Increase bench from 315 to 405 in a year?

[StealinRoidz]

Hey all, just wanted some input as to if it is possible to take your bench press from 315 lbs to 405 lbs in a year. Basically i'm just trying to set a reasonable goal. So i've been lifting for a little less than 14 months and took my bench from 175 to 310. This gain was on a terrible diet, not enough sleep, poor routine, no suppliments besides wal mart protein, and an overdose of alcohol. So i'm thinking that if I clean up my habits and maybe hit up some creatine it would probably be easy to hit 405 in a year. So what do you guys think? reasonable goal? anybody else take their bench from three plates to four in a year? BTW, this lift is natty and raw and I will be on a somewhat clean bulking diet for this whole year.

~I tried posting this in the teen section, but everyone who replied couldn't even bench two plates, so i'm assuming i'll get some better responses from the powerlifters. Thanks guys!

[kinggorilla]

its doable

[jtteg_X]

reasonable, yes. easy...no.
you're on the right path considering your wanting to clean bulk. Reinforce your bench technique, select a proven program, get in your nutrition, sleep well and be consistent with your supplementation then you'll have a good start to achieve. 405 is a huge milestone. good luck on your endeavors

[StealinRoidz]

reasonable, yes. easy...no.
you're on the right path considering your wanting to clean bulk. Reinforce your bench technique, select a proven program, get in your nutrition, sleep well and be consistent with your supplementation then you'll have a good start to achieve. 405 is a huge milestone. good luck on your endeavors

Right now I do flat bench once or twice a week. I do two or three warm up sets then I hit my one or two rep max, then I drop weight and do sets until failure. Example: 135*12 225*3 255*1 300*2 255*5 225*7 205*7. I also do alot of other exercises to suppliment bench (dips, incline barbell, decline barbell, incline fly, flat fly, cable fly, tricep pull downs, skullcrushers...etc). Is there a different routine you would recommend?

[arian11]

Right now I do flat bench once or twice a week. I do two or three warm up sets then I hit my one or two rep max, then I drop weight and do sets until failure. Example: 135*12 225*3 255*1 300*2 255*5 225*7 205*7. I also do alot of other exercises to suppliment bench (dips, incline barbell, decline barbell, incline fly, flat fly, cable fly, tricep pull downs, skullcrushers...etc). Is there a different routine you would recommend?

You should hop on a routine designed around benching. If you go to the sticky called "Read Before Starting a Thread" you will find many programs there to choose from.

Bench

Westside
Training the Bench
Bench Press 600 lbs
WSB (shirtless) DE Bench Calculator

How to bench press 500 easy
Bench E-Book

Ed Coan
Ed Coan Bench Program
Ed Coan Bench Routine (with PBN) by Iron Dungeon

Iron Dungeon
Iron Dungeon's 6 session (2 part) Bench Cycle

Kazmaier Cycle
Kazmaier Bench Cycle

Ryan Kennelly Bench Cycle(s)
Kennelly Bench Thread by StrongInChrist

[Torrtrefireto]

My first 315 bench was in between my sophmore and junior years of high school

Out of college still haven't hit 405. Smolov jr'll fix that, it damn well better.

[DatAzz]

Unless you are over 250lbs or have some elite powerlifting genes its not gonna happen in one year and may not ever happen in your life.

[ViKtoricus]

I think it also depends on how much bodyweight you are willing to gain...

I can imagine how a natural, 200-pound, off-season bodybuilder would get his bench-press up from 315 to 405 if he decides to juice up and go up to 250-pounds off-season.



It is much MUCH more doable that way...

[hammerfelt]

I took my bench from 315 to 405 in six months. Definitely possible.

[Torrtrefireto]

I took my bench from 315 to 405 in six months. Definitely possible.

Negs

[Squinky]

Without knowing you, and from those stats alone I would say it's not a very reasonable goal because there is a high probability you will fail.

[BombDonald]

I took my bench from 315 to 405 in six months. Definitely possible.

To be fair you are also over 300 lbs. It's still insane though.

[kinggorilla]

hammerfelt used cheat codes.
up,up,down,left,right,b,a,b,a,start,select.

[.aeterna]

Unless you are over 250lbs or have some elite powerlifting genes its not gonna happen in one year and may not ever happen in your life.

Without knowing you, and from those stats alone I would say it's not a very reasonable goal because there is a high probability you will fail.

biggest tip: eliminate these sorts of people from ur life. leave loser mentalities to losers
second tip: eat alot, recover well, get on a proven program..90lbs on a sq/dead in a year is great for an intermediate+ lifter. 90lbs on a bench? would be incredible

[whatwhatwhat]

Hey all, just wanted some input as to if it is possible to take your bench press from 315 lbs to 405 lbs in a year. Basically i'm just trying to set a reasonable goal. So i've been lifting for a little less than 14 months and took my bench from 175 to 310. This gain was on a terrible diet, not enough sleep, poor routine, no suppliments besides wal mart protein, and an overdose of alcohol. So i'm thinking that if I clean up my habits and maybe hit up some creatine it would probably be easy to hit 405 in a year. So what do you guys think? reasonable goal? anybody else take their bench from three plates to four in a year? BTW, this lift is natty and raw and I will be on a somewhat clean bulking diet for this whole year.

