Increasing my bench

[SquatItOut]

Someone wanna throw some advice my way?
I'm 5'10", 172lbs. I have had no problem putting on muscle or getting stronger whatsoever. When I started lifting roughly 6 months ago, I weighed like 150, and since then all of my lifts have gone up. My squat went from 225 to 400 with regular lifting and LOTS of form improvement, and my deadlift went from 225 to 380 the same way. I have a lifting plan where I do each of these lifts once a week, occasionally twice with squats (but my body has been able to handle and actually benefit from that much squatting and I NEVER go heavy both days). My nutrition is good, and I don't do much in the way of supplementation outside a multivitamin, glutamine and BCAA's. So basically, everything has been going extremely well for me since I started lifting.
Everything, that is, except my bench press. My max started out awful, at like 135. Now, it's up to 205 but as far as I'm concerned, that isn't nearly the same rate of improvement as my other lifts, and 205 at 170lbs sucks. I work my chest out twice a week, one day I'll do some real light benching to warm it up and then the other day I'll actually go "heavy" (if you can even call the weight i bench heavy ahaha). Once a month I go heavy all the way to my max. Is there something I could do to have a little more bench success? I would like my goal to be 300lbs by the time I'm 19 (may of next year). Is this possible?

[Kiknskreem]

Here is what struck me.

5'10 172lbs
400sq
205bench
380dl

I would consider the possibility that you are squatting high and your numbers were are really more like 350, 205, 380, which is more in balance. If this is the case your bench, while not great, might not be lagging to the degree you think.

If that's not the case and you are confident in your recovery, then your problem most likely falls under one or two broad categories... form or programming errors. Not really enough information to go more in depth there.

[ProStrongman]

Here is what struck me.

5'10 172lbs
400sq
205bench
380dl

I would consider the possibility that you are squatting high and your numbers were are really more like 350, 205, 380, which is more in balance. If this is the case your bench, while not great, might not be lagging to the degree you think.

If that's not the case and you are confident in your recovery, then your problem most likely falls under one or two broad categories... form or programming errors. Not really enough information to go more in depth there.

Agree. Most new lifters don't go low enough on their squats and thats the reason for the imbalance. Otherwise fix your program: westside-barbell.com

[swolegantor]

205@170 is fine for 6 months of lifting.

[SquatItOut]

Here is what struck me.

5'10 172lbs
400sq
205bench
380dl

I would consider the possibility that you are squatting high and your numbers were are really more like 350, 205, 380, which is more in balance. If this is the case your bench, while not great, might not be lagging to the degree you think.

If that's not the case and you are confident in your recovery, then your problem most likely falls under one or two broad categories... form or programming errors. Not really enough information to go more in depth there.

That is entirely possible. When I hit 400, I did have a friend spotting me, but he was behind me and so although he said I hit parallel and it was a legit squat, which I felt it was, its always possible we were mistaken. I feel like it is easier for me to squat than deadlift however, because I have long legs and it's easy for me to take a super wide stance on a squat, but I can't do that sumo stance on a deadlift very well.
Regardless, lets assume that you're right with your second statement and I am suffering from a form error, what are some common mistakes that people make when benching? I can't imagine that I'm screwing anything up out of the ordinary. The powerlifters at my gym are all huge, and I believe one of them is the record holder for squat in his weight class in Illinois, so I always have the opportunity to ask one of them, but they're in there so sparsely and on such odd times that I never know when I'll run into one.
Any advice you could offer perhaps on common form mistakes would be great.

[swolegantor]

The fact that you think your "long legs" help you squat more then you deadlift is an excellent indicator that your squatting higher then rick james on a saturday night.

[SquatItOut]

bahahaha i'm not saying they help me
i'm just saying that they make it rough for me to deadlift because i always gotta get my knees out of the way when i pull the bar up and that makes me want to use my lower back more, so it becomes like a conscious effort to fight from using my lower back every time i deadlift. but like i said, it's still a possibility that I am squatting too high. you could be right.

[Danimal]

I think your progress is fine for 6 months. Most people's bench takes longer to come up than lower body lifts. What did you expect, that you'd put 150lbs on it in 6 months like you did your squat and dead?

[isaku900]

calling depth from a back spot is impossible.

[mosley1990]

im kinda out of balance like you are haha. My bench is 315, DL 425, and squat is 250. What am i doing wrong w/ squats? i go about 2 in. below parallel to be positive that its legit.