Okay, so I’ve been hitting the gym pretty regularly, and I wanted to figure out how my dumbbell bench press relates to my barbell bench. You know, like, if I can dumbbell bench 50s, what should I expect to barbell bench? I couldn’t find a super clear-cut answer online, so I decided to just track my own stuff and see what happened.
My Experiment
First, I started tracking. Every time I did either dumbbell or barbell bench, I wrote it down. I used a simple notebook—nothing fancy. I just jotted down the weight, reps, and sets. Like this:
- Date: 2023-10-26
- Exercise: Dumbbell Bench
- Weight: 50 lbs each
- Sets: 3
- Reps: 8, 7, 6
And then another entry for barbell bench:
- Date: 2023-10-28
- Exercise: Barbell Bench
- Weight: 115 lbs
- Sets: 3
- Reps: 8, 7, 6
I did this for several weeks, trying to keep my effort level pretty consistent. I wasn’t trying to max out every time, but I also wasn’t taking it super easy. Just a good, solid workout.
After a month or so, I started looking at the numbers. I noticed a pattern for me. It wasn’t exact, by any means, but a trend.
My Findings
What worked for me, roughly, was this: I added up the weight of the two dumbbells and then, get that, I had to add roughly 10-20% MORE weight when I did the barbell . So, if I was dumbbell benching 50s (50 lbs in each hand), that’s 100 lbs total. Then I would add about 10-20%, so that takes it up to 110-120lbs range on the barbell.
Now, this isn’t perfect. Some days I felt stronger, some days weaker. And I’m sure it’s different for everyone. But, it gave me a pretty good ballpark figure. For me it works out to be about that 10-20% extra on barbell.
It’s important to say that, I am just a normal dude hitting up the gym. I found a pattern, and noticed the conversion between dumbbell and barbell bench press, and it might not work for everyone.
