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Ring Push Ups and Bench Press are two popular exercises that target specific parts of the body.
However, ring push ups can improve your bench press. This will give a very similar carryover to the dumbbell or barbell bench press. Similar movement pattern but with our own body weight. It’s a closed chain circuit, the carryover is still going to be high to traditional weight training as well as the calisthenics aspect. So we’re getting two things at once.
Next major benefit is that dumbbell bench press has you doing more partial reps as the weights get heavier, unless you perform on an extremely high volume or you assume a neutral position. Compare to the rings it’s always the same diameter, it’s always going to get the maximum range of motion. Only difference is you got weight coming from behind you, either in a weighted backpack or a vest instead of in the front like bench press.
When going heavy enough on ring push-ups, it’s better than the dumbbell bench press because we’re getting the maximum range of motion every single time. from when you were a beginner till now there was never any compromise and that is one of the craziest benefits of all.
You’re not reducing range of motion like the barbell decline version since your body can go through the center line and then there’s the strap placement itself bringing them more out or in.
Basically the flexibility is much better.
How should you know which one you should be doing? Read on to learn about ring push-ups vs. bench press and to know which is better for you.
Before making a comparison, you need to know each exercise and how to perform them. Here is a look at what ring push-ups and bench presses are and which is better.
Here is how you do ring push-ups.
Since the rings move and rotate, this exercise is easier on the joints. It is effective for gaining muscles up to a certain extent; more later.
Ring push-ups target the shoulders, chest, and triceps as the primary movers. This exercise focuses on shoulder stability, joint health, functional strength, and deep chest engagement.
It is one of the best exercises you can do for your chest and shoulders with minimal impact on your joints.
The bench press is a weight training exercise in which you stay lying on a weight training bench and press a weight upwards. The chest, shoulders, and triceps are primarily used in this workout. However, it is considered to be a full-body exercise.
A barbell or dumbbell is generally used to hold the weight when doing a bench press. Here is how you do a bench press.
The bench press is an excellent workout for strength and muscle gain. You can increase the intensity of the workout by adding more weight.
Both ring push-ups and bench presses are great exercises for strength and muscle gain. However, there are significant differences between the two that make them better in separate ways.
Ring push-ups are easier on the joints as the rings are freely movable. With the bench press, your hands are fixed in a place, so you cannot move them freely. Therefore, it can have an impact on your joints.
With the bench press, you can gradually increase the weight on the barbells, thereby gaining more muscles over time.
Like any ordinary push-up, the ring push-up strengthens the shoulder, chest, and tricep muscles. However, the instability of the rings brings more of the smaller stabilizer muscles into play. It also develops more core strength.
Ring push-ups are excellent for building your push-up strength, even if you are a beginner at workouts. It is due to the ability to alter the height of the rings to control the exercise intensity and difficulty.
Ring push-ups are far easier on the joints and provide shoulder stability while preventing injuries. Let’s look at these benefits of ring push-ups in detail.
One of the primary benefits of ring push-ups is that it allows you to move and rotate in a way that proves comfortable for your joints. You also have the freedom to move in any direction you want.
This movement of the rings allows them to adjust to a good position for the wrists, elbows, shoulders, and connective tissue. It prevents any discomfort that can occur with many reps.
In the bench press, your hands are in a fixed position that doesn’t allow the kind of free movement that ring push-ups give. Therefore, it will not help your joints, especially if you’re prone to injury.
One way you can reduce the severity of this problem while doing bench press is to limit training. You can do the exercise weekly for 3 sets or 12 reps.
However, if your joints cannot tolerate the bench press, you can opt-out of doing it and stick to doing ring push-ups, which are gentler on your joints.
Ring push-ups are a form of gymnastic training. An essential aspect that gymnastic training addresses is the ability to directly address a strength imbalance of the stabilizing muscles around the shoulder joint.
The rings used in push-ups are inherently unstable. Therefore, your body works to stabilize the equipment.
In ring push-ups, you come to an ‘in hold’ position where the instability can feel overwhelming. In such a situation, your body’s adaptive response is to strengthen the muscles around the shoulder joint.
In ring push-ups, your feet are on the ground, providing additional stability. It results in a stronger shoulder joint and a stable shoulder resistance to injury.
On the contrary, when you do bench press, the increased weight on the barbell could lead to shoulder injuries. It is because the muscles that support the shoulder need to work on keeping the weight stable. It could lead to injuries in the long run.
The following are the benefits of bench press training.
The bench press is better than ring push-ups regarding strength and muscle gain. It happens because of the ease of scaling the intensity of the workout.
You must maintain a progressive overload to gain strength and muscle when doing the bench press. To do this, you need to increase the intensity of each workout rep. It should be within the recommended rep range.
The appropriate rep range is 8-12 reps for hypertrophy and 3-6 reps for strength.
Another vital fact is that with the bench press, you can keep adding weight to the barbell to increase the demand for the targeted muscle groups. It includes the chest, shoulders, and triceps.
It also increases the body’s adaptive response to the increase in intensity to stimulate muscle growth. It also provides an increase in strength.
Gradually adding weight makes the bench press an effective workout in gaining maximum strength and increased mass of the arms, shoulders, and chest.
Although ring push up and bench press are two different training exercises, they complement each other very well.
Doing ring push-ups can improve your bench press training because it increases stability around the shoulder joint.
The benefits of ring push-ups on the shoulders are resistance to injury while doing the bench press.
The best approach to training is a combination of ring push-ups and bench presses. The bench press is better for increased strength and muscle gain.
In bench press:
Ring push-ups offer muscle gain up to a certain level, but they stand out in the following ways.
When training, ensure to lift an appropriate weight, starting from the low range and moving higher. Also, remember to breathe and rest in between, don’t rush.
Always do warm-ups before starting any exercise. You can also try having a pre-workout about an hour before you begin training. It will help make your workout more effective and give you the energy required.
Ring push-ups and bench presses are both effective exercises in their own ways. Ring push-ups are far kinder on your joints, while bench press is more effective for muscle gain and increased strength.
A combination of both these exercises will give you the best results. Always remember to start slow and increase intensity. Before beginning any exercise, remember to warm up to get your body into the rhythm.
Ring push-ups are suitable for the chest as they work to strengthen the chest, triceps, and shoulders. The instability of the rings brings the smaller stabilizer muscles into work and develops more core strength.
Ring push-ups can’t replace bench presses. If you’re looking for massive gains then ring push-ups are not sufficient. Bench presses are ideal for this.
Doing bench presses every day can do more harm than good to you. You can be more prone to injuries on the upper body if you do bench presses daily.
The bench press is more challenging to do than ring push-ups.
The ring push-up doesn’t focus on your total body weight; the balance comes more naturally with the rotating rings. The bench press focuses on your entire body weight and does not provide free movement as the rings do.
