea to replace it with the same exercises as if your goal is to add bigger pecs.
If you need to replace the bench press due to an injury, you might need to look at which alternative will take away most of the load of the injured area.
Summary
I hope that you’ve gotten some inspiration from this article and that you found a good alternative for the bench press to incorporate into your workout routine. Even if you want to keep the bench press in your routine, the alternative exercises above could be a good complement as well.
If you want to grow bigger and stronger, the key to fast and consistent gains in strength and muscle is to increase the weight you use in your training or to do more reps, regardless of which exercises you’re doing.
To help with this, you might want to track your workout progress, suggestively in our workout log app Strengthlog.
It’s almost impossible to keep track of your progress without a workout log. Our app StrengthLog is 100% free to download and use as a workout tracker and general strength training app. All the basic functionality is free – forever.
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