How much can you bench press?

[Michael88]

Age: 22
Height: 6'1''
Weight: 205Lbs

Just one time? About 320lbs, haven't tried more because I ran out of weights.

Though I do exercise with two dumbbells each weighing 125 (250 total) 8 reps 4 stints. Keep in mind that benching two independent weights takes a lot more strength than a single weight like a barbell.

 

[SafaditM3]

age:27
Height:6'0"
Weight:250lbs
Bench:235lbs
5sets of 8reps. Never tried to max it out I will try tomorrow morning when I'm with the guys.

 

[Omnis]

I got back in the gym and did some deadlifts today. Felt so good. I only did 135lbs which is like nothing, but when I'm fresh in a few days I'll try 225. Actually, I think I'll just go with the weightlifting club because you can't drop weights in the student gym. Don't want to do heavy-ass weights with polygonal plates either.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

I just bench pressed a golf club!! Wooooohoo

Probably better than what I could do. No, really.

 

[jagdrag77]

Age: 20.
Weight: 75kg.
Max bench press: 55kg.

I drink a protein shake after every workout but something isn't right with me...maybe my lack of motivation at the moment, but I'll get there 👍

 

[spunwicked]

Age: 31
Weight: 12 Stone
Max Bench Press: 2.6 Kg

 

[jagdrag77]

Age: 31
Weight: 12 Stone
Max Bench Press: 2.6 Kg

In Kilo's? You must be kidding..

 

[ENTERSANDMAN13]

Probably better than what I could do. No, really.

Haha xD, my pool que however is straining me

 

[spunwicked]

In Kilo's? You must be kidding..

Maybe

 

[shmogt]

Age - 29
Height - 165 cm (~5'4")
Weight - 66,5 - 67,5 kg (~147 lbs)
Bench - 127,5 kg (~281 lbs)

A little something I did today at the gym.

Constructive criticism here. I think the rows may be a little too heavy. Also your bench press is very wide, you can push more weight safer if you bring it in a little. Notice how when you come down your hands are farther out from the elbows. You want them directly in-line and on top of the elbows, this will give you the most power by incorporating the triceps and putting the shoulders in a more powerful position. Also you want to push straight up in a perfect line. If you look close you are bring it down to your chest and than pushing up towards the rack. Again very dangerous as if it drops your face will be destroyed and putting crazy amounts of pressure on the shoulder joint and not the chest. I used to bench only for power to impress people and ruined my shoulders. I have not done any chest exercises since, but last time I tried I could only manage one plate a side for about 6 reps until it started to hurt too much. You may drop in weight a little bit to get used to the proper way, but trust me you will push more weight soon enough and most importantly will not get injured.

Here is a pretty god vid on how to bench properly, notice how he goes straight up and elbows are in-lined with hands when he comes down. I wouldn't pay attention to his powerlifting technique near the end tho because it's more complicated than that. I hope this helps everyone because trust me you do not want to get injured and have to take over 6months to recover. You are building your muscles, not your ego. Always remember that for all exercises.

 

[Slash]

4 or 5 sets of 100lbs, I'm pretty weak for being 16. Up until 2 years ago, I was lucky to get the bar up with no weight on it at all :/

 

[shmogt]

4 or 5 sets of 100lbs, I'm pretty weak for being 16. Up until 2 years ago, I was lucky to get the bar up with no weight on it at all :/

how much do you weigh?

 

[Starfirebird]

Age:29
Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 148lbs

Been about 8 years since I've bench pressed,but i can do 25 T-Pushups with 15lb dumbbells.

When i was young at a whopping 115lbs. i could bench 145lbs for 3 sets of 8.It's hard tellin' what i can do now,but i don't feel like joining a gym to find out

 

[Matteume]

Constructive criticism here. I think the rows may be a little too heavy. Also your bench press is very wide, you can push more weight safer if you bring it in a little. Notice how when you come down your hands are farther out from the elbows. You want them directly in-line and on top of the elbows, this will give you the most power by incorporating the triceps and putting the shoulders in a more powerful position. Also you want to push straight up in a perfect line. If you look close you are bring it down to your chest and than pushing up towards the rack. Again very dangerous as if it drops your face will be destroyed and putting crazy amounts of pressure on the shoulder joint and not the chest. I used to bench only for power to impress people and ruined my shoulders. I have not done any chest exercises since, but last time I tried I could only manage one plate a side for about 6 reps until it started to hurt too much. You may drop in weight a little bit to get used to the proper way, but trust me you will push more weight soon enough and most importantly will not get injured.

