Bench Press

mghoward74

Member
10+ Year Member
A year or 2 ago I was looking forward to benching 500 lbs. On that mission, I hurt my shoulder due to lack of stretching etc... Since then I've rehab my shoulder and now back in the gym seriously.

Just a little info: in my younger days I was able to press 450 natty. My last max attempt was 425 (2 years ago). I'm back to the quest of 500. I've added a new goal to this quest...405/425 on incline. Right now I'm doing multiple sets of 315, all in the 6-8 ranges and 365 on my last set. Although I haven't benched in awhile, I'm pretty sure 425 on flat bench in back in the picture and possibly 450.

With that:

How much weight are you guys flat & incline benching? Either natty or on cycle

I'll possibly revisit and update my old thread....journey to the 5's.

I'm also throwing up 125's on incline dumbell after my working set of incline bb press.

Would like to know what you guys are doing and what your goals are...

Respectfully
 
Respect to the 500-journey dude. I'm obviously a different league, but with a fucked up shoulder and tendinitis, I have a 290 bench and push out a few reps with 95 pound dumb bells incline. Just recently started OHP, and feel my bench is getting more solid, more sturdy. I'll be happy breaking 300 pounds and the 150kg / 360lbs will have me doing cartwheels lol. Maybe next summer?
 
I hit 330 touch and go natty. Best bench on cycle was 370 paused in competition earlier this year. I've cut a lot of weight since, so even on cycle now I'm still about where I was. Hit 345x3 paused yesterday. Incline I don't really do.

Short-term goals I'd like to hit 405 soon. Probably won't happen this cycle though. I might be dropping another weight class for my meet next month to go after a record, so 365-385 at 198 would be great.
 
A year or 2 ago I was looking forward to benching 500 lbs. On that mission, I hurt my shoulder due to lack of stretching etc... Since then I've rehab my shoulder and now back in the gym seriously.

Just a little info: in my younger days I was able to press 450 natty. My last max attempt was 425 (2 years ago). I'm back to the quest of 500. I've added a new goal to this quest...405/425 on incline. Right now I'm doing multiple sets of 315, all in the 6-8 ranges and 365 on my last set. Although I haven't benched in awhile, I'm pretty sure 425 on flat bench in back in the picture and possibly 450.

With that:

How much weight are you guys flat & incline benching? Either natty or on cycle

I'll possibly revisit and update my old thread....journey to the 5's.

I'm also throwing up 125's on incline dumbell after my working set of incline bb press.

Would like to know what you guys are doing and what your goals are...

Respectfully
Hell yeah mg. My fuckin bench #'s suck but im deff subbed for this one. Get it big man......Ohhh Yeahhh!!!!!!
 
Respect to the 500-journey dude. I'm obviously a different league, but with a fucked up shoulder and tendinitis, I have a 290 bench and push out a few reps with 95 pound dumb bells incline. Just recently started OHP, and feel my bench is getting more solid, more sturdy. I'll be happy breaking 300 pounds and the 150kg / 360lbs will have me doing cartwheels lol. Maybe next summer?
I use to give shoulder mobility advice in these threads. They've gotten lost due to the amount of traffic that comes through meso. My advice is to stay aggressive with stretching and mobility exercise and everything will end up benefitting you tremendously.

How many times a week you workout on chest?

I hit 330 touch and go natty. Best bench on cycle was 370 paused in competition earlier this year. I've cut a lot of weight since, so even on cycle now I'm still about where I was. Hit 345x3 paused yesterday. Incline I don't really do.

Short-term goals I'd like to hit 405 soon. Probably won't happen this cycle though. I might be dropping another weight class for my meet next month to go after a record, so 365-385 at 198 would be great.
Depending on how hard your working up sets are leading up to 405, it's clearly within reach. I think you'll get it on your next cycle.
 
How many times a week you workout on chest?

In PCT at the moment. Minimum 2 times per week, sometimes 3. On cycle, I run Bulgarian...bench, squat and deadlift every 1.5 days.

The shoulder damage I got 20 years ago. Didn't know how to work out, didn't warm up, on primo/dbol/winstrol, just went in and maxed every day in the gym. Something g popped in the left shoulder and to this day, I am weaker in it. When I bench heavy, my left shoulder goes in and towards my chin to compensate. It's all FUBAR.

The tendinitis I got last year doing reversed chin-ups in abundance on winstrol. Can't curl to this day. Like I said, it's all FUBAR. :-)
 
I did 310 natty. My last max was a shaky 385 and solid 375.

My short term goal while cycling has always been 405 with a long term goal of 455. Seems everytime I get closer injuries push me farther away.

As far as incline Ive never maxed but I can get about 3 reps with 300.

