Push-Ups vs. Bench Press: Pros and Cons for Muscle & Strength Gains

The push-up and the bench press are two of my favorite exercises, and they’ve been a part of my workout routine since I first got interested in strength training.

Both are great pushing exercises that can increase your strength and muscle size even after years of training.

But how do they stack up against each other? Where do they differ?

In this article, I’ll break down the pros and cons of both exercises with the goal of showing you when one or the other is better suited for your training goals.

Let’s begin with a quick overview of each so that we’re all on the same page.

The Bench Press

The bench press is performed lying on your back on a bench. You lower a barbell to your chest and push it back up again.

The bench press is a competitive lift in powerlifting and the most popular gym exercise in the world, according to our statistics.

The Push-Up

The push-up is performed by standing on all four on the floor with straight legs and body, then lowering yourself to the floor and pushing yourself back up.

The push-up is a beloved exercise of armed forces all over the world, and a staple for working out at home. How many haven’t begun their training journey by doing push-ups in their room as a kid?

Now, let’s look at how the two stack up in terms of muscle growth.

Muscles Growth From Bench Press vs. Push-Up

The bench press and push-up work very similar muscle groups.

Muscles worked in the bench press exercise — Muscles worked in the bench press …

Muscles worked in push ups — and the push-up are similar, with the exception that push-ups also work your abs.

In both of the exercises, your chest and front delts are primary working muscles, and your triceps are secondary working muscles.

The main difference is that your ab muscles are worked to some degree in the push-up, required to maintain a straight body, similar to the plank exercise.

As far as chest exercises go, both the bench press and push-up are among the best chest exercises you can do.

Both the bench press and push-up have been shown to yield good muscle growth in both the chest and triceps in resistance-trained young men.¹

Eight weeks of two workouts per week, where they did three sets to failure in either push-ups or bench press with 40% of their 1RM resulted in similar muscle and strength gains for both groups.

Part of why push-ups can be effective for muscle growth is the fact that you can build muscle with a wide range of loads and number of reps.

Anywhere from around five reps up to around 40 reps per set has been shown to be equally effective for building muscle, provided you train close to failure.²

This means that you can utilize both the push-up and the bench press to develop your chest, shoulders, and triceps, provided you can do at least a few reps per set but are not so strong that you can repeatedly do 40+ reps per set of strict, deep push-ups.

In that case, you might need to make your push-ups more challenging somehow. More on that later.

Strength Gain From Bench Press vs. Push-Up

In general, if you want to increase your maximum strength, you should lift heavy weights.

Studies tend to show that low rep training (in the 1–5 rep range) yields better strength gains than moderate rep training (8–12 reps). However, that is not always the case, and moderate-to-high rep training still yields robust strength gains.² ³

An important caveat to this, however, is that most studies comparing training on different rep ranges also use the same exercise to test increases in 1RM. This biases the results in favor of heavy training, as they are basically training the test. When tested on a neutral device (not used in the training program itself), much of the differences in strength gains between low and high rep training disappears.³

Most people with some training experience can do more push-ups than the classic “strength zone” of one to five reps per set. As long as you’re not already able to perform multiple sets of 30–40 strict, deep reps, though, I still think the push-up can be effective for increasing your upper body pushing strength.

Is it as effective as training heavy sets of five in the bench press?

Probably not.

But depending on how you are planning to use your strength, the push-up might have other benefits.

Consider movements like pushing an opponent or obstacle in front of you: you need to tense your abs to transfer force from the ground to your hands, just like in a push-up.

However, once you reach really high levels of strength (and can do more than 30–40 reps per set for multiple sets), the push-up falls behind the bench press because of how easy the latter makes it to progress in resistance.

Progression (Or Regression) in the Bench Press vs. Push-Up

The bench press has many benefits, but one of the biggest ones is how easy it is to adjust the load in detail.

Child bench pressing — Here’s a pic from a few years back of when my then-6-year-old daughter bench pressed 5 kg (11 lb) for a few sets of five reps. This light barbell from Eleiko is excellent for people who have yet to develop the strength for a standard 20 kg (45 lb) barbell.

Most gyms have access to 20 kg (45 lb) barbells and 1.25 kg (2.5 lb) plates. Many often have slightly lighter barbells, around 10 kg (22 lb) or so. This means that most healthy adults can find a weight they can handle for pretty much any rep range.

Want to go heavier and grind low reps?

