gavriil

The reason powerlifting guys say it's important to arch your back is because the goals of powerlifting and bodybuilding are very different. In powerlifting as you know, the goal is to lift the most amout of weight. In the case of bench pressing, when you arch your back, the range of motion between the bar touching your chest and being fully lifted is lower, which makes it easier for the powerlifter to lift. The more you arch your back, the more weight you can lift.

gavriil

NP. BTW I was in Hawaii for the past two weeks so pardon the late response.

FOr now I will simply say that a barbell is almost (if not) ALWAYS better than dumbells and certainly cables. Exercises the involve the bar are ones that result into more overload and hence have the most intensity potential which in their turn result into more potential for muscle growth. One of the reasons barbells are better is because they require two limb exercises. Dumbells and cables give you the option of one limb exercises which lower intensity and overload. Other reasons are balance issues and others.

That's not to say that dumbells and cables are never to be touched (with the case of cables it's close to that but not totally in my case). But exercies with the barbell should always be considered when possible and always done as the primary exercise. For example, I see VERY FEW people do barbell curls during their bicep day. And I wonder why... Many other examples.

gavriil

If muscle growth is your goal, then absolutely. ROM is of paramount importance if the previous is your target.

gavriil

See with this, I disagree. And I know you're all heard so many times, it's like faith at this point. It's like a cult believing in something. And I bet most of you dont even know why momentum is not good in lifting. Can anyone explain?

gavriil

If your goal is to grow the associated muscles the fastest, then yes. You have been doing it wrong.

gavriil

It's interesting you have not told us how long you have been lifting and also how long you have been doing other types of exercise, if at all. Cos IMO, given stimulation, recovery and nutrition been equal, TIME is the outmost important part of sports. Nothing beats a senior athlete at his own turf (keeping the three above mentioned factors equal again).

FiftyFive

i thought i would have 225 by thanksgiving, this past saturday i put up 225 once, i weigh in at 166, and no gavrill im not lying, take the ride over here ill show you

RMATIC09

weighing in @ a lean 155

bench 245x5
deadlift275x5
squat 245x7 (weird that i can bench as much as i squat)


ive been lifting for about 4-5 years, and i used to weigh a good amount more, and as i lost the fat, i retained much strength, hence why im so strong for my bodyweight.

Doc.Booty

FiftyFive

my friend weighs as much as you do and put up 275, i dont know how you guys do it

TLover

I can bench my weight (170 pounds) three times. I'm not really into building a massive chest. I mostly to low weight/high reps when working the upper body.

RMATIC09

i dont eat all that much either. IM actually going away for a little while, once i get back, i plan on packing on 10/12 lbs of lean mass. With that much added, ill probably be able to put up 305 1x/2x.

SanJoseRoller

im pritty weak i been useing machines for a while untill about the last month i bench 155-165 in regular sets, i never tried to max, pritty weak for my size but im workin at it im 6'0" 245 pounds

JJ4Short

You'd be suprised how much heavy lifting can get you strong fast.
My lifting partner (when he feels like coming) is 160 and I am 250 and we lift the same amount (well I am a bit stronger but it's not an obvious difference)

@cUr@-TL

Geez some of you here are Hercules...


I've been working out since last December, I lost 50lbs, and definitly built some muscles... but I started at a rather crappy gym... so the exercises i could do were limited... I've been a member of a much better gym since last week and im starting a more serious workout program.. im hoping to see true improvement in strenght as the weeks go by... what ive been doing since december was more pointed toward cutting the fat and "waking up" my muscles...

anyways i bench 150lbs, and im 18yo... (weak eh )

hoping to bench 200lbs when i turn 19...

btsilver

I weigh a 170 and bench 275 (once)

TinkySD

I rarely lift with the bar because I don't work out with a spotter but using dumbells on flat I usually do 100x10, 105, x8 and 110x6. If I had to guess i'd probably max out between 285 and 300lbs on the bench.

I used to weigh 200lbs but I went rmatic style and cut down doing cardio and eating healthy to about 180 where I am now. I feel much more energetic being at this lower weight.

I'm a big fan of the creatine product from Global Formulas called biocell. It helped me retain most of my strength when I cut down the fat.

Whiskers

Did 100 lbs today......

Hey, it's a start.

Doc.Booty

I started out pushing just the bar.

youngTL

That's where I started too. Form, form, and FORM!

jayhawk815

But how tall is he? Most of the guys I know that can bench a lot for their weight are relatively short <6'.