Here is a pretty god vid on how to bench properly, notice how he goes straight up and elbows are in-lined with hands when he comes down. I wouldn't pay attention to his powerlifting technique near the end tho because it's more complicated than that. I hope this helps everyone because trust me you do not want to get injured and have to take over 6months to recover. You are building your muscles, not your ego. Always remember that for all exercises.

Thanks for the criticism and I will try to tell you why I bench the way I do.

First of all, why I'm using so wide grip is because I compete in benchpress and the maximum grip for us in powerlifting is 81 cm and I do that so I get the shortest lift possible.
Why I'm taking the bar down to my chest and then press it a little to the head is because like you said, you get stronger that way and your shoulders is workin better with your chest, triceps.
I also draw back my shoulders and down, think it like I aim my shoulders down to my heels.. That's because you don't injury your shoulders just as easy and you activate your latissimus dorsi (latin) (don't know the english word for it) to your bench.
When you see a person bench and they bench with there shoulders forward = bad injury in a long-term.. Probably you did something like that to get your injury or you just had really bad luck.

I ALWAYS use safetyracks when I'm alone so I could never drop the bar on my face, everybody should do that if they don't have a spotter.

Well, I wouldn't pay attention to his bench at all, if you're a bodybuilder then he got some points but not if your a powerlifter and want's to get the maximum out of your bench.

I hope you understand now better why I bench the way I do.

And here's a new vid if you like to watch.



BW: 69-70 kg

 

[shmogt]

Thanks for the criticism and I will try to tell you why I bench the way I do.

First of all, why I'm using so wide grip is because I compete in benchpress and the maximum grip for us in powerlifting is 81 cm and I do that so I get the shortest lift possible.
Why I'm taking the bar down to my chest and then press it a little to the head is because like you said, you get stronger that way and your shoulders is workin better with your chest, triceps.
I also draw back my shoulders and down, think it like I aim my shoulders down to my heels.. That's because you don't injury your shoulders just as easy and you activate your latissimus dorsi (latin) (don't know the english word for it) to your bench.
When you see a person bench and they bench with there shoulders forward = bad injury in a long-term.. Probably you did something like that to get your injury or you just had really bad luck.

I ALWAYS use safetyracks when I'm alone so I could never drop the bar on my face, everybody should do that if they don't have a spotter.

Well, I wouldn't pay attention to his bench at all, if you're a bodybuilder then he got some points but not if your a powerlifter and want's to get the maximum out of your bench.

I hope you understand now better why I bench the way I do.

And here's a new vid if you like to watch.



BW: 69-70 kg

That's cool man, as long as you know what your doing. I just wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt since I used to do the same style and it caught up quick lol. Ya the guy in my vid is all bodybuilding his powerlift style isn't close. Nice new vid I gave it a thumbs up 👍. Lifting that much weight I assume you do rotator cuff exercises, what do you do and when?

 

[Villain]

4 or 5 sets of 100lbs, I'm pretty weak for being 16. Up until 2 years ago, I was lucky to get the bar up with no weight on it at all :/

Don't fret. Just keep at it and you'll be fine. The pituitary gland will be your best friend pretty soon.

 

[CMvan46]

I don't know what I did but I'm not retyping my thing all over again on my phone.

 

[Matteume]

That's cool man, as long as you know what your doing. I just wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt since I used to do the same style and it caught up quick lol. Ya the guy in my vid is all bodybuilding his powerlift style isn't close. Nice new vid I gave it a thumbs up 👍. Lifting that much weight I assume you do rotator cuff exercises, what do you do and when?

Getting hurt isin't so fun, I got a friend who ruptured his chest muscle over 2 years ago and he is not yet fully recovered.
How is your shoulder now, is it any better?

Yes I do rotatorcuff exercises at least once a week, all kind of stuffs.. Up, down, left, right.
And I'm very careful when I train my shoulders, I can do some heavy military press behind my neck (and front) and then I'll do some really light weight training lifting a dumb bell to the side, high reps.

Btw, thanks for the thumbs up.

 

[CMvan46]

Behind the neck military press isn't the best exercise for avoiding injury either though... That can be brutal on the shoulder too.

 

[Matteume]

Behind the neck military press isn't the best exercise for avoiding injury either though... That can be brutal on the shoulder too.

You're absolutely right, but it's a good exercice for your shoulders if you wan't to focus on them.
Strong shoulders = less injury when you bench because they can then handle the pressure

 

[CMvan46]

One thing I'm a bit confused about is why you say your rolling your shoulders down towards your heels? Latissimus Dorsi doesn't insert in your shoulder, it's in your humerus and then orginates from the lower spine and iliac crest. Not really sure how rolling your shoulders anyway will activate it more so as just lifting your arms out as a bench press has you do should be activating it just fine. Of course you shouldn't ever be rolling your shoulders out forward but I'm not so sure many people do that in the first place. There shouldn't be any reason though to roll them farther back than flat on the bench.

