Girls.....Can you bench your bodyweight or better?

[IronIc]

The most I've ever benched was 135 (with assistance) I can do 95 for reps.

And yes, that is way under my bodyweight, lol. The women who bench their bw or better are my heros

[NotTooLate]

The most I've ever benched was 135 (with assistance) I can do 95 for reps.

And yes, that is way under my bodyweight, lol. The women who bench their bw or better are my heros

You can't count the assisted ones Penny

95 is respectable and like the rest of us that aren't there yet, we will do it with perseverance!

Remember, stubbornness goes a long way

[shleesaid]

At 125lbs I can do about 140lbs on a good day

[PhantomMaxx]

I was wondering how many ladies here can bench their bodyweight or better? It seems that most men can do it but few women for some reason. Looking at the bench press standards chart................

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLi...Standards.html

It seems that men can bench their bodyweight in the 'intermediate' stage but women who do so are in the 'elite' stage.

I posted this question inside another thread in another forum but didn't get much of a response so I'm posting it here. There was only one women, Bronwyn, who replied that she could do it. I'm certain there are others here but I don't know who they are.

I know that breast implants are popular with girls on this site and that would squelch the ability to train the chest heavy and hard but surely there are women here who do not have implants and actually have goals to bench more weight. I know that babiegirl was mentioning that she is trying to increase her bench press. I am trying to increase mine. I have 9 more pounds to go to reach bodyweight. Who else has this goal? What are you doing to try to reach that goal? Someone, anyone?

NotTooLate: There are some variables that have not been mentions yet on this thread. Age and technique. I know in the O35 we do not like to limit ourselves by a number, after all we should train like age is not a factor and it should never be used as an excuse. But when we are comparing or referencing standards like that chart, age is a variable that is as important as weight is on that chart. Notice that chart does not have age classification. I am a competitive Powerlifter, if you look at the federation standards and World Records for each weight class, the weight lifted goes down as the age goes up. That said I still believe you should still be able to Bench Press your own bodyweight, but a 20yo you would have had an easier time reaching that worthwhile goal. As a lightweight Powerlifter (60kg/132lbs) I am ofter backstage and on the platform with mostly women. I was just at the Worlds and all the women at minimum bench their own weight. More commonly they bench about 110~120% of bodyweight. Where as all the lightweight men were benching 200%+ of bodyweight. The two genders of the same weight differ vastly on the bench but are closer in squat and deadlift just as Karl_Hungus has stated earlier.

The second variable is technique. Now we can certainly debate what constitutes as 1RM bench press. The are plenty of people in the gym not touching their chest, or bouncing the bar off their chest. When I refer to bench 1RM I mean starting with elbows locked, lowering the bar to touch the chest to an absolute stop, then returning to a locked position. I make this distinction to point out bench numbers often drop when forced to do so by the event rules. That said, many women in competitive Powerlifting have found ways to bend the rule to achieve higher numbers. The most common is the arch in the back. Rules only require head, shoulders, and butt on the bench and heels on the floor. Most men can not arch but in competition all the thinner women do arch to decrease the ROM (Range Of Movement). Second trick is a very wide grip. Because of the arch limiting the ROM the shoulders do not articulate as far so the lifter can hold the bar wider to further reduce the ROM. They are playing within the rules, but I point this out so when you hear about a 56kg/123lbs girl benching 180~260 you will know. The female bench queen who does not arch, is light weight, and is not young is Jennifer Thompson. Google her, she is amazing. Good luck with your bench goal, it's a worthwhile quest.

Women have less upper body musculature then men even when controlling for overall body weight. However, this isn't as true for the legs .... Once bodyweight is controlled for, women's leg strength is roughly 90% that of men.

Secondly, women can gain some pretty respectable bench press strength if they work at it. I once had a woman ask me for a spot on bench press, and as she was walking toward the bench, I noticed she had 225 on there. I thought she was joking, and that I would probably be doing most of the lifting, but she whipped out 6 reps easy. I was stunned to say the least.

Karl: I have a female friend at my gym that weights about 130lbs that benches 225 for sets. When she does it the guys all stop and watch.