How much can you bench?

[Barbell500]

It's very interesting....All these guys at 180-190 doing 375 lbs...I don't know many people that even have a 315. BTW, I did 315x1 at 187. Now I do like 265. Man enough to admit it.

 

[Jayhawkk]

It's the internet man...Comes with the territory but you get the same thing in person as well. Everyone is a combat veteran who has killed a platoon of people. they all have fought MMA, have a black belt in ten different disciplines and have been shot, stabbed and still kicked ass.

Take it for what it is and roll with it

 

[Zombie]

It's the internet man...Comes with the territory but you get the same thing in person as well. Everyone is a combat veteran who has killed a platoon of people. they all have fought MMA, have a black belt in ten different disciplines and have been shot, stabbed and still kicked ass.

Take it for what it is and roll with it

lol you're right. the only one people fool when they give fake stats its them self. Like when you get a new training part ner and you go to drink water and get back and he said he did his 10 reps already and you saw that he only did like 6. He only fools him self . i dont gain or losse anything if he does more or less reps.

 

[pistonpump]

for the record i bench 390 x2.

 

[TheCrownedOne]

I can bench pi. Think about that!

 

[blackcj7]

hmm Joe Mazza America's best bench presser pound for pound at 165lbs he got just over 400lbs. and 615lbs at 165lbs with bench shirt. Like what was said above, take whatever numbers people are throwing around with a grain of salt. Once you get over 1.5x your body weight you typically need a lot of exercise background and/or supplemention, a great diet, experienced / certified lifting partners / coaches(Unless you are a rare freak of nature).

Not a day goes by where I do not see horrible techniques being preformed in the weight room as well. I have guys come up to me and say they benched "330 lbs." when I just saw them lower the weight 1 and 1/2 inches down and press that whole 1 and 1/2 inches back up or else the more typical bounce technique you see in lots of people lifting weight that is too heavy for them. Some of these techniques can be useful in improving your maximal output, but should not be considered a maxout by any means (ie. overloaded half reps to get through a sticking point in a certain point of your range of motion).

That being said a maximal lift is a controlled lift brought down to touch chest with a short pause at chest 2-3 seconds then a press of the weight to full lockout. No BS bouncing weight half way up or only bringing weight down half way. A nice clean, raw press is the only way to accurately judge your maximal potiental.

I have no idea where my maximal is now, but I currently can do 225lbs x 12 @ 150lbs.

I have pressed 325lbs @ about 170lbs before. My goal has been and may always being getting 2x my body weight with a raw flat bench press.

about 5'8 , wide frame, clean diet (but high cal intake lately) , ~8% body fat, mid-20s, 8 years lifting experience, degree in Exercise Science (Main professor was Professional Bodybuilder), Supplements: Essential fats, Multi-Vitamin, Anabolic Pump, TNA, Shock Therapy preworkout with added Aminos, just started RPM preworkout as well and love it.

 

[Jayhawkk]

That's why I say just ignore what people say. If someone benches 330 pounds and only lowers it by 2 inches how does it effect you and your accomplishments? I've seen people that do nothing but curls and they, to my standard, are screwed up but they are in the gym and having a good time and more often than not, look great. to each their own if they want to say they barbell curl 225 standing.

 

[Australian made]

i can only do 5 @ 230 but wait for it..............i weigh 235

going down to touch my chest at least. Plenty of guys at my gym go higher but wouldn't get any closer then 6 or 7 inches or so to their chest. i dont think that really counts.

 

[Thrall]

Wait wait, but what about Power Factor trainees!!! They only lower that sht 3 inches!!!:toofunny:

 

[SMOKEPALADIN]

5'11 188lbs
265lbs, i rarely do flat bench, I just work db's most of the time.

 

[JZ7757]

Bench is actually a sore subject for me as well.

im 5-7, 200lbs. I usually do 185, 205, 225 when i hit the gym. I maxed 265lbs for 2 last year.

This is def one of the area's i want to improve this year, and im on my way there!

 

[neoborn]

Pfff - all by myself I do 115, that's including the bar. I know I know don't start trying to get into my pants, I'm taken!

 

[RoidRageX10]

I WAS at 250. but wow i cant hit crap anymore. i have like 195 barley. even tho im 15 i need like 235. this summer is gonna be boot camp for me

 

[Distilled Water]

See i'd think more of the guys on here could bench more. In High School we'd have out yearly "lift-a-thon" or whatever u wanna call it for the bench press. Most everyone weighing 180+ could bench around the 300lb mark. We had a guy weighing 160 and some change do 315. This is all with sub par diets and training aimed at strength gaining.