RMATIC09

im 5'7,...if that helps any.

teg_to_bike

I benched 90lbs yesterday.

RMATIC09

FiftyFive

6'2"

Whiskers

140 today......

e-mazin'

I'm 5'11, 175lb.

My flat bench max is 245lb, I don't really like the bar but they made us max out for football. I've found that incline dumbell press is for building up chest (useable strength anyway), since in pushing, you use more of your upper chest than lower. Decline bench is the only excercise that I use the bar with, and I can do alot more than on flat...I'm guessing thats because you can throw more triceps into it?

P.S: I've never taken a supplement in my life, my first time benching freshman year I did 135 with crap form so I guess I just got lucky with genetics.

rbf351

when i started over 2 years ago i could barely bench the bar

now i go on a regular basis and can do 140 + the bar, so i guess it's 180

virtualbong

I was somewhat big in college (fraternity all you can eat meals were brutal), I hit 180+ at one point and I'm 5'10". I was at my strongest then though, I was pushing 245s 10 times, but now I'm at a solid 165-170 and do 225s 10 times.

My thinking is that to really get the muscular lean look (not the you can see my muscles because I'm damn skinny look) one needs to produce mass first and then lean down.

savage

i can press 245 about 10 times cleanly which prob puts my 1 rep max around 300-310...

i dont feel like riskin injury just to find out what my max is. I used a calculator like this one to figure it out...i guess its a close enough estimate for me...

http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html

brianlin87

iTrader: (1)

weigh 180 bench 315.

FastAcura

When I cared about how much I could bench press I did I believe 235 (a few months ago)

I weigh around 180.

Ever since this post and the video, I'm more concerned with form than power lifting.

https://acurazine.com/forums/health-fitness-34/got-pecs-311308/

Whiskers

170-175....

Doom878

I'm stuck at 225x6 since I was like 20. Then again I stopped lifting for years and stuck at that again. I should be hitting more since I military 185 6 times with no spot. I weigh 205.

rbf351

i've changed to dumbells for my bench and have been doing much better

last week i was able to do 140 lbs 4x

this week i was able to do the 140lbs 10x and then went up to 150lbs and was able to do it 2x

next week i'm gonna try and push 160-170lbs

Doom878

Jesus. I've only seen 1 gym with 140's and 150's.

rbf351

guess i should have made it more clear, that is the total weight of both dumbells

Phillyboi

I fluctuate at times, I typically bench around 205-215 in four sets of 12 reps. Incline I'll do about 185 in four sets of 12 reps. I used to go to the gym about 5 times a week, now with work and all I only get to go about twice a week, which really sucks!

Dem1K

iTrader: (1)

bah, as much as I don't want to mention it, I figured I should :\

So, I just started working out for pretty much the first time since I was 16. My roommate and I decided to start going this quarter. We went for the first 4 weeks, skipped a week and a half, and have went the past 4 weeks after that (this past week). Before this quarter started, I had probably bench pressed once or twice in my life, and didn't really do any sort of chest workouts. Basically, my chest is weak as all hell.

When we started, I was weighin in at about 143lbs at 5'8.5". At the time, I was doing:

95lbs x 10
100lbs x 8
105lbs x 6
115lbs x 4

Now, I weigh in at 153.5lbs and I'm doing:

135lbs x 10
145lbs x 8
150lbs x 6
160lbs x 4

Just the other day I did my ORM and got up 190lbs. Before, I would be lucky to get up 135lbs. So, to say the least, I'm pretty happy so far with my results, but the #'s are still really low. With everything else though, I do really well. I curl 75lbs 10x, 80lbs 10x, 85lbx 10x, and 95lbs about 7-8x. Squats I usually do 185 x 10, 215 x 10, 240 x 10, 255 x 10.

My preliminary goal is to be able to rep 185lbs 10x. Hopefully I get there soon

It's funny, cause my roommate is about 5'9.5" and weighs about 165lbs, and he benches the following:

155lbs x 10
175lbs x 8
190lbs x 6
205lbs x 4
and did his ORM and got up 230lbs.

However, EVERYTHING else we do, triceps, biceps, etc, we are even at. However I kick his ass at legs. :P

Time For Sleeep

Can anyone give me any tips on how I can raise my weight by the end of summer? I want to be able to throw up 225 comfortably (@least 2-3 without any help).

Right now I'm @ 145 lbs. and my bench goes:

10 x 135 (warm up set)
8-10 x 155
6-8 x 175
2-3 185 <-- although by then I'm usually a bit burned out and can pop off two comfortably without any major assistance.

:*(