How much of your bench press do you dumb bell press?

So I was training today, with a random fella at the gym as my training partner is on holiday and we were both doing some chest exercises. Basically, on our flat bench press we were pushing the same weight for roughly the same amount of reps. If anything he was a little stronger. However, when moving onto dumb bells I noticed he couldn't lift the same amount. About 5kg less on each arm. I found this kind of strange and thought that maybe he had strong tri's and shoulders that were helping on the bench press.

Just a question to you guys, how much of your bench press do you dumb bell press? I've heard that it's roughly 80% but I find that mine is probably around 90%. Any theories as to why some people find it easier to lift more, or even less?

Hmm, I find I can barbell press more, WAY more infact, than dumbell presses.

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Originally Posted by Flagg

Hmm, I find I can barbell press more, WAY more infact, than dumbell presses.

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crazy i can dumbell presses more then i can barbell press

I haven't used a barbell for bench in years, dumbbells only. Flat bench barbells always make my shoulder hurt.

In my experience it really dep ends on the stabilizers and what you are accustomed too. I think if your partner works with DB's a little more he would catch up pretty quick once his muscles got use to the difference.. core and stabilizers come into play on db's a lot more than bb presses.. If I lay off of one for a while it takes a few weeks to get right back to where I was.

Another thing you didn't think about is endurance... everyone has different levels of endurance.. he might have burned out quicker than you on the previous exercises... so don't forget to think about that...

You can't really put a % on the db's to bb's... It is a big variance imo... On bb I can rep say 365 for bout 7 reps... On db's I can rep 140's for about the same amount.. that is a huge difference... what is that about 76%??? I wouldn't really put a number on it.. I work both every week. my 2 cents.

with me at my home gym I bench 250 on the bar and 100 each dumbell, only because thats the weight I have. I would say benching 300 you might would use 100 lb dumbells.

i barbell bench around 45lbs more than dumbbells, also my right arm is about 3/8" bigger than my left because I didn't use dumbbells enough... now i cut out the barbell and have noticed my rotator cuff is much healthier

lot lesss on db but way better lift imo

i dont think ive benched over the 140's before on dbs and my bb bench is alot higher then 280 lol

Dumbbell press I max out with the 145's and barbell I can only get up to about 355, my chest has gotten a little weaker I used to bb bench 405 a couple years ago then stopped training for strength. I prefer db's but always use the bb too.