Now granted some of the guys form werent great 6 down pause and push, more like 3 down mini bounce and push but stil. Goin into my senoir year weighing 190 @ about 20%bf i put up 275 w/ a horrible diet, just post workout weight gainer and creatine. After I got my diet dialed in along with my weight triaining (~ 1 full year) I weighd about 160 i think @ 8~10%bf and put up 300. Maybe I just have it when it comes to bench, but I think alot of these numbers are legit

 

[Australian made]

See i'd think more of the guys on here could bench more. In High School we'd have out yearly "lift-a-thon" or whatever u wanna call it for the bench press. Most everyone weighing 180+ could bench around the 300lb mark. We had a guy weighing 160 and some change do 315. This is all with sub par diets and training aimed at strength gaining.

Now granted some of the guys form werent great 6 down pause and push, more like 3 down mini bounce and push but stil. Goin into my senoir year weighing 190 @ about 20%bf i put up 275 w/ a horrible diet, just post workout weight gainer and creatine. After I got my diet dialed in along with my weight triaining (~ 1 full year) I weighd about 160 i think @ 8~10%bf and put up 300. Maybe I just have it when it comes to bench, but I think alot of these numbers are legit

WOW! dare i say it u yanks are a helluva lot stronger then the aussie boys. Seriously there was one guy at my school, massive rugby guy, who could bench 315 when he was 16 and he was miles ahead of everyone else. i saw another guy do about 450 when he was 19 but he was heavily into roids by that stage.

My powerlifter buddy did full squat 725lbs at 21. That is quite impressive....he weighs 340.

 

[Distilled Water]

WOW! dare i say it u yanks are a helluva lot stronger then the aussie boys. Seriously there was one guy at my school, massive rugby guy, who could bench 315 when he was 16 and he was miles ahead of everyone else. i saw another guy do about 450 when he was 19 but he was heavily into roids by that stage.

My powerlifter buddy did full squat 725lbs at 21. That is quite impressive....he weighs 340.

LOL, I think 2 or 3 of the guys in HS were on somthing but the 160 and some change kid was all natural for sure(close friend) He was just that guy when it came to athletics, whole family was like that. Maybe our strength program for bench was alot better than I thought????? :blink:

 

[Jayhawkk]

The only sub-200 pound guys in high schools i've been to that could press over 315 were either genetic freaks or on some chemicals. You must be in a special high school if everyone on your team was under 200 pounds and lifting over 300. Not that it matters really

 

[Distilled Water]

Sorry jay I didnt mean to say we had alot of guys under 200 that pressed 300+, but there were maybe 8 or 9. I ment us starters. The only starters that didnt were the QB and the WR's i think, more than likley the DB's also. But we did have one gentic freak, i think he has a tryout with an NFL or AFL team comming up soon to BTW

 

[bLacKjAck.]

375x1 @ 190 Bodyweight.

Did this yesterday.

6ft 2in.

I am back down to about 345 @ 195 Body weight. This is according to reps. That is about to jump back up REAL soon though ....lift weight and bod. weight.

 

[Too Small]

Best ever was 330lbs for 6 reps weighing 190lbs....years ago.

I've been out of the gym for over 6 months now due to shoulder and back problems. When I get back to training, the bar will to heavy enough I'm sure. LOL

 

[Thrall]

According to some, we only use 20-30% of our muscular output capabilities. By that standard, if we all had the optimum neurological training (i.e. strict strength training as opposed to bodybuilding) we could do alot more with the body weight we have. A lot of the muscle growth involved in bodybuilding is capillaries, sarcoplasm, and mitochondria, which equate to alot of size but very little strength. The myofibrillar elements are trained too, but not in the same way that strict strength trainers do.

In short, I could see where someone might say that bodybuilders should be able to lift more than they actually do. Perhaps the aforementioned high school team used a very good strength training program. Don't forget that men like Eugen Sandow used to be able to lift over 400 lbs. over their head with one arm (on lifts like the side press) at a less than freakish bodyweight.

 

[bkoguy07]

im 6 2

18

186 8 percent body fat

max at like 245... 240 somethin like that... i aint maxed in a skinny minute but im strongest on the soccer and track teams... and like 4th strongest on the football team...(we suck at football) hahaha

 

[MakaveliThaDon]

505 raw touch n go on my last winter bulk, was at a bw of 248.

Hopefully this winter i can go 525. We shall see.

 

[Jayhawkk]

Hella impressive right there.

