How much can you bench?

[micoolah]

I was just wondering what some of you ladies out there are benching? I can bench 100 lbs barbell now but that's about it. I've been working on it for about 7 months. In the beginning I could only do 25 lb dumbbells. So I've made some pretty good progress. I want to make a goal for this but I'm not sure what would be reasonable to shoot for in the next 3 months or so.

Any thoughts would be great!

[medjen]

ExRx has a strength standards table: http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLi...Standards.html

It can help you see where you stand compared to an arbitrary average, anyway.

[Maxime1]

I was just wondering what some of you ladies out there are benching? I can bench 100 lbs barbell now but that's about it. I've been working on it for about 7 months. In the beginning I could only do 25 lb dumbbells. So I've made some pretty good progress. I want to make a goal for this but I'm not sure what would be reasonable to shoot for in the next 3 months or so.

Any thoughts would be great!

What are you talking about girl?? That's great!! I'm just now getting back up there due to an injury awhile back. Ever since, I've avoided the benchpress. Push-ups realling helped me with this though. Good luck!

[ives]

I bench 80 flat and 70 incline (3 sets of 8-10 reps), which is pathetic. I could whine about longer arms making it harder, but the simple truth is I need to get off this stupid cut and start building muscle again.

[karoline8]

165...and have been stuck for months hopefully will break this soon.

[micoolah]

Well, we're all doing the hard work and that's what counts.

165, I'm very impressed! I hope to be able to do that one day.

[micoolah]

BTW, all my strength is in my legs. My leg press is up to 455. I just started squatting so I'm at 175. I'm going up slow so I can make sure to master the form. I don't want to hurt my back or knees!!

[KyleAaron]

Most women I find struggle with about 1/3 their bodyweight for several reps in the first session - by "struggle" I mean they move the weight, but ballet it ain't, it looks pretty wobbly - are up to 1/2 their bodyweight within a month, and can manage 3/4 their bodyweight in three months.

This assumes 2-3 workouts a week with decent nutrition and no getting lost in the gym and accidentally ending up stuck in Zumba class or something. Zumba's a fine thing, but it's not going to improve your bench press.

Where they go after those first three months up to 3/4 bodyweight benching for several reps depends on their personal goals.

A bit less for the skinny deconditioned ones, but they usually give up within a month and return to occasional aerobics classes, starvation diets and smoking, the prospect of being strong scares them.

[-_-]

BTW, all my strength is in my legs. My leg press is up to 455. I just started squatting so I'm at 175. I'm going up slow so I can make sure to master the form. I don't want to hurt my back or knees!!

175 is actually very good (especially if you mean for reps), to the point where most people are going to tell you that you should look at your depth.

Squat depth is the most sacred thing in the gym. I don't care how people do their upper body workouts, but partial squats are a sad thing to see.

Just sayin

[NoPinkDBsPlz]

Most I've ever pressed was 90 lbs, 75% of my bodyweight. blah, pressing exercises are my worst.

[zombieang]

I don't really bench anymore. I can do 75lb dumbbells for 8 reps on incline and flat. I guess I could bench just shy of 200lb, but I would have to try it out.

[Rowyn]

This assumes 2-3 workouts a week with decent nutrition and no getting lost in the gym and accidentally ending up stuck in Zumba class or something. Zumba's a fine thing, but it's not going to improve your bench press.

Where they go after those first three months up to 3/4 bodyweight benching for several reps depends on their personal goals.

A bit less for the skinny deconditioned ones, but they usually give up within a month and return to occasional aerobics classes, starvation diets and smoking, the prospect of being strong scares them.

LOL, KyleAaron, you crack me up. All true, but would be "catty" for a woman to say it.

[KyleAaron]

Most I've ever pressed was 90 lbs, 75% of my bodyweight. blah, pressing exercises are my worst.

They are for most women. On the other hand, leg exercises are the worst for most men. Turns out, everyone has a weakness they need to work on. Bummer, eh?

We get better by working the hardest on our weakest areas. I find it's best to do the weakest one first in the workout, gets it over and done with, leave the glorious strong ones till the end, like dessert.

LOL, KyleAaron, you crack me up. All true, but would be "catty" for a woman to say it.

Maybe women training need to be more "catty". It might drive away the Broscience and sleazy guys in the gym, and knock some sense into the heads of the women training in ways that are directly opposite to their aims.

Don't be afraid to be a bitch sometimes.

[NoPinkDBsPlz]

They are for most women. On the other hand, leg exercises are the worst for most men. Turns out, everyone has a weakness they need to work on. Bummer, eh?

We get better by working the hardest on our weakest areas. I find it's best to do the weakest one first in the workout, gets it over and done with, leave the glorious strong ones till the end, like dessert.

Maybe women training need to be more "catty". It might drive away the Broscience and sleazy guys in the gym, and knock some sense into the heads of the women training in ways that are directly opposite to their aims.

Don't be afraid to be a bitch sometimes.

Can't I just pretend my weaknesses aren't there and go deadlift some more? ha! I actually have been working on getting my bench back up at least to where it was a few months ago, its just such a slooooow process.

