Hi
I Can Bench 150 lbs x 8 on the bench barbells..i tried using dumbells
today and to my suprise was barely able to do 8 reps on the 35lb dumbell in each arm:(...thats like less than 50% of the weight used with barbell...is this unusual? will the strength catch up?..is there a normal strength ratio between barbell to dumbell..?

thanks

I don't know about any ratios, but using dumbbells recruits different stabilizer muscles than that of the barbell.

I'd say to not worry so much about the weight your pushing and judge more on the effort thats needed to move it. Just continue to push yourself.

Yep, dumbbells are much harder! Train with dumbbells for a while and your bench press will go up, believe me.

It's because the weight is so much more unstable, your body is having to use more energy and muscles to control it. It's also a good way of revealing strength differences between each arm. Most people have a stronger arm and a weaker arm but using a barbell, the stronger compensates for the weaker side.

There isn't a reliable ratio because it depends how strong your stabilising muscles are.

Everything Gubernatrix said....:nod:

Hi
I Can Bench 150 lbs x 8 on the bench barbells..i tried using dumbells
today and to my suprise was barely able to do 8 reps on the 35lb dumbell in each arm:(...thats like less than 50% of the weight used with barbell...is this unusual? will the strength catch up?..is there a normal strength ratio between barbell to dumbell..?

thanks

It's not unusual. The barbell bench press is easier than the dumbell bench press of the same weight. If you work the dumbell press then you will get it up near the barbell press, but it's pretty rare to get dumbell press to a higher weight than you can barbell press.