Dumb-bels vs bar

O

oicdn

0
Is there an advantage to either?

At first I was going to alternate 2 weeks dumbbells then 2 weeks bar, but after seeing how effin packed the benches are, and needing a spotter, would it hurt me to just stay on dumbbells and NOT need a spotter with a bar?

There's a variation of the Smith machine at the gym I goto (the bar is on a track, and you rotate it to get it off), but there are only 2 of them, and they're usually either taken, or frankly, I'm embarrassed to bench my small amount of weights and hog it for 45 minutes (my whole chest routine). Pride? Probably, but embarrassment is definitely one of them, haha.

So would sticking to dumbbells be sufficient rather than swapping back and forth bi-weekly?
 
They both have their place. Dumbbells are great for recruiting more stabilizing muscles and of course there are a lot more exercises you can perform with them. But barbells also have their place for things like Olympic lifts and power lifting. You can use both in the one session, or rotate during the week.
 
As Nicolaw said, the dumbbells require shoulder/chest/arm stabilization to keep those dumbbells going straight up and not going side to side or backwards or forwards. Bench press requires a little less stabilization because your arms are locked parallel. The Smith Machine requires even less stabilization because it only goes up in 1 plane and allows one arm to compensate for a weaker arm. If you only did Smith Machine workouts and then did real bench press, you would be surprised how much less weight you could handle.

I see no downside to using dumbbells only.
 
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