 

[CryingEmo]

You sound like a lot of my little brothers friends. Jay, its NOT cool to be emo.

:blink:

 

[Jstrong20]

LOL, when someone says they have a 12 incher, I'm gonna assume they mean 12 centimeters

No I'm a legit 12''. I do start the measurment from my buthole though.lol

 

[MisterEZE]

man, i haven't maxed in years...I didnt realize people were still interested in it. here's my working weights from today...

225 x 10
265 x 8
295 x 7
315 x 4 (help on last one)

I'm 6'4...225 lbs. I think I'm doin alright...although I do often wonder the max out point.

 

[Jayhawkk]

It's better to calculate max 1 rep bench than to try and see where it is. I've hurt myself more times than I can count in trying to do just that. My last injury was trying to impress people with a 315 seated press.

 

[dhuge67]

285 at 182 lbs

 

[MEH89]

315@155 Paused, is the biggest gym bench. Thats was with a big arch, touching low, and alot of leg drive. I have hit 275@160+ last summer with no arch, and no leg drive.So there you go. Mark

 

[scorpiond]

At age 23, max was 265 bench at 165 in competition. Then took 12 yrs off from lifting, now at 35 yrs old, after 12 weeks back, did 305 at 180 lbs. (with a little help from epistane:head: )

 

[tattoopierced1]

325lbs @ 230lbs BW with a full tear in my shoulder. Once it is fixed next week, who knows. Still wanting to break the 400lbs mark. I'm also 6'7" so I have a LONG way to push the weight from my chest.

 

[MakaveliThaDon]

Some of you BBers that want to hit some bigger numbers like breaking into the 400's and what not should consider adding in just a little bit of westside training.

Not the entire routine or anything, but just add a few of there training principles and different exercises to your programs.

Like buying some bands or chains and throwing them in once a week on chest day, or doing some heavy lockouts on tricep day.

It will help your overall strength, and especially your bench. And as everyone knows, the more weight you can lift, the bigger your muscles can grow, which will have a positive effect on your bb'ing as well

 

[BIGG DOGG]

Im 5'11" And Weigh 195... I Have Never Tried For A One Rep Max... I Have A Bad Rotator Cuff On My Right Side... I Usualy End My Set Hitting 275@ 4-6 Reps... I Know I Can Hit More But The Injury And Down Time Arnt Worth It... And I Go Down 90 Degrees Stop And Go Up... No Chest Bouncing...

 

[MEH89]

Some of you BBers that want to hit some bigger numbers like breaking into the 400's and what not should consider adding in just a little bit of westside training.

Not the entire routine or anything, but just add a few of there training principles and different exercises to your programs.

Like buying some bands or chains and throwing them in once a week on chest day, or doing some heavy lockouts on tricep day.

It will help your overall strength, and especially your bench. And as everyone knows, the more weight you can lift, the bigger your muscles can grow, which will have a positive effect on your bb'ing as well

I have a couple question from your post. I also agree some bodybuilders could benfit from some westside stuff, but very little of it. First how would lockouts help anything, most people raw are weak off the chest, or very low boards (maybe 3 board). If there missing of the chest then there either not strong enough, or to slow. So I agree that maybe doing a dynamic day, or speed day with chains, or bands could make them more explosive. But the arguement there is its not enough volume for them, these bodybuilders are used to alot of volume thats how they grow. The reason westside dosent use alot of volume of dynamic day is first off, they get all there volume from max effort day, theyre benching weights in a shirt way over what the cns can really take. So I just cant see how Westside could help bodybuilders.They would have to take alot of time to get use to it, they would lose alot of size, most bodybuilders wouldnt give up any size for 20 pounds on there bench.So if you could tell me more along what lines youre think of. MaRK

 

[MakaveliThaDon]

I have a couple question from your post. I also agree some bodybuilders could benfit from some westside stuff, but very little of it. First how would lockouts help anything, most people raw are weak off the chest, or very low boards (maybe 3 board). If there missing of the chest then there either not strong enough, or to slow. So I agree that maybe doing a dynamic day, or speed day with chains, or bands could make them more explosive. But the arguement there is its not enough volume for them, these bodybuilders are used to alot of volume thats how they grow. The reason westside dosent use alot of volume of dynamic day is first off, they get all there volume from max effort day, theyre benching weights in a shirt way over what the cns can really take. So I just cant see how Westside could help bodybuilders.They would have to take alot of time to get use to it, they would lose alot of size, most bodybuilders wouldnt give up any size for 20 pounds on there bench.So if you could tell me more along what lines youre think of. MaRK

For me it's simple. I take just ONE of those things, and add them on top of all the high volume I do on a workout. I don't see how it slows a bber down or would make them lose size. I'll just start one of my normal workouts out with about a 10 minute session of dynamic benching with bands. It adds like 10 minutes to my overall workout and definitely doesn't make me lose size at all. I didn't say to drop bbing and totally train westside style for a year or 6 months or what have you. Just take some of the different exercises that westside training does, and throw one or two into your normal bbing routines. It doesn't take much getting used to, and hardly changes your overall routine. I know that by using this I'm one of the only bbers in my gym that can do anything over 4 plates on bench. And the only one that can do anything over 5.

