How much do you bench, bro?

[Zivic]

I'm still hopeful. I've never hit my limit so I don't really now where its at. I was doing 380s in my teens and I never felt like a struggle. Time will tell, like I said. Next years bump to 430 will be the go or no go I believe. I am really confident about the next bump up not being an issue getting back to 6-8 reps, I really think I could do that now with very little in the way of more effort. It just feels like every session is over that I left a lot on the table. The next day its like I never hit the gym and I have to hold my self back from going or upping the weight to soon. Realizing I am not a young pup anymore, I am sticking to my plan regardless of how strong I am feeling today. That's why no ORM or competition lifts. Only time will tell. All that said, my lower back is KILLING me!!!

On a side note: I just took a measurement and I now have my 20" upper arms back!! WOOHOO!!!!!!

in your late 40's TRT has to be playing a factor. I'll be 38 this year and I can tell you I am not the man I was at 35-36.

there is a gigantic step from 430 to get to 500 and the upper 300's you reference aren't even in the same universe as pushing 500. even when I was really making a push for a big bench I was doing a controlled triple at 465 and I could get a decent 480, and a 485, but 490 was impossible. I made several attempts at it over the course of a yr and it just wasn't happening. I'm not here to brag or say look at how much I benched, but I know what those numbers feel like. Heck I could come off of training some times over a couple summers. I would be off from april till oct and I could come back into the gym and in 2-3 sessions push 405 for 2-3 reps. benching came about as easy to me as I would guess it would to anyone and 500 was only 15 lbs away and it might as well have been 1500....

I wish you the best and hope you stay injury free. I would love to hear that you got a 500 up. would be DAMN impressive!

 

[moonbogg]

What causes pec tears or ligament tears? I have heard of people benching a ton of weight and their whole pec muscle RIPS apart. That sounds like something that can't be recovered from fully.

 

[Zivic]

What causes pec tears or ligament tears? I have heard of people benching a ton of weight and their whole pec muscle RIPS apart. That sounds like something that can't be recovered from fully.

that might have a fair amount to do with it

 

[gradoman]

Congrats to moonbog!

Gotta say though, some of the replies in this thread make me fear the bench even more now, hahah.

As for me, 275x3 paused was my maximum at ~195lbs. I bench like once a week, occasionally twice a week. Don't really care for bench too much, but I'd be happy with 300lbs on bench.

 

[SNC]

What causes pec tears or ligament tears? I have heard of people benching a ton of weight and their whole pec muscle RIPS apart. That sounds like something that can't be recovered from fully.

My upper pec tear was caused while standing outside of the car and turning wrong when bending over to pick a piece of paper of the drivers seat. I couldn't move my neck at all or left arm very well for 3 days. It makes some exercises hard to complete even after 6 months. After chest day its almost impossible to button my pants because of the pain, so I have to ware sweats for a day. It does not take a ton of weight to do damage.

 

[edro]

I have never been strong at bench, even with good technique.

I weigh 165-170 now, pretty lean.
I can do 225 for ~3-4 reps, but it's a struggle.
I usually do dumbell presses with ~80lbs for 3x8-10 reps.
I just jumped up to 85lbs last week for 3x6 reps.

 

[Subyman]

I'm pretty excited where I'm on bench. I've been working out for years but never could push past my plateau on bench. Finally pushed past and had some intense gains. 3 weeks ago I hit my goal of 225x10, which is roughly a 300 max. I've done the 10 reps consistently now for a few weeks, so I feel good about staying where I am and it wasn't just a strength fluke. I'm going to work that weight for awhile before trying for a max. FWIW, I weigh 183lbs. I'll probably creep up to 245 for reps on my later sets to get used to more weight. Sucks not having a spot though... (No I'm not going to max without a spot!)

Also, no protein powder, no supplements, not weird diet, no crazy work out plan, just consistency and a healthy lifestyle here.

 

[moonbogg]

Nice Suby and Edro. You guys got some strength hiding behind your PC geekness Its funny to see pc geeks and gamers so strong. It goes against most people's assumptions.
I was weaker at bench this last Tuesday. I seem to have ups and downs where I am strong with an aggressive and resilient push one day, but the next time I just can't push the weight. I guess that's why remaining consistent is important because the strength should increase on average over time. That's the plan any way

 

[Subyman]

Yeah, you can have weak days. For me I know going in if its going to be a weak day. Usually I had been really busy and forgot to eat consistently throughout the days leading up to the work out. I usually do better earlier in the day as well. Late night workouts can be rough.

 

[SNC]

in your late 40's TRT has to be playing a factor. I'll be 38 this year and I can tell you I am not the man I was at 35-36.

there is a gigantic step from 430 to get to 500 and the upper 300's you reference aren't even in the same universe as pushing 500. even when I was really making a push for a big bench I was doing a controlled triple at 465 and I could get a decent 480, and a 485, but 490 was impossible. I made several attempts at it over the course of a yr and it just wasn't happening. I'm not here to brag or say look at how much I benched, but I know what those numbers feel like. Heck I could come off of training some times over a couple summers. I would be off from april till oct and I could come back into the gym and in 2-3 sessions push 405 for 2-3 reps. benching came about as easy to me as I would guess it would to anyone and 500 was only 15 lbs away and it might as well have been 1500....