~I tried posting this in the teen section, but everyone who replied couldn't even bench two plates, so i'm assuming i'll get some better responses from the powerlifters. Thanks guys!

To be frank I have no practical advice for you because I suck at benching myself, but I'm wishing you good luck and I hope you can do it.

[nekkidbear]

My first 315 bench was in between my sophmore and junior years of high school

Out of college still haven't hit 405. Smolov jr'll fix that, it damn well better.

Mine went down... wasn't consuming nearly enough calories though.

[blkbelt42]

I took my bench from 315 to 405 in six months. Definitely possible.

Stats: 6'4", 339 lbs


it would be odd if you weren't benching 405

[DatAzz]

biggest tip: eliminate these sorts of people from ur life. leave loser mentalities to losers
second tip: eat alot, recover well, get on a proven program..90lbs on a sq/dead in a year is great for an intermediate+ lifter. 90lbs on a bench? would be incredible

leave 150lb ******* mentalities to 150lb *******s

I'm all about being positive and setting goals but to set an unrealistic goal is setting yourself up for failure. I see people bench 315lb ALL the time but I can honestly count the number of 405lb benches I've seen on one hand in all the years I've been lifting. Most people can lift their entire life and never put up 405 so take it for what its worth

goodluck bro

[BrobiWanKenobi]

leave 150lb ******* mentalities to 150lb *******s

I'm all about being positive and setting goals but to set an unrealistic goal is setting yourself up for failure. I see people bench 315lb ALL the time but I can honestly count the number of 405lb benches I've seen on one hand in all the years I've been lifting. Most people can lift their entire life and never put up 405 so take it for what its worth

goodluck bro

this.

Is it possible? Sure. Is it probable? Well that depends on a lot of things. Such as your genetics, dedication, willingness to gain bw, etc.

[kinggorilla]

if u believe u can do it and do everything u can to reach your goal then it is possible.
if u doubt yourself at all u will fail.
also readjusting your goals right before u get there is useful.say your trying to get 405 but once your close shoot for 425 instead.
thinking of any number or plates per side as a barrier or putting it on a pedestal is a good way to sabatoge yourself.

[BrobiWanKenobi]

if u believe u can do it and do everything u can to reach your goal then it is possible.
if u doubt yourself at all u will fail.
also readjusting your goals right before u get there is useful.say your trying to get 405 but once your close shoot for 425 instead.
thinking of any number or plates per side as a barrier or putting it on a pedestal is a good way to sabatoge yourself.

Personally I like to chase smaller short term goals and ignore the long term goals most of the time. Thinking about benching 320 up from 315 in a month is easier for me to envision than 400+ in a year.

[DetKimble]

Stats: 6'4", 339 lbs


it would be odd if you weren't benching 405

**** that, give the man some credit

[Liftamulti]

It's possible. Now do it.

[.aeterna]

leave 150lb ******* mentalities to 150lb *******s

I'm all about being positive and setting goals but to set an unrealistic goal is setting yourself up for failure. I see people bench 315lb ALL the time but I can honestly count the number of 405lb benches I've seen on one hand in all the years I've been lifting. Most people can lift their entire life and never put up 405 so take it for what its worth

goodluck bro

whats my weight have to do with anything? and who cares what you've seen in all your years of lifting.

as if either of these two points were relevant to the discussion

edit: nvm i see what ur saying. basically u set a high-bar for yourself, failed to reach it, and thus assume others will not be able to do it.

[samsont]

whats my weight have to do with anything? and who cares what you've seen in all your years of lifting.

as if either of these two points were relevant to the discussion

it's not surprising he has "zyzz" in his signature.

he acts like 405 is a mythical bench number. lol, this is the powerlifting section...

[C0bra]

Unless you are over 250lbs or have some elite powerlifting genes its not gonna happen in one year and may not ever happen in your life.

you'll never get anywhere in life being a negative nancy

[beardofstars]

It's probably not going to happen in a year unless you get fat as **** or take roids. I would say 1.5-2years.

[BrobiWanKenobi]

it's not surprising he has "zyzz" in his signature.

he acts like 405 is a mythical bench number. lol, this is the powerlifting section...

For a guy like the Thread Starter who is pushing 6' and under 200lbs going from 315 to 405 is a big jump. Unless he's blessed with t-rex arms. 405 is definitely possible if he trains smart and doesn't get hurt but beardofstars said I think it'll probably take a bit longer.

[.aeterna]

unless you get fat as ****

now ur getting it

[StealinRoidz]

Well thanks for the advice guys. I see alot of you are sayin "no way." I'm still gonna set my goal at 405 tho. One reason is, I ran the logistic regression on the data from my gains in the last year, and extrapolating this says I should hit about 395 in a year (I'm a math minor so I couldn't resist). I'm still going up at a steady 10-15 pounds per month and not showing a sign of hitting a plateau. So I guess if I accomplish this, I can prove most of ya'll wrong. If I don't, then, oh well, i'll probabaly still have a pretty sadistic bench