 

[asianbabe]

ok I beat you all.. my max is 40kg aka ~90lb :/

 

[kabuki]

The only sub-200 pound guys in high schools i've been to that could press over 315 were either genetic freaks or on some chemicals. You must be in a special high school if everyone on your team was under 200 pounds and lifting over 300. Not that it matters really

hey now.:FUfinger: i used to do my heavy workouts with 275 as a Junior in High school. I would do a rest pause of 5,2,2 then repeat 2-3 minutes later. That was at 160-170ish BW.

No Chems....but not the slightest idea how to eat either.

i have no idea what i can bench raw now as i don't train for a raw lift. closest i've come recently is doing some close grip bench and reverse grip bench. On both i've been hitting my working sets in the 420 to 450 range.

 

[kabuki]

505 raw touch n go on my last winter bulk, was at a bw of 248.

Hopefully this winter i can go 525. We shall see.

very nice:thumbsup:

 

[MakaveliThaDon]

very nice:thumbsup:

Thanks bro. You too. I can't imagine hitting 450 on a reverse grip bench. Most I've done was 405 for a double if I recall correctly.

 

[MEH89]

I cant really argue with you because there something someone told me along time ago "dont take advice from someone thats smaller than you, or weaker" in this case your stronger, and bigger.I dont know how you really train, or how much you know about westside templates. I just know that most westside is based off a max effort day in a shirt, then dynamic day raw based off your floor press. I wouldnt really call doing dynamic stuff, westside very far from it.Westside is more than ME day, and a Dynamic day, its more than the set up, Westside is a style of life. I think maybe some guys can get some gains from westside exercises, but mostly just from switching there routine up. The most elite benchers in the world are raw, and equiped are westside, kennelly, Wolfe, Smith, Wolf, Winters and many more. So how can I argue. Good Post. Mark

 

[kabuki]

I cant really argue with you because there something someone told me along time ago "dont take advice from someone thats smaller than you, or weaker" in this case your stronger, and bigger.I dont know how you really train, or how much you know about westside templates. I just know that most westside is based off a max effort day in a shirt, then dynamic day raw based off your floor press. I wouldnt really call doing dynamic stuff, westside very far from it.Westside is more than ME day, and a Dynamic day, its more than the set up, Westside is a style of life. I think maybe some guys can get some gains from westside exercises, but mostly just from switching there routine up. The most elite benchers in the world are raw, and equiped are westside, kennelly, Wolfe, Smith, Wolf, Winters and many more. So how can I argue. Good Post. Mark

some of your understanding of Westside is a little off.

 

[machine528]

315 at 215 pds.... I have monkey arms though... things hang down past my freakin shins :sad:

 

[meowmeow]

Last time I measured I was longer than John Holmes.

 

[CryingEmo]

*Waves to meowmeow


I'm 6'6, so yeah... no comment about my max.

 

[drivehard]

425 @ 212 lbs. yet I still dead lift 600+.

 

[CASENATOR63]

Best ever was 455@280

Now 425@270

Lost a bit but gettin it back

 

[bassgirl]

I have no idea. Maybe I should find out.

 

[CASENATOR63]

was 455@280

Now 425@270

Lost abit but gettin it back, oh yeah and im 6'1''

 

[poopypants]

well heres a quote from what i did in july..... but before that it was 275X2 @170

and this was at 190... im sure i can do more with a warm up and 1rm lift... prob 315-330..... but not right now shoulders F'ed as well as my sternum...

07-12-2007, 11:23 PM

now i havnt even tried to 1RM on flat bench for a long while BUT none the less i just made a personal record tonight with flat bench!!!!!

this is how it went down....

build up to 1RM flat bench
135 x10 (warm up)
225 x2
245 x1
275 x1
295 x1

my previous 1RM was 275 but that was done a while ago before i switched over to all DB's for my flat and incline AND decline bench.... pretty damn awesome that it was still done on a post cycle therapy