SuppVersity -Dumbbells are your best choice for bench presses if maximal pec activity is your goal

Excerpt

• Dumbbells are your best choice for bench presses if maximal pec activity is your goal, but there's more... (Farias 2017) -- Yes, Farias latest paper is not the first study to investigate the differential effects using barbells (BB), dumbbells (DB) and the smith machine (SM) on bench press muscle activity. It is however, the first one I can remember that investigated the muscle activation, total repetitions, and training volume for 3 BP exercise modes (Smith machine, barbell, and dumbbell) that were followed by triceps extensions (TE) performed on a pulley system in N=19 healthy, resistance training, male subjects (1–3 hours of recreational resistance training with a training frequency of 3–6 days per week) - All subjects performed 3 testing protocols in random order, which included: 
• smith machine bench presses + triceps extensions (P1),
• barbell bench presses + triceps extensions (P2), and 
• dumbbell bench presses + triceps extensions (P3) 
All bench press exercises were performed for 4 sets with a 10-repetition maximum (RM) load and immediately followed by triceps extensions at the cable pulleys that were likewise performed for 4 sets with a 10RM load. A 2-minute rest interval was adopted between sets and exercises. 

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SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone: Bench Press Pre-Exhaustion (PE) Science: PE Works ...: The bench press, an effective exercise for both, men and women. This article addresses both: Doing flys, anterior deltoid raises or tric...