I wish you the best and hope you stay injury free. I would love to hear that you got a 500 up. would be DAMN impressive!

Update: Because of a nagging back pain, (I was rear-ended a month ago) that caused a back spasm while in the attic of a clients that sent my falling through the ceiling and getting hurt worse, I needed to slow down on adding more weight to quick. So I only added a quarter to my middle set of 3 plates and was able to get 3 good reps without much back pain. I might need to add 6 months to my goal, but that in itself will make it harder. Hunting the dream!~

 

[SlitheryDee]

Update: Because of a nagging back pain, (I was rear-ended a month ago) that caused a back spasm while in the attic of a clients that sent my falling through the ceiling and getting hurt worse, I needed to slow down on adding more weight to quick. So I only added a quarter to my middle set of 3 plates and was able to get 3 good reps without much back pain. I might need to add 6 months to my goal, but that in itself will make it harder. Hunting the dream!~

I suppose if you suffer a back injury and are still able to add any weight at all you're ahead of the game. I would be very careful doing that though. Nothing stops your progress like injuring yourself in the weight room in a way that prohibits you from training. Back pain ain't nothing to play with.

 

[SNC]

I suppose if you suffer a back injury and are still able to add any weight at all you're ahead of the game. I would be very careful doing that though. Nothing stops your progress like injuring yourself in the weight room in a way that prohibits you from training. Back pain ain't nothing to play with.

If it were an upper back problem I'd be done for awhile. My issue is lower back and only really affects me when arching or bending over, so I'm pretty confident. I have noticed that I am having a harder time with arm flair since the accident tho. It seams a lot harder to keep the elbows in now. Probably has to do with fear, I would always flair out when I lifted heavy, not sure why but a lot of people do it.

 

[Insomniator]

I can rep 225x5 @ 175lbs.

Nothing great, never tried to max as I have no spotter. Shoulder has been hurting a bit lately just as my hand has felt better -- its always something.

 

[repoman0]

My bench has always been super weak. Best I ever got was 175x2 at 160 body weight. Lately I'm doing sets of 8 at 115 or so because somehow my shoulder has been bothered a lot by it, so I'm working on form at lower weight. I think my form is just about perfect, but whenever I increase the weight too much, a sharp pain goes through my left shoulder and I don't know how to fix it The actual press itself feels easy at this weight but my shoulder is really irritating me.

Deadlift is 300lbs with strong form and quickly increasing these days, still at 160 body weight. Just wish my bench would follow.

 

[SP33Demon]

One thing that will get that bench up is rows twice a week - I do one heavy and one moderate. Heavy day is seated row machine (3 plates each side for 50 reps) and moderate is bent over row with one hand on the rack, 100 reps each arm with 70's or 80's. You should see your bench and deadlift go up just by doing this and creating a bigger shelf for bench and you should be able to handle more in deads.

Repo, for your shoulder pain are you way out on your grip? I modified mine to be much closer in so I'm getting better shoulder suction despite a higher ROM. I've found that it's made most shoulder pain go away, it just gets really sore (which it's supposed to - I have a fraying labrum).

 

[repoman0]

One thing that will get that bench up is rows twice a week - I do one heavy and one moderate. Heavy day is seated row machine (3 plates each side for 50 reps) and moderate is bent over row with one hand on the rack, 100 reps each arm with 70's or 80's. You should see your bench and deadlift go up just by doing this and creating a bigger shelf for bench and you should be able to handle more in deads.

Repo, for your shoulder pain are you way out on your grip? I modified mine to be much closer in so I'm getting better shoulder suction despite a higher ROM. I've found that it's made most shoulder pain go away, it just gets really sore (which it's supposed to - I have a fraying labrum).

Yep, I do rows twice a week, definitely remember reading what you're saying about them. I do bent over barbell and I'm at around 170-175 for sets of 5. My numbers are strange because it seems like bench press should be above that if I was scaling properly

I've tried a variety of grip locations and seem to have settled on a closer grip for overhead press to make it pain free and a normal grip for bench (pinky just inside the ring), but definitely still experimenting.

 

[Subyman]

Did 225 12 times last work out. Feeling good. Probably going to go for a real max attempt next month.

 

[SNC]

Did 225 12 times last work out. Feeling good. Probably going to go for a real max attempt next month.

3 plates should go up!

 

[SNC]

If anyone is interested, my back issue got progressively worse, spasms would take my knees out from under me. I actually fell through a clients ceiling because of a spasm while pulling wire in the attic. I had to pull the quarters off the bench because of cramping when arched. Oddly enough there was a 100x100 timed dumbbell "contest" at my gym that I did and afterwards I have not had a major event with my back. On a side note, my counter was way off so I did 128 instead of the 100 I should have done. I was sooooo warn out the last few sets.