 

[Matteume]

One thing I'm a bit confused about is why you say your rolling your shoulders down towards your heels? Latissimus Dorsi doesn't insert in your shoulder, it's in your humerus and then orginates from the lower spine and iliac crest. Not really sure how rolling your shoulders anyway will activate it more so as just lifting your arms out as a bench press has you do should be activating it just fine. Of course you shouldn't ever be rolling your shoulders out forward but I'm not so sure many people do that in the first place. There shouldn't be any reason though to roll them farther back than flat on the bench.

Why i roll my shoulders back is because I get a shorter lift, that's the reason I pull them farther back than flat.
Ok, it's wrong to say to bring shoulders down, what I ment is that you can mimic it with that. By "bringing your shoulders down" you should be flexing your latissimus and when you bench in a proper way you should activate them.
Like a lot of people told me and I agree with them is that it's wrong to say that benchpress is a chest exercice.. It's a upperbody exercice.

I've seen alot of people rolling their shoulders forward when they bench, it's more common than you think.

 

[shmogt]

One thing I'm a bit confused about is why you say your rolling your shoulders down towards your heels? Latissimus Dorsi doesn't insert in your shoulder, it's in your humerus and then orginates from the lower spine and iliac crest. Not really sure how rolling your shoulders anyway will activate it more so as just lifting your arms out as a bench press has you do should be activating it just fine. Of course you shouldn't ever be rolling your shoulders out forward but I'm not so sure many people do that in the first place. There shouldn't be any reason though to roll them farther back than flat on the bench.

Pretty much the best way to bench is squeeze your back together and lay down on the bench so you have an arch in your lower back. Since your back is squeeze and arched your shoulders are kept tight which is the strongest position for them. Your lats even tho they are on your back also help push the arms forward. As Matt said the bench press is more than just chest. If you do it properly you are pressing your legs down hard keeping your back and abs tight and when you press your thinking about pushing yourself into the bench instead of pushing the bar up. I had many times where I would bench and the next day my legs were sore.

@matt my shoulders don't hurt like they did so I think it's getting better but I avoid all high stress shoulder work so I'm not sure if they are better or just not hurting since no stress. Either way I been reading a lot about it and physiotherapist say its because my lats and chest are big so it's pulling the shoulder joint forward and rounding it inwards. They say to stretch the lats and chest pretty much before anything and focus on building up the rhomboids and lower traps in the middle. I been doing rotator cuff exercises too, but I don't know if I'm doing them right. Do you have any videos or articles that shows exactly how far you need to go etc? Also I assume to work rhomboids more I would do more close grip rows and stay away from lat pull downs?

 

[Encyclopedia]

Last week I upped my max to 90,5kgs (200lbs) for one rep. About 7kgs (15lbs) more than my previous max, and that in a middle of a period where my benchpress progress seemed to stand completely still. What I did is that I went back to my older technique with a slightly narrower grip and elbows a bit closer to the body during the lift.

So I'm obviously stronger in my triceps than in my chest.

I do with dumbells as well though to train my chest more specifically.

 

[NLxAROSA]

Did a 1RM of 115kgs (253lbs) this morning. Currently weighing 88kg (194lbs).

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

Not gone for a 1RM in a while, but today I did 355lbs (161kg) for 2 (wanted 3 but was blacking out so had to rack it, didn't get my breathing set right) at around 210lbs (95kg) bodyweight.

All my lifts are done raw, using powerlifting technique (shoulders retracted, back arched off of bench, legs back and loaded)

Pretty impressive numbers in here, nice.

 

[jagdrag77]

Managed to hit 75kg for 4 reps today 👍

 

[pat66]

did 7 reps with 235 lbs on decline today , not bad considering chest is my weakest point

 

[Villain]

Decline with the smith machine?

 

[Pako]

I can bench 590lbs on the smith with spotters and bands, but only if I wear my bench shirt.

Speaking of lifting aids, my elbows have been killing me on Tricep extensions. The pain has unfortunately effected my bench as well. My spotter took me to 405 flat free weight bench for a couple reps last week, but it was crushing and the pain in my elbows was almost unbearable. This is not a new injury, in fact, it's partly why I took all of 2011 off from working out, to give my structure some time to rest and heal, just to see if things would be any better. Well, they are not.

Not sure what my next step is, but bench has always been one of my favorite lifts.