. ****, I'll be the first to admit that I'm weak. My numbers suck. But what matters is that I am doing something about it. Some guys are just naturally stronger than others. A friend of mine benched 185 lbs the very first time he ever went into a gym at age 17. I couldn't even pick up the barbell.
Man they ragged me the rest of the night.
That reminds me...most guys just don't realize that using a smith machine really takes a workload off of yourself....when I first started, before I invested in my home gym, there was this one dude that swore by smith-squats. He said there wasn't and simply couldn't be that much of a difference in workload when compared to a regular power cage...I talked him in to doing a set with my poundages and in the cage.....the dude only got up to 6 reps....barely even went parallel and proceeded to hurl all over the damn floor...LOL....I wish I could have video-taped that bro...what a clown...but ever since then I talk to him once in a while, he doesn't use any kind of Smith's anymore....LOL...Yeah thats kinda of freakish. Most guys I take with a grain of salt. "Yeah I have been lifting for one year and can bench 380lbs" Man I can count how many 300lb+ benchers I have seen on both my hands. Reminds me of a funny story. I was 15yrs old and playing HS football. And in our school we had a strength test that would include a bench press, a universal bench press. And the coachs always took the higher number. In may case 275lbs. Now I thought I was hot s@*t and told my mom. She inturn told my grandmother, who then told my older cousin who was in town. My cousin was on leave from the Army and decided to check out this awsome feat of strength. Bare in mind that my cousin was a jr. state powerlifting champ in HS. So he gets four of his friends together and picks me up to go to the gym. HIs four friends were HUGE. The smallest being 245lbs and the biggest 280lbs and the center for Ohio State! We procced over to Golds Gym for our "workout". My cousin tells me to warmup and and set the bar up for 135lbs. I am like "no sweat", even though I had never done any freeweights, except curls. I'll spare my self any more embaressment by saying I was able to do two set of five with 135lbs. Thats it!
But it is going up so that is good.
Keep in mind that quite a few people bench and squat in a way that would be illegal in a powerlifting competition, e.g. bouncing the bar. I have no problem with people who lift this way unless they brag about how much they bench/squat, in which case it really pisses me off.Come on dude, you didn't believe I could bench 500 lbs.
BTW, many guys lift with shitty ass form in order to add to their bench so it may give some a false impression about their true strength.
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We sound like we have the same problems. My body gains size more than strength at an abnormal pace. Unfortunately, I care about strength more than shear mass. After awhile, you don't care to get much bigger unless its all solid muscle and doesn't slow you down much...Size: Sorry man, didn't mean to jack your thread
I am not a great bencher, I think the most I ever did was 275lbs for about 7 and I weighed around 220lbs with a decent amount of fat. My shoulders are pretty strong I got 130 BDs for about 5 when I was 18-19. But for some reason I am not a great bencher. If you saw me you would think I was a natural bencher: stumpy arms, strong delts and tris, and a barrel chest. So maybe it my tech. or my weak lats. Last time I trained with weights I was doing 205 for 6 or so. But I had only been lifting for about a month. But now i would rather get my dip up to BW/with 150 tied to my waist for a good set then worry about how much I can bench.
I think most people lie about their max lifts on boards, it's not common (in my experience) to often see people in gyms doing more than 225 (or esp 315) on the big three lifts. I am just happy that I'm finally doing well, but it took awhile to get there. Bench 365, squat 405, dead 425 and I'm happy with that....although more would be nice, lol
!Um, I think it's easy to lie on a board when no one actually knows you, you could post a pic but how would everyone know that's you in the pic?I'm at squat 405+, dead 425, bench 315ish
Huh? Well, I did 2 work sets benching 185 yesterday, and I weigh 188 as of this morning. Guess I'd better stop doing bench press, lest I lift more than I weigh. Actually, my deadlifts are 245 and my squat is 235 working sets, so I guess the damage is already done.Also, I may be wrong here but surely lifting more than you physically weigh cannot be good for you?
Just my 2p worth...
LM
Sorry, my friend you are wrong
OK Guys,I'm in the middle of a comeback, but currently benching 335. Best ever was 375x3 my goal is 8 plates. I used to be able to deadlift 585 for reps, I need to get back into that but my current wo partner is a wuss.
Bench is not my best exercise, but I really don't care about the weights just the results.
Sorry, my friend you are wrong
Might be from all the damn running though.
I agree that people put too much emphasis on the bench press. As an excercise though, I dont think it should be ignored. The BB flat bench recruits a lot of muscles in the upper body, abdomen, back, and even legs when done correctly. I think that's why its such a great mass builder. It definately dosent isolate the pecs, but then the squat dosen't isolate the quads either...
My squat is less than yours.....I have a great bench, but squat is terrible.I've always had a strong bench but my squat sucks ass. I remember my junior year in high school I was benching 325 but squating about 245. Nowadays, it's a little better but still not quite right. Last time I did flat bench was a month ago, got 375 for 5. And squatting 415 for 6. Not a very impressive squat when you consider my bench.
how big are you guys?
Those are some sick figures bro! What's your max deadlift?
I have pulled over 600 in the past but I could not do that now. My squat and bench are really bad right now, but like I said I am in the middle of a comeback.
