What are your opinions on bench pressing in general? Now I know flat benching is pretty much frowned upon on here, especially for DC. What would you do if you were to train a beginner? Would you have him bench or do you guys think it would have to be replaced by a different exercise?
If we look at all the famous beginner routines (SS, SL, Reg Park's, Bill Starr's, etc.) they all have benching as one of the main exercises. Should one only bench up to a certain point and forget about it afterward (let's say once someone can bench 1.5x their bodyweight for reps and then discard it for a chest press or weighted dips or whatever)?
It's not something I've seen discussed here before, plenty of threads concerning benching for guys with a bit (or a lot) of experience, but nothing on benching for beginners. The reason I ask is because my little brother's gonna be ripe for lifting in about a year and I wanna take him to the gym with me, I started out with benching myself (powerlifter type benching though) but eventually swapped it for declines and HS chest presses because gains were better on both and no shoulder pains (had those even with a close grip and tuck/flare).
Hopefully I won't get flamed to shit for asking a bench question...
If we look at all the famous beginner routines (SS, SL, Reg Park's, Bill Starr's, etc.) they all have benching as one of the main exercises. Should one only bench up to a certain point and forget about it afterward (let's say once someone can bench 1.5x their bodyweight for reps and then discard it for a chest press or weighted dips or whatever)?
It's not something I've seen discussed here before, plenty of threads concerning benching for guys with a bit (or a lot) of experience, but nothing on benching for beginners. The reason I ask is because my little brother's gonna be ripe for lifting in about a year and I wanna take him to the gym with me, I started out with benching myself (powerlifter type benching though) but eventually swapped it for declines and HS chest presses because gains were better on both and no shoulder pains (had those even with a close grip and tuck/flare).
Hopefully I won't get flamed to shit for asking a bench question...

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