Havent done DBs since I started PLing. Last I tried I could get 4 reps with 140 and 1.5 with 145. My goal back then was 4 reps on 150 but I ended up coming back from overseas early amd never had a gym that went that high again.
 
That's a big bench. Today I hit 500 on the deadlift and I was fucking chuffed!
My biggest bench is 130kg / 287 ish lbs. It's my weakest lift.

Dude I thought you were much stronger on the bench, 287 bench only and a 500 DL, those proportions are wacked. You need some milk ! What's your squat again?
 
A year or 2 ago I was looking forward to benching 500 lbs. On that mission, I hurt my shoulder due to lack of stretching etc... Since then I've rehab my shoulder and now back in the gym seriously.

Just a little info: in my younger days I was able to press 450 natty. My last max attempt was 425 (2 years ago). I'm back to the quest of 500. I've added a new goal to this quest...405/425 on incline. Right now I'm doing multiple sets of 315, all in the 6-8 ranges and 365 on my last set. Although I haven't benched in awhile, I'm pretty sure 425 on flat bench in back in the picture and possibly 450.

With that:

How much weight are you guys flat & incline benching? Either natty or on cycle

I'll possibly revisit and update my old thread....journey to the 5's.

I'm also throwing up 125's on incline dumbell after my working set of incline bb press.

Would like to know what you guys are doing and what your goals are...

Respectfully

You and I are about in the same boat. I benched 450 naturally before ever touching aas. I'm 47 now and know I can bench 425 on any day. I haven't done Inclines in a long time but now you got me wanting to do them. My problem now with benching is that I think that I could bench a lot more if I narrow my grip and retrain my bench
My shoulders are in good shape but I get impingement now. My wingspan is 6'7". I think I still might have 500 in me too. If love to get it!
 
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Dude I thought you were much stronger on the bench, 287 bench only and a 500 DL, those proportions are wacked. You need some milk ! What's your squat again?
Squat is 210/421.
The "ironic" thing is, everyone round here trains chest like fuck... Massive "carpet carrier" torsos and tiny matchstick legs.

I'm more of an "every day is leg day" sort of a bloke...
 
I have low numbers too but I did 285 last week. I never really tried lifting heavy till I started this cycle. I used to do higher reps but now I'm working on moving weight. Its going up quick. My goal is 315 by the end of my cycle.
 
I don't max anything out. It really has zero to do with my goals. I stay at reps of 5 on strength day and 8&10 on hypertrophy days. My current program has me benching, rowing and leg work everyday with ancillary work behind it. I don't do flat bench. Really does nothing for me. I do like flat dumbbell work and hammer machine work on the flat. Days are rotated so today will be inclines tomorrow will be flat. Rinse, repeat. Undulating rep scheme. 5,8,10 for each day of the workout.

I incline 315 with a barbell for 10 slow ones. 16 reps if I do em like branch warren. I'm up to 130 dumbbells on the incline for deep, slow ones. I really think controlling that negative is important than how many reps you can force out. Explode out each rep just control the negative and fight the urge to do it nfl combine style.

I really don't even wanna know what 500 pounds on flat would feel like...makes my tendonitis hurt just thinking bout it
 
I did 310 natty. My last max was a shaky 385 and solid 375.

My short term goal while cycling has always been 405 with a long term goal of 455. Seems everytime I get closer injuries push me farther away.

As far as incline Ive never maxed but I can get about 3 reps with 300.

Havent done DBs since I started PLing. Last I tried I could get 4 reps with 140 and 1.5 with 145. My goal back then was 4 reps on 150 but I ended up coming back from overseas early amd never had a gym that went that high again.
I just now started using DBs again. Haven't used them in years. I was suprised I was able to pick ' em up. My gym only goes 125's. I think I can get 150's for 5
Squat is 210/421.
The "ironic" thing is, everyone round here trains chest like fuck... Massive "carpet carrier" torsos and tiny matchstick legs.

I'm more of an "every day is leg day" sort of a bloke...

I just started working legs eod.
 
I dont really max out either but i can hit 315 for 3 on flat and about 275 for 3 on incline. Would like to get 315 on incline and 405 flat sometime
 
IIke using dumbbells for a variety of reasons
1) you get a far superior stretch
2) tends to reach a greater cross section of the chest during the press than a barbell
3) stabilizer muscles are more heavily involved
4) I can set the bench to the 15° setting which I really like over the steep angle the barbell setup gives you
 
^^^ this. I really like using dumbells to. The only thing that sucks about my gym is they only go to 110lbs. But i make do
 
The only thing really bad about dumbbells is getting them in to pressing position. Mostly the swing part. Alot of potential for injury. Before I do it I always kiss my ass good bye incase I tear a ligament or some thing
 
Ya on flat its kind of a bitch getting in postiton. Inclines arent to bad for me. But sometimes in flat when i kick em up and lay back my shoulder will pop and it scares me
 
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