How long did it take you to bench press 225?

[InMotion]

My leg press isn't too bad, I can do 720(8plates on each side) at 20 reps. I've pushed myself to a max of 900 but didn't feel safe going beyond that.

I've been training for the past year and weigh over 100lbs less then I did a year ago.

What do you weigh? If you go to the 1300 range for reps you will have hip pain eventually....I do now; I used to rep 1200 on the diagonal slide; thought it was cool when I was younger, now its not so fun. I recommend not going any heavier than you are at your age, even if you can push 1000 for reps I wouldn't recommend it.

 

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[Likwid24]

Benching is probably won of the worst exercises to gauge your strength. What you can bench means absolutely nothing. 2 years ago, I was benching 225 for 12 reps with no spot at all. Today I'm lucky if I can bench 225 once with a spot. I can tell you for sure, and absolute 100% fact, that I'm much stronger now than I probably ever was in my life. The question should be, "What do you dead lift/Squat?". That's how to really gauge your strength. What can you clean & Press. What can you clean & jerk? Can you do muscle up? Toes to bar? What can you do that's more useful then bench press. Benching is actually a pretty useless gauge of power. Judge power by real, everyday movements.

So.... How much do you Dead lift? How much do you squat???

 

[InMotion]

Benching is actually a pretty useless gauge of power.

This is fact...bench press is just a gauge everyone uses for vanity. Arnold and Lou never bragged about their bench nor do those in the strongman.

 

[1PercentStreet]

What do you weigh? If you go to the 1300 range for reps you will have hip pain eventually....I do now; I used to rep 1200 on the diagonal slide; thought it was cool when I was younger, now its not so fun. I recommend not going any heavier than you are at your age, even if you can push 1000 for reps I wouldn't recommend it.

340 @ 6'5''/26.2% bodyfat

I don't really want to push any heavier. I know that the body has limits, even if I'm this big, there is still limits I won't feel for years down the line if I keep pushing them.

 

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[slobra96]

It probably took me about 2-3 years to hit 225 bench, what an accomplishment that felt like haha. I started lifting junior year of highschool, kind of got more serious in college where I believe I maxed out at 225 freshmen year.

I have recently started John Wendlers 5/3/1 program which I am absolutely in love with. I was never really big into squats and dead lifts until recently (age 24 now). Decided I wanted to get into the 1000lb club so I started this workout scheme and hit the 1000lb club in about 2 months. I am now surpassed it and just started this program back in august. I recommend it to anyone i talk to, I just wish I found out about it sooner in my life.

 

[AdrianN]

Lol, almost any type of pre-workout has caffeine or some sort of stimulant in it, it's there to give you the energy and motivation to lift, not to help you lift heavier (unless your taking anabolics but that's a different story).

What do you mean by forcing it? If you are doing the lifts correctly, the only thing you should be damaging is your muscles (which repair themselves). The only irreversible damage would be if you are doing something wrong, drop the weight on yourself, or are doing a certain lift when you know you have a bad back, legs, etc. or are to young for a certain lift (i.e. me doing heavy dead-lifts at 16)

And about the natural growth, you see, some of us like to grow 10lb's in a month, not a year

Where are you drawing the conclusions from, the classroom?

I disagree with you Mike. I had similar thoughts until I've been proven how things tend to work (with medical data, proven to me), speaking of control and filtering the right information.

Not to start a war, on this thread, when having a daily routine of lifting/heavy lifting, your liver starts to accelerate its function. This means more blood pumped in it and processing more nutrients. One of the parameters that determines the way liver works is called "transaminases". On a heavy load (placed on your body), Transaminases increases the value (it's like you keep your heart at an accelerated rate, all the time).

2 factors that determine the load of the liver are called: GPT (Gamma-glutamylpeptidase) and GOT (gamma-oxitransferase)

When these 2 exceed upper limit, due to effort you are exposed to liver damage (medically called hepatitis).


You state this: "the only thing you should be damaging is your muscles". The liver has a special type of cells (large size). You destroy those, you can't get them back. (something like neuro-cells).


You lift 1-2 hours per day. This leaves you with 22-23h when your liver works non-stop to try to cover the damage done to the muscles (which as you said, they recover). Everything that you put in your mouth is processes by your liver (unless you inject the nutrients).

Having a 5-6 meals per day (for months after months) slowly damage your liver (and make it old). Would you want to keep your heart to an accelerated rate for months? Or you want to let it work to its regular parameters? same thing with liver.

Bulking and eating a lot before gym again is NOT recommended. Because a lot of blood is retained in the liver, to start processing the food. And in addition to this you start a heavy routine.