Everytime I've tried to knock some sense into other women's heads I just get a bunch of "yeah.... but...." and gave up before I went full on turbo bitch

[KyleAaron]

Can't I just pretend my weaknesses aren't there and go deadlift some more?

Well, I am a booty man, so from my point of view that's great! But in terms of your long-term health and fitness and posture, probably best to work the whole body.

Everytime I've tried to knock some sense into other women's heads I just get a bunch of "yeah.... but...." and gave up before I went full on turbo bitch

So you explained first, and went full-on turbo bitch second?

That's where you went wrong. You need to start full-on turbo bitch, then once you've got their fearful attention turn nice and explain things thoroughly.

*Slap!* "Hey stupid!"
"Wha -?"
Calmly with a friendly smile: "Reading a magazine on the treadmill won't achieve your physique goals, I think a basic routine of full-body compound lifts would be more effective, here, let me show you."

Well, I dunno, it's worth a try!

[micoolah]

Well, there's definitely no shortage of females at the gym that are in the mindset of all cardio being the way to go. It's really a shame that more people aren't educated on the subject.

[jbonsall]

So you explained first, and went full-on turbo bitch second?

That's where you went wrong. You need to start full-on turbo bitch, then once you've got their fearful attention turn nice and explain things thoroughly.

*Slap!* "Hey stupid!"
"Wha -?"
Calmly with a friendly smile: "Reading a magazine on the treadmill won't achieve your physique goals, I think a basic routine of full-body compound lifts would be more effective, here, let me show you."

Well, I dunno, it's worth a try!

LOL this Killlllllled me!! (and sometimes it's sooo tempting)

Oh, and most I can bench now is 90 for reps... but when I started *hangs head* the bar alone seemed freakin' hard!!! My original goal was 100lbs by a year... methinks that may have been underestimating myself a tad bit..

[Svonne]

I've switched my goals to strengh rather than bf% or weight. Looking for progress in appearance is like watching grass grow. It has been more motivating for me to look back at logs and see strenght improvement.
Since my chest is very weak. I decided to concentrate on it. Long term, I'd really like to bench my bodyweight (120lbs). Right now can do 80 for ~8. and 90 for 1.5.

Thanks for the standards link.

[Glamorous]

I did 5x5 80lbs BB bench press (when I was about 10lbs heavier than now)
I can do 2x4 35lbs and 2x5 30lbs for DB bench

[juliacheh]

My bench is very weak - 75 pounds, 4 sets of 6 reps.

[lauren921]

ExRx has a strength standards table: http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLi...Standards.html

It can help you see where you stand compared to an arbitrary average, anyway.

Is the table referring to plates or dumbells? I can lift 2 30-pound DB's about 8-10 times, but I have a hard time believing that someone who is untrained or never lifted could do that.

[juliacheh]

Is the table referring to plates or dumbells? I can lift 2 30-pound DB's about 8-10 times, but I have a hard time believing that someone who is untrained or never lifted could do that.

This table is for one-rep maxes in barbell exercises only.

[IronOrchid]

I was just wondering what some of you ladies out there are benching?

I can do 6-8 reps with 60lbs total (two 30lbs dumbbells). I'd love to go for more but recently I had problems with my left shoulder and now I take it easy.
I don't use a barbell because I tend to compensate my left and right sides of the body (my slouchy back).

[lauren921]

This table is for one-rep maxes in barbell exercises only.

Thanks for clearing that up

[KyleAaron]

Oh, and most I can bench now is 90 for reps... but when I started *hangs head* the bar alone seemed freakin' hard!!! My original goal was 100lbs by a year... methinks that may have been underestimating myself a tad bit..

Nothing to be ashamed of, and you should set whatever goals seem to you to be good and achievable.

When you lifted just the bar, that wasn't "the bar alone", that was 45lbs more than you had lifted before. You went from zero to 45 in one day. That's amazing progress!

Since it's progressive weight training, in every workout more weight, or more reps, or more sets. "Hmmm, last time I did 90lbs 3x6, so this time I must do... 91lbs 3x6, 90lbs 3x7, or 90lbs 4x6, any of those three will mean I'm stronger." If you do that then you're progressing - even if it's 1 rep a workout or 1lb a week. Any progress, however slow, is better than standing still. All those small slow steps add up.

Add just 1 rep a workout, at 2-3 workouts a week, in a year you're doing 125 reps. Add 1lb a week, in two years you've added 100lbs. In 6 years - and you'll still be working out in 6 years, right? - 300lbs. You could win competitions with those sorts of lifts.

If you can go faster, great. But no-one should be ashamed of where they started, nor be embarrassed to have only slow steady progress. Progress is progress.

I've switched my goals to strengh rather than bf% or weight. Looking for progress in appearance is like watching grass grow. It has been more motivating for me to look back at logs and see strenght improvement.

