Bench Press Exercise Alternatives

You need a good list of bench press exercise alternatives so you can rotate different weight lifting exercises between weight lifting programs.

It's always great to include a large variety of different weight lifting exercises over longer periods of time.

I highly recommend that you focus in on the 7 core weight lifting exercises and focus on getting as strong as possible on those exercises.

Rotating different bench press alternatives every few months or so when you change weight lifting programs allows you to get stronger and stronger on the core movement.

Different movements leads to an overall increase in functionality and strength. This list of bench press exercise alternatives is here to help you.

List of Bench Press Exercise Alternatives

Bench Press Exercise Substitutions. Different angles and different grips make up most of the bench press alternate exercises. The push up is another very good substitution for the bench press and can be better if you find a safe way to increase resistance.

– Decline Bench Press. Placing a weight bench at less than horizontal will give you a decline position. This decreases the angle between your trunk and your arms when bench pressing. You will be able to lift heavier weights in this position once you begin to gain strength.

– Flat Bench Press. This is the most popular version of the bench press. You'll see always see more people doing the bench press in the gym than any other exercise. Some people will only do this exercise and that leads to huge muscle imbalances.

– Incline Bench Press. You can place the bench at different angles to get more of an incline angle. This increases the angle between your trunk and your arms when bench pressing and brings more of the front deltoids or shoulders into play. You will usually be weaker on this exercise as the angle increases.

– Wide Grip Bench Press. If you want to decrease the range of motion and work the inner chest more, the wide grip bench press allows you to do this. Be careful to not stress the shoulders too much by increasing your grip too wide. Start out with lighter weights and increase slowly.

– Close Grip Bench Press. Bringing your grip closer together will stress the triceps more. You might choose this exercise as a substitution if you really want to work on the triceps more.

– Reverse Grip Bench Press. This is one of my favorite versions of the bench press as this allows you to really target the triceps with a wider grip.

– Parallel Grip Bench Press. By using dumbbells or a special barbell like the triceps bar or hammer curl bar, you can have a parallel grip which keeps your arms closer to your sides while bench pressing. This gives a completely different feel to the exercise.

– Push Ups. Push ups of all styles and variations can be used as a substitution for the bench press. Push ups require you to move your body weight through space which makes it a special exercise. A suspension trainer makes the movement even tougher.

Do You Know of Any Other Bench Press Exercise Alternatives?

If you know of any good bench press exercise alternatives that I haven't listed here, please tell me about them in the comments area below.

You won't notice many isolation exercises as I don't prefer them over compound weight lifting exercises that use heavier weights overall.

This includes chest exercises like the chest fly. You do get a great stretch with that exercise, but I prefer exercises that use much heavier weights.

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