Many years ago my friends and I used to joke about international chest day — the day you would have to stand in long queues to get near the bench press. As recently as March 2020 — the last time I trained in a commercial gym — the bench press section was by far the busiest, and worst on Mondays.
The bench press is the prom king of exercises. Exercise populism has — in the not-so-humble opinion of the Water Cooler — spoilt the gym experience and genuinely hurt people’s progress. It also results in common injuries such as the painful shoulder impingement that has sidelined many a gym bro. A badge of honour, you see, to be sidelined by a “sporting” injury.
Young men wake up on Mondays convinced they’ll turn over a new muscular leaf. Mondays: chest; Tuesdays: back; Wednesdays: shoulders; Thursdays: arms. By Friday they are too tired and would prefer to meet friends for drinks anyway, and so they skip legs. This is the science behind the Johnny Bravo look.
While international chest day is “bro science”, it is also backed up by data. The bench press is the most popular exercise — for men and women. StrengthLog is an app that allows people to create or follow training programmes. When using the app, users from around the world track their exercises. According to a release published by StrengthLog earlier in 2023, the creators analysed “millions of workouts from over 274,809 users of our workout tracker”. That’s a lot of data.
Side note: Why do people use the preposition “over” and then proceed to give an exact number? If it is “over” 274,809 users, then what is it? 274,810? 300,000? I digress — but this kind of loose writing is everywhere. Never underestimate the importance of a senior, experienced subeditor — subeditors are the silent, if quirky, superheroes of a newsroom.
The results of the exercise analysis? The bench press is the most popular exercise for men and women. Men train it 30% more than women, and do the barbell curl (for arm development) 71% more than women. I like to call this combination the recipe for the Fourways Fisique.
Women, on the other hand, do the leg press 42% more than men and do the hip thrust a whopping 830% more than men.
In other words, men are obsessed with chest and arms, and women are obsessed with glutes and legs. And here we thought societal pressure had subsided? Try harder, Gen Z.
If only we could all develop herd immunity to this madness and understand that form should follow function. A balanced training regimen, accompanied by a good diet, will result in positive changes in body composition. Shape? Well, that’s subjective.
More importantly though, an obsession with certain exercises over others results in overdeveloping some muscle groups, leading to imbalances. Imbalances in strength and flexibility are likely to result in altered joint mechanics that can result in overuse injuries, strains, sprains and posture problems. An obsession with chest training to the detriment of back development? Hello shoulder problems. Obsessed with quadriceps and forget hamstrings? Do you even like your knees?
Thankfully, StrengthLog’s top 10 includes exercises such as: bench press, squat, dead lift, lat pulldown, overhead press and barbell row. It also includes barbell curl, lateral raise, leg press and leg extension. Here’s a personal anecdote — the leg press resulted in the most painful injury I’ve ever experienced in the gym. I was to blame, of course.
You’re not missing out by not being part of bench press mania. However, it is a fantastic exercise, one of the big three, and if you can perform it properly it has tremendous benefits. I hardly ever do it. I prefer the more natural range of motion, shoulder position and grip strengthening potential of the dumbbell chest press, but this is merely my preference.
This personal preference, thankfully, ends gym bro discussions before they begin. “How much do you bench press?”
“I don’t.”
Blank stare. Inability to compute. Soul-sapping conversation averted.
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