🏋️‍♂️ squat vs. deadlift — which is better for legs?

POWERED BY:

Here’s what we have for you today:

• Round 1: Squat vs. Deadlift

• Round 2: Dumbbell vs. Barbell Bench

• Bonus: The Rock’s favorite back exercise

Exercise Selection

Deadlift v. Squats

Among the titans of the barbell, the squat and deadlift stand alone on the mountaintop as the kings of strength and muscle development. But, since the internet was made to ask such questions, BarBend just had to ask it aloud: which lift reigns supreme in the land or steel and rubber?

Both lifts require an industrial-grade posterior chain to move as much weight as possible, but which excels more in the realm of muscular development? Well, that might depend on exactly what part of your body you need to add more slabs of meat to and how (and why) you’re doing the lift in the first place. 

Difficult questions don’t breed easy answers, so step away from the mirror and put on your working boots because it’s time to go to school.

A Message From NativePath

NativePath Collagen

So… what exactly does collagen do, again? This nutrient is Insta-trending for a reason – it’s essential for healthy skin, joints, and bones. The big bummer: many collagen supplements are made with artificial ingredients and (gross) animal byproducts. NativePath has a different approach.

NativePath collagen is certified grass-fed and pure and sourced from 100% happy, healthy cows… so you can put nutrients into a happy, healthy human. It provides Types 1 and 3 collagen – more than 90% of your body’s needs. Plus, it’s tasty and provides 20 grams of protein, so you’ll get lots of energy to boot.

Find out more about the many benefits of NativePath’s collagen powder on their website!

Exercise Choice

Barbell or Dumbbells?

When you’re done with that, come back to the mirror and whisper, “Mirror mirror on the wall, which is the best way to bench press of them all?”

Your mirror, being no fool at all, will understand your meaning. Instead of showing you some poor country girl to poison with an apple, it will reveal the next epic decision you must make. That all-important choice between the dumbbell bench press and the barbell bench press may be the difference between you growing a Herculean chest or joining a beard cult with six of your diminutive friends and working in the mines. (Look…Snow White was on in the office last week, and we’ve all got cartoons on the brain.)

Each may play a separate part in your upper-body journey, with the dumbbell bench potentially being better for hypertrophy and the barbell better for raw strength. Knowing where you stand with each will lead to a true storybook outcome if you stay true to the principles laid out in the link below.

Celebrity Workouts

Rock-Hard Back

It is fair to say that Dwayne Johnson is pretty muscular in the same way that it is fair to say that Jeff Bezos is pretty rich. In between a blistering schedule of filming movies, wrestling, promotional appearances, and making tequila, “The Rock” still has to find time to make use of his Iron Paradise gym to sustain his iconic physique.

When he needs to train his back, Johnson has one go-to movement that gets the job done on time every time: The dumbbell seal row.

This move allows “The Great One” to load up with heavy weights and get a deep stretch to really focus on the muscle growth his upper back needs while also limiting the strain on his lower back. You’ve spent enough time trying to master The People’s Eyebrow in the mirror, so why not saddle up and give The Rock’s back workout a shot as well?

Everything Else

Kick It

• The triceps kickback is an isolation exercise that doesn’t rely on a lot of weight to get the feeling of having a horseshoe surgically implanted into the back of your arm.

• Hafthor Björnsson is looking strong heading into the Rogue Invitational, set to take place in Aberdeen, Scotland, in a few weeks. How strong? He set a pretty massive PR on his already mighty two-rep-max deadlift.

• China, long a mainstay on the world stage of Olympic Weightlifting, has recently opened up the first-ever museum dedicated solely to the sport.