This is true for both men and women. I mean, if you start training and change diet at the same time, everyone sees a big difference in physique in the first couple of months. But after that... it's half an inch here or there on chest or waist on thighs, who's going to notice that? But another 10lbs on bench, awesome

Build strength, and it will drag the physique change along with it.

I am confident you will achieve your goal of benching your bodyweight for reps, Svonne. Slow and steady. In every workout, more, more or more.

I can lift 2 30-pound DB's about 8-10 times,

Dumbells are harder to use than a barbell of the same weight - more balance issues, can't let the stronger side take over, and so on. If you can do DB 30lbs 1x8-10, then you can probably do barbells 90lbs 1x8-10, and would have a barbell bench press one-rep maximum of 110-120lbs or so. I wouldn't go and test it right away, though, I'd change over to barbells for a few weeks and get into the rhythm of it first.

[heidismommy]

I use a set of 25 lb db's, so 50 lbs total weight for bench press (3 sets of 12 reps while flat, then later 3 sets of 12 reps on incline). I workout from home and I need to get heavier db's so that I can decrease the rep range a bit. I don't feel comfortable benching with a barbel at home since I don't have a spotter.

Anyway, my bench press sucks which is why I hate that exercise and really don't love chest day in general, lol.

[runner03]

120lbs for 3-4 reps

[dawndm]

I've been doing the bench press consistently for 2-3 months now and I'm finding it really hard to progress. I'm stuck between 30-32.5 kilos. The problem is I'm finding it really hard to isolate my chest muscles. When I do it, i feel it all in my arms, never my chest! My arms always feel tired next day, never my chest.

What am I doing wrong?

During other exercises I can feel my pecs working(floor DB presses) (pec machine). Why can't I feel them on the bench press?

[KyleAaron]

micoolah, my apologies for our hijacking this thread, and my apologies to all for my posting so often to it, please put it down to enthusiasm rather than arrogance But perhaps "how to improve your bench press" is not too off-topic for a thread on "how much can you bench?"

dawndm, there are two possibilities here.

One is simply that whenever you do a compound exercise, you feel it first in the weakest link in that chain. So your arms are weaker than your chest, you feel it in your chest first. This is pretty common, especially in women.

The second is that if you feel your pecs working during other exercises but not BB bench, it's technique. Have someone look at your technique. Possibly you're doing the "effort neck" - shoulders hunched up towards the ears. This happens a lot during bench press.

Sitting there now, keep your shoulders down, raise your arm to the side, put one hand on upper chest near the shoulder, and bring your arm forwards while consciously squeezing the pecs - you should feel them move fairly strongly. Now raise your shoulder towards your ears, and do the same thing - notice that the pecs don't contract as strongly.

So if during your bench press you let your shoulders rise up, your pecs will be less involved in the lift, and your arms will give out before your chest. Again, have someone look at your bench press, but it's always a good idea to consciously set your shoulders down during a bench press.

This may help you get through the stall in weights. I'm not sure what approach you're using, so forgive me if I tell you anything you know. Aim at work sets of 3x6-10. That doesn't mean "just go for however many you can manage, so long as it's 6-10." It means, "begin with 3x6, even if you can do more reps, don't - next session, 3x7, and so on up to 3x10. Then add weight and drop the sets x reps back to 3x6, keep going.

Remember it's progressive weight training, so always do more, more or more - more weights or more reps or more sets. Whichever of those you do more of, you're progressing.

If you can do 30kg 3x10, then in your next session you should 32.5kg 3x6. Then after that, 32.5kg 3x7, 3x8, 3x9 and back to 3x10. Then 35kg 3x6-10, and so on.

So you stall. Let's say you managed 32.5kg 3x10, next time you come in aiming at 35kg 3x6, but only get 6,5,5. Well, it's still more weight than before, so that's progress, pat yourself on the back, rack up the weights and go home. Next time you come in and manage 35kg 6,6,5. That is more reps than you did before, well done.

Time after that you get 35kg 6,6,5 again. Hmmm, same weight and same reps, so you do more sets - do a fourth set, even if you only get 3 reps. So it'd end up as 35kg 6,6,5,3. More sets, well done.

In the following session you'll almost certainly manage 35kg 3x6, and the time after that you can go for 35kg 3x7... 3x8... 3x9... then 3x10. Once you hit that, raise the weight and drop the reps back to 6.

And always be conscious of technique, to get the most work out of your muscles for that exercise.

If you consistently stall at less than competition weights, you also want to have a look at your diet and sleep. Most people - men and women both - undereat for their strength goals, and don't have the best sleep. I give some diet advice here, but those are just general guidelines (all I'm qualified to give), and anyway usually it's just a combination of technique and not having a systematic approach to increasing weight/sets/reps.

Again, sorry if that's all obvious and well-known to you, I just go off what you've written, and anyway even if obvious to you, Dawn, it may not be obvious to everyone reading this.

[Glamorous]

I don't think I've ever felt direct soreness in my "pecs" since I first started training. Normally now when I do any kind of bench press I feel soreness in my armpit area that connects to the front of my shoulder area...not sure what to call that. Maybe it is my outter pec?