If you're a young guy who's new to lifting, it doesn't matter whether you do bench press first or triceps press first—your strength gains will be the same as long as you lift heavy (80% of your max) and push each set until you can't do another rep.

If you're a young guy who's never lifted much before, doing push-ups and light bench presses until you can't do any more, twice a week for two months, will make you just as strong on the bench press as if you were lifting heavier weights — and you don't even need dumbbells or barbells.

If you do push-ups or bench presses with light weights until you can't do another rep, twice a week for two months, your arms and chest will grow just as much — so push-ups can be just as good as gym machines for building muscle, if you push yourself just as hard.

How much total weight you lift matters more for muscle damage than whether you use a barbell or dumbbells—even if one feels harder or heavier per rep.

When people who’ve never lifted weights before train their chest and arms with the same total muscle tension time, the back part of their triceps (near the elbow) grows more than the middle or shoulder-end parts.

When two different ways of lifting weights are adjusted so that the total time your muscles are under strain is the same, both ways lead to about the same strength gains and muscle growth in people who haven’t trained before.