The bench press can be loaded to 200+ kilos (450+ lb) if you have access to proper equipment.

Want to make it easier?

Just take weight off, and use a lighter barbell if necessary.

My garage gym has seen bench presses from the 5 kg (10 lb) above, used by my daughter or my elderly mother-in-law, up to 160 kg (352 lb), all on the same bench press station.

The point is that the bench press is incredibly easy to match to your strength levels, making it ideal for progressive overload.

While not as flexible regarding resistance, the push-up isn’t entirely out of options for progression and regression either.

You can make the push-up easier by doing push-ups on your knees or placing your hands on an elevation.

incline push-up exercise technique — Incline Push-Up

You can even combine these two into a kneeling incline push-up, if you want to make it easier still.

To progress into regular push-ups, a simple method is to train with your hands on an elevation and then gradually lower the height of the object as you get stronger, until you’re at floor level.

To make the push-up heavier, the simplest and most accessible option is to place your feet on an elevation and perform decline push-ups.

Other alternatives include wearing a weight vest when performing push-ups (although this can shorten your range of motion) or placing a weight plate on your back (although you might need the help of a training buddy for this, and it still might not be very stable).

You could also do push-ups with your hands or feet in rings, but they don’t really add to the resistance that your chest, front delts, and triceps need to overcome; they just make it more unstable and increase the work for your abs, making it an effective core exercise.

Of course, there is the coveted one-arm push-up, but at that point, we’re starting to look more at some form of gymnastic trick rather than a simple and effective way to strengthen your pushing muscles.

Equipment Needed: Bench Press vs. Push-Up

Let’s state the obvious:

Bench Press. Requires a sturdy bench, a sturdy rack, and a decent barbell with weight plates.
Push-Up. Requires nada. Zilch. Zero.

If the strength of the bench press lies in its ability to progress or regress in resistance, this is where the push-up shines: you can do it anywhere! (Except in space)

The push-up is your portable gym that you can bring with you on travel, vacations, and adventures.

There have been plenty of times when I’ve gone on vacation for a week or more, done plenty of push-ups, and returned stronger in the bench press despite not training it while away!

On the other hand, to safely and effectively perform the bench press, you need a lot of stuff. You can access this stuff either by going to a gym or by buying the equipment yourself.

This is from when my garage gym was still under construction, but it still gives you an idea of the “bare bones” equipment needed for bench pressing. Not only does it cost money, but it also requires a fair amount of space.

You don’t want to skimp on quality, either.

The bench press is one of the most dangerous exercises we perform in the gym, and you want to make sure you’re safe while training.

When you’re a beginner bench presser and not that strong yet, you might get away with slightly cheaper equipment, but as you get bigger and stronger, you want to ensure you’re using sturdy, high-quality gear.

Not only can this come with a hefty price tag, but you also need somewhere to store it.

Unless you get a gym membership, of course, but then that requires you to travel to the gym to access it.

Overall, the bench press has a much higher “equipment barrier” than the push-up.

Push-Up vs. Bench Press: My Verdict

I’ll repeat what I said at the beginning of this article: the push-up and the bench press are two of my favorite exercises. Both are great for increasing upper body strength and muscle mass.

But which do I believe is the best for developing strength and muscle?

Well, if I have to choose, I feel obliged to give the bench press the upper hand.

The ease of precise loading while maintaining a long range of motion and stability is what puts it in the lead in my book. You can easily add weight safely up to a one-rep max, and you can also do sets of 30+ reps if you are so inclined.

This makes it really easy to train with heavy weights and low reps for max strength, or stay in the “hypertrophy range” of 6–12 reps.

The bench press is a classic. It has a proven track record in both science and sports, and there is a reason why we so often include it in our training programs. It’s one of the all-time best exercises you can do to develop your body.

But the push-up shines in other ways.

Not only is it great for developing your upper body, but it can also make 99% of the population “strong enough” for most of their goals and challenges.

Couple this with the fact that it is free and available anywhere and you have a real zinger.

Luckily, most of us don’t have to choose between the two.

You can do push-ups outside in the sun when it’s nice weather, and stick it out inside a comfortable gym when the weather turns wet and cold. Or mix and match however you like.

I’ve seen good gains in my bench press 1RM during periods when I’ve worked up to a heavy single on the bench, and then done push-ups for volume for the rest of the workout.

One thing I know for sure is that if you push these exercises hard, track your workouts, and try to improve a little bit from week to week, they will make you bigger and stronger.

Read More: