how much should the average man be able to bench?

[wieywill]

quick question i seen this huge looking man working out today in the gym he started out with 150 and worked his weight up to 170....he lifted the 170lbs 3x...i then asked him i bet you can bench press over 300lbs just by looking at him he said nope the most he had ever done is 185lbs he also said he hated the bench press!!,,i was stunned this guy was a mountain of muscle and must have weighed atleast 245lbs of solid mass..

i also noticed he excels at the overhead press he repped 170lbs 10x in a row..i said to myself this guy is a beast i cannot not even do that maybe once on a good day.

how can he overhead press so much yet does miserably on the benchpress?? i dont understand it.

[noodlenut]

It matters the person. I have gained alot of muscle and strength everywhere but my bench press is still crappy as hell!

[wieywill]

i can repout 235lbs for 7 reps now..my previous was at 245lbs i imagine i should be able to do atleast 260lbs now..

but it took me a long ass time to get where i am today about a year of training..

i started out barely being able to lift 135lbs 2x...no joke man i was fat and weak as hell...hahaha

[Avila]

quick question i seen this huge looking man working out today in the gym he started out with 150 and worked his weight up to 170....he lifted the 170lbs 3x...i then asked him i bet you can bench press over 300lbs just by looking at him he said nope the most he had ever done is 185lbs he also said he hated the bench press!!,,i was stunned this guy was a mountain of muscle and must have weighed atleast 245lbs of solid mass..

i also noticed he excels at the overhead press he repped 170lbs 10x in a row..i said to myself this guy is a beast i cannot not even do that maybe once on a good day.

how can he overhead press so much yet does miserably on the benchpress?? i dont understand it.

Maybe he was warming up his shoulders to get ready for the overhead press. Maybe he truly doesn't like bench press and never has gone over 185. who knows.

in regards to your original thread question. The average man who does not lift regularly cannot lift more than 150 pounds. I read that somewhere, though I cannot remember how they gathered that information, so take it as a random statistic.

[SebastianG]

I always had a weak chest, but im slowly working on it.
Last week i finally broke 90 pound dumbell press (180 lb total)
and im up to 170 on chest press.

Yet i can do 720 lb leg (before i broke my leg) press or 360 lbs low rows (4x45 plates on each side) or 450 lbs shrugs.

I know this guy who is skinny as hell around 130 and he can bench press 180, yet hes not muscular.

Its ****ing weird and annoying to be honest.

[Attacus]

I forget where I read this, but apparently being able to bench 150% of your bodyweight is a benchmark of fitness.

[aleeboy]

I forget where I read this, but apparently being able to bench 150% of your bodyweight is a benchmark of fitness.

Are we talking the 1 rep max? or working weight?

[aleeboy]

Maybe he was warming up his shoulders to get ready for the overhead press. Maybe he truly doesn't like bench press and never has gone over 185. who knows.

in regards to your original thread question. The average man who does not lift regularly cannot lift more than 150 pounds. I read that somewhere, though I cannot remember how they gathered that information, so take it as a random statistic.

When you say someone who doesn't lift regularly, do you mean some untrained person who goes to the gym once per year after the NYs? Then in that case, I doubt the would get near 150... they would struggle with 130 IMO.

[wieywill]

aleeboy i say your deadon accurate.

[kidkidneys]

I started out as a noob repping 200.... 200 pound dumbells that is

I stopped lifting because I ran out of weights of adequate size and I got bored

[kidkidneys]

I forget where I read this, but apparently being able to bench 150% of your bodyweight is a benchmark of fitness.

I think I heard this same statistic quoted as part of an old Nebraska football strength training program. I've also heard (in some fitness magazine, which I generally view to be loads of fluff) that repping bodyweight for 10 reps is a good benchmark. though I cant stand most of the magazines, it seemed like a nice round figure

[bikestud125]

I read in M&F from maybe a year ago the average male could do 90-95% of there bodyweight. As for the first post about the big guy not benching a lot, My personal best for bench is 300, where as my best squat is 355 because I trained bench a hole lot more the squat.

[lilhomeboy07]

i personally hate training bench. though im not sure why.
ive always had a big chest and have been able to do the "tittie dance" since i was like 11. my bench number sucks though. i can probably rep 225 by 2 or 3 while i squat 345 atg for 2 reps and DL 315 for reps..

maybe im just weird...

[thenewguy97]

lifting the same amount of pounds that you weigh is good.

the average on bench is 135. that should be the average

225 is good. thats when you know your in to it.

275 is excellent, thats how you know your strong.

315 oh my goodness, thats when you feel the real power, especially when you gotta get it pass your sticking point.

and anything obove 375 is superman strengh.

[Drekkor]

Gorilla strength is 1,900 lbs. Train like a Silverback and you'll achieve it, hell I know it worked for me...

[hawaiiancrack]

yea thats true, he probably doesnt like doing benching..

same as power cleans.
I got overall good strength in my arms and legs.
But I can barely do a 1-rep max of 135 =[

[Drekkor]

^^ wow that guy is amazing. i want to be like him when i get older

Someday, just keep doing functional Silverback Gorilla training.

[touchofevil04]

I'd expect at least 135 from the average guy. The first time i ever entered a gym i was able to do 4 sets of 135, i did 10,7,9,10 not sure why the 7 but thats how it went for me lol.
Today i actually hit a PB of 275x6 on my last set. But i've been very surprised as i just hit my second month back in a gym in over two years and i coudn't do 275 when i was in a gym over 2 years ago....i also am cutting"fatguylol" and was lifting on 480cals cause we got off work really early so i was two meals down from a normal day.

[caso81]

i know in my case, my delts are pretty strong so to a certain degree a flat bench is not always the best way to go about pec development form me. i still do them regularly, but the strength in my delts is disproportionate to my chest. ive been stuck at 225 forever. when asked about my bench, people dont believe that is all i can bench. i can almost hit as much on the incline as flat bench. i have pretty good overall chest development; i just depend on many different exercises to get there. i workout alone so sometimes its difficult to move up the weight as fast as i would like

[Whey Hey]

lifting the same amount of pounds that you weigh is good.

the average on bench is 135. that should be the average

225 is good. thats when you know your in to it.

275 is excellent, thats how you know your strong.

315 oh my goodness, thats when you feel the real power, especially when you gotta get it pass your sticking point.

and anything obove 375 is superman strengh.

Maybe average for a trained male.

However, i know for a fact all my friends, who dont lift at all couldnt even get 135 for 1 rep..apart from one, who is a mesomorph, but just wastes his potential..

[shellie5]

170 overhead and 180 bench for someone who is 245 is terrible. Something in your story don't make sense. If i saw a 245 pound man who was a "mountain of muscle" I would assume he could bench well over 300.

[jblaisuri]

training for hypertrophy does not always equal training for strength

[rockchalk420]

Benching shreds your shoulders. The heavier the weight, the more damage is done.

Lets not forget the important part of working out. Exhausting the muscle till fatigue/failure. You are simply breaking down your muscles so that when you are in recovery phase, your muscles are forced to grow. Heavier weight kills your joints. I personally do lower weight on bench, yet my max on bench is roughly 300lbs, but I rarely ever do it.

This dude was jacked because he exhuasted his muscles till failure by doing less weight. High reps with lower weight is basically the same as performing heavy weight with low reps. Its just not as "flashy" to brag about..

[Average_Man]

My 1rm is 225, my 5rm is 185... any other questions about the Average_Man?

[JZ1986]

benching only damages the shoulders if you dont know how to do it. I have been benching heavy for many years and have no problems at all.

[rbtrout]

Benching shreds your shoulders. The heavier the weight, the more damage is done.

High reps with lower weight is basically the same as performing heavy weight with low reps. Its just not as "flashy" to brag about..

Tell this to all the plers out there. If your shoulders are weak or already have problems, then heavy benching MIGHT be bad for you.

Lower weight with high reps is the same as heavy weight with low reps? That's a load of BS. If I exercise with 50# dbs all the time and do 15 reps each set, do think there's any way in hell that I can then just sit down and bench 400? NFW. Get a clue.

[aleeboy]

Tell this to all the plers out there. If your shoulders are weak or already have problems, then heavy benching MIGHT be bad for you.

Lower weight with high reps is the same as heavy weight with low reps? That's a load of BS. If I exercise with 50# dbs all the time and do 15 reps each set, do think there's any way in hell that I can then just sit down and bench 400? NFW. Get a clue.

Second that! I can say I will be much stronger than guys who train for high reps wit low weight. There is a big difference. It's like a BB arm wrestling a Triathlete. No competition here in terms of strength and size.

[jblaisuri]

Second that! I can say I will be much stronger than guys who train for high reps wit low weight. There is a big difference. It's like a BB arm wrestling a Triathlete. No competition here in terms of strength and size.

i know dudes who compete NPC who don't lift all that heavy. you might be much stronger, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're bigger. i know kid who's 170 and benches 315 for reps. doesn't mean he's big.

[bfrog95]

170 overhead and 180 bench for someone who is 245 is terrible. Something in your story don't make sense. If i saw a 245 pound man who was a "mountain of muscle" I would assume he could bench well over 300.

Ive got to ask, I always compare myself to other guys in the gym, as of now I can't do squats or dead lifts ever again (Dr. told me that) because of my back (to much damage from war injury) but I can do other movements clean and heavy...or at least I think its heavy. Im not ripped and most of the guys I see look way better but they just are not working out with as much weight. Im 5'8" 230ish and should be around 210. Here are most of the things I do that I consisder heavy....Is this good for a guy my size or not?

I rep between 955-1055 on leg press for sets of 10 (usually 2-3 sets) going to at least a 90 and keeping it slow on the way down and not locking out at the top. Ive been doing this for several years now, but I got a bloody nose and had some blood pressure issues the other day when I hit the sets like this so I am going to back this down for a while since I don't feel like dying at the gym.

Bench, Ive done sets with 315 normaly 3-5 sets of 5 reps. but lately I go down to 275 I can get 2 sets of 10 most of the time and 225 I get 4 sets of 10 no problem. Ive gotton a 1 rep max of 390 but that was over 4 years ago and I never tried it since.

dumbell shoulder press I regulary do 80's for 3-4 sets most of the time getting 10 reps. (No spotter so I can't go heavier)

No if Im having a bad day I don't go heavy. I don't have a spotter on any of these because most of the time there isnt one around.

I would realy like to know if these are good numbers for a 32 year old man who is all natural...

[ActionJackson96]

Maybe average for a trained male.

However, i know for a fact all my friends, who dont lift at all couldnt even get 135 for 1 rep..apart from one, who is a mesomorph, but just wastes his potential..

I just started weight training in August 2008. I was courious about what my max was on a few excersices and my bench is 285x2.
I have never lifted weights up intill August. I think all the push-ups I have dont my enitre life help me have a high max cause I dont think I have been lifting long enough for a max that high.
I can easily do 120 perfect push-ups, so i think that helps out!