Bench Press:
- A bench press applies pressure to mostly your shoulder area and not your entire chest/arm/shoulder area.
- It is not a natural movement
- Requires no stability of your core
- If done incorrectly can ruin your posture and your shoulders permanently
If done correctly:
- Can build a strong chest and add some size to you arm and shoulders
- Will make you look powerful in the gym
- Work the four sections of your chest independently for maximum results
- Works your grip strength along with routine
Push up:
- Is a natural movement when preforming life routines
- Builds and requires all parts of your body to preform well
- Does not require a spotter or gym
- Can be effective in building all parts of chest in one movement
- Is more impressive when done with weight or vertically
I'm sure I could come up with more comparisons, however I think you get the jest of it.
For people with rotator cuff problems or or shoulder related injuries that wish to work out their chest, should prefer a push up over a bench press. I am a good testament to this. I have been doing push-ups for about a two years now. Recently started doing bench presses. Found my shoulder to be really week and need two days of recovery after doing each bench press. Switched back to push-ups, with weight, and have since conquered my shoulder weakness.
A good friend of mine was struggling to lift 175 on the bench press. After a little two week period of working with weighted push ups and higher reps, he can now lift a maximum of 2 lifts on the bench press now at 225. That's a pretty good result in just two weeks I think.
Colby
