Do You Need a Weightlifting Bench For a Home Gym?

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Weightlifting benches are very common in commercial and home gyms but are they really necessary? it depends on your personal workout routines and fitness goals. Let’s dive in and find out if you need one.

Most home and garage gyms require a weightlifting bench in order to properly perform many pressing exercises. While there are alternative exercises and equipment, the bench provides a simple and affordable way to dramatically increase the number of exercise options available.

That said, not everyone absolutely needs a weight bench so let’s dive in to see what they’re good for and if you need one for your home gym.

Who Needs a Weightlifting Bench?

Just to be clear, we’re talking about separate weightlifting benches that can be moved around. Not complete bench press setups where the bench is built into the rack.

Who needs a weightlifting bench? It’s pretty simple, anyone who wants to dumbbell or barbell exercises while laying down or seated. Hip thrusting also requires a bench.

A weightlifting bench opens up a lot of new exercise options. Without it, you can’t bench/db press which is a big deal for many people. There are more things you can do with a utility bench but the pressing movements are the main thing a bench is beneficial for.

Of course, if you have no interest in weight training or only train while standing up, you don’t need a weightlifting bench. However, most people who are building a home gym for the purpose of strength and muscle building will need one sooner or later.

Which Lifts Do You Need a Bench For?

A weightlifting bench can open up a variety of dumbbell and barbell movements, making it a valuable addition to your gym setup. This is the main reason to add a bench to your home or garage gym setup.

Here are some key dumbbell and barbell movements you need a bench for:

Dumbbell Movements That Require a Bench

Barbell Movements That Require a Bench

And that’s just what you can do with a fixed flat bench. If you’ve got an adjustable bench, you can add an incline and/or decline variation to many of those exercises.

While many of these movements can be modified or performed without a bench, having a weightlifting bench enhances your range of motion, stability, and exercise variety. A bench also makes many exercises much easier to set up.

Advantages Of Having a Bench In Your Garage Gym

Incorporating a weightlifting bench into your home gym setup offers a range of advantages that can significantly enhance your workout experience and fitness results.

1. Exercise Variety and Versatility

A weightlifting bench expands the variety of exercises you can perform, enabling you to target different muscle groups and engage in a wider range of movements.

From bench presses to incline and decline presses, flyes, rows, and more, a bench offers versatility that contributes to a well-rounded workout routine.

This alone makes your workouts more effective and less boring. Without a bench, you might be limited in what you can do and this makes your workouts less effective and more monotonous.

2. Progressive Overload and Strength Building

A weightlifting bench allows you to gradually increase resistance by using dumbbells or barbells, supporting the principle of progressive overload.

Without a bench, you would be limited to bodyweight exercises, especially for the chest. And while you can make gains doing those for a while, progressive overload is the key to continued strength and muscle gains.

On a bench, you can use barbells or dumbbells. Those are the best tools for progressive overload. By adjusting the weight you lift and incorporating different bench angles, you can challenge your muscles and promote continuous improvement.

3. Range of Motion

Some movements, especially when the bench is flat, could be done on the floor. There is such a thing as a floor press. However, a bench allows for a much greater range of motion. This is very beneficial for muscle growth.

Also, in many places, you really don’t want to lie on the floor. A bench keeps you cleaner.

A larger range of motion has been proven to produce more muscle growth as has putting the target muscle in a loaded stretched position. Both of which are much easier to do with a bench.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0273451

4. Stability

Using a bench stabilizes your back. That means you’ve got something to push against and keep your back in the same position. That means you can push higher loads that would otherwise move you instead.

For example, doing a standing vs. seated shoulder press is a very different experience. Both have their pros and cons but the seated shoulder press lets you focus more on engaging the delts. This can help muscle growth through a better mind-muscle connection. You also spend less energy stabilizing your body and more energy moving the target muscle.

A good bench will have a wide and supportive seat/backrest. This gives you the stability and confidence to push harder and heavier. In turn that leads to more strength and muscle gains. Using the right bench is key here though. A wobbly bench with an unsupportive backrest is going to be counterproductive.

5. Effective Upper Body Development

Bench presses, both with dumbbells and barbells, are excellent for targeting the chest, shoulders, and triceps. Even the back can be targeted with a bench.

An adjustable bench also allows you to emphasize different parts of these muscle groups through incline, flat, and decline angles.

All that variety can be used to target your muscles in different and new ways which leads to more strength and hypertrophy.

For lower body development a bench is not that useful. Sure, you can use them for box squats and Bulgarian split squats but you can also find a random box for those exercises.

Who Doesn’t Need a Weightlifting Bench

While a weightlifting bench can be a valuable addition to many garage gyms, there are certain individuals or scenarios where a weightlifting bench might not be necessary or the best fit.

Here are some situations where someone might not need a weightlifting bench:

1. No Horizontal Pressing

If you don’t intend to do any pressing movements while your back is horizontal, you don’t need a bench although it can still be useful for hip thrusts and Bulgarian split squats.

There are types of workouts where horizontal pressing doesn’t play a large role. Think about Olympic lifts, none of which require a bench. And of course, if you just do bodyweight or cardio, your home or garage gym doesn’t need a bench either.

Think about your fitness plans and goals and see if you need a bench. Still not sure? Leave the bench out at first. You’ll notice soon enough if you need one.

2. Budget Constraints

Can you absolutely not afford a bench after buying a set of dumbbells or a barbell and plates? You can still train many muscle groups without a bench but you’ll be limited in the exercises you can do. Especially the amount of pressing exercises will be limited.

If you can’t afford a bench now, it should be your first upgrade.

You might also want to read this article on how much weightlifting benches cost.

3. Space Constraints

Got a super tiny home gym where you can’t fit a bench? It’s still possible to use dumbbells and train many muscle groups. If you can’t fit a bench, barbells are probably not going to fit either.

You’ll be pretty limited though because if you can fit a bench, you can’t lay down on the floor either and that means any horizontal pressing is going to be hard.

There are foldable weightlifting benches available. So if you’ve got enough space to use it but not enough to store a normal one, that can be the solution. After use, fold up the legs and lean it against the wall and it will barely take up any space.

Weightlifting Bench Alternatives