(All these stated apply on a heavy routine sustained for months)


You state that: "And about the natural growth, you see, some of us like to grow 10lb's in a month, not a year".

Lean muscle (no water) has a limit of 7kg per year. On some genetics it might be slightly higher. You also have an age when you will reach your maximum potential. Meaning that no matter how heavy you will lift, you won't grow any muscles (talking about natural growth).

 

[Laverdure]

when I first started I was benching 105 LBS 12 times and after 7 months of very very clean nutrition and good work out (1 month of power lifting)

I was benching 225 lbs 10 times 4x .. i'm 5'7 168 lbs

You got to eat right and sleep enough to build these muscles

and btw most of us use too heavy weight and don't make a good movement .. we should always remember that we are not weight lifter ... we are here to grow our muscle so what ever weight that make your muscle work right and hard .. it's good

 

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[hardknock]

Someone mentioned that the BP does not affect the back. This is not 100% accurate. The strongest men on the BP will tell you that strong lats are a huge part of benching north of 500+. Before i was able to rack 350, i had to increase tricep, upper lat, and shoulder strength tremendously. When i only worked chest, triceps, and shouldrs, i could only manage 295-315 nomatter what techniques i used for years.

The very moment that i got serious about lats my strength exploded. Your lower back should not really take a beating though unless you have lower disk issues.

 

[hardknock]

I disagree with you Mike. I had similar thoughts until I've been proven how things tend to work (with medical data, proven to me), speaking of control and filtering the right information.

Not to start a war, on this thread, when having a daily routine of lifting/heavy lifting, your liver starts to accelerate its function. This means more blood pumped in it and processing more nutrients. One of the parameters that determines the way liver works is called "transaminases". On a heavy load (placed on your body), Transaminases increases the value (it's like you keep your heart at an accelerated rate, all the time).

2 factors that determine the load of the liver are called: GPT (Gamma-glutamylpeptidase) and GOT (gamma-oxitransferase)

When these 2 exceed upper limit, due to effort you are exposed to liver damage (medically called hepatitis).


You state this: "the only thing you should be damaging is your muscles". The liver has a special type of cells (large size). You destroy those, you can't get them back. (something like neuro-cells).


You lift 1-2 hours per day. This leaves you with 22-23h when your liver works non-stop to try to cover the damage done to the muscles (which as you said, they recover). Everything that you put in your mouth is processes by your liver (unless you inject the nutrients).

Having a 5-6 meals per day (for months after months) slowly damage your liver (and make it old). Would you want to keep your heart to an accelerated rate for months? Or you want to let it work to its regular parameters? same thing with liver.

Bulking and eating a lot before gym again is NOT recommended. Because a lot of blood is retained in the liver, to start processing the food. And in addition to this you start a heavy routine.


(All these stated apply on a heavy routine sustained for months)


You state that: "And about the natural growth, you see, some of us like to grow 10lb's in a month, not a year".

Lean muscle (no water) has a limit of 7kg per year. On some genetics it might be slightly higher. You also have an age when you will reach your maximum potential. Meaning that no matter how heavy you will lift, you won't grow any muscles (talking about natural growth).

Great info but let us not forget that the liver is a very unique tissue that has the ability to recover from tremendous damage. I have had to decipher many bodybuilder's bloodwork whom have used large amounts of steroids. Over time their liver has recovered. From medical tests, their liver has been in states far worse than what you mentioned and have recovered to an acceptable level.
Another point to be made is that not even the elite train the same year round. We must learn that a mixture is best, heavy cycles and lighter cycles of weight lifting and exercise.

 

[Mowbetta]

Took 2 years while I was in high school. When I came back home from basic training A d jump school from the army (no weight lifting at all, just hundreds and hundreds of push ups) I went to the gym with a buddy, I was worried I wouldn't be able to do 225. I got it up for 12 reps!
Just shows how great body resistance routines can be.

 

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[The-J]

OK so I posted here over a year and a half ago

I still can't push 225. I failed on 185 about 2 months ago, can rep 165x3 for a couple sets. I'm up about 30 pounds of lean muscle from my first post on this thread. I now know what a 5x5 is (lol, followed it for a bit) and I like the way my body looks a lot better.

Hoping to hit 225 within the next few months on this linear progression program. Also gunning for a 315 squat and a 365 deadlift soon too.

 

[jockinbox]

sophomore year in high school, our PE coach asked us what our goals were

I said "bench 315" I had recently seen the Wolverine movie and was reading that he was benching around that when he stepped onto the stage

Everyone laughed, I had never lifted a weight before that day

Senior year, I ran a health fair at the track. Every single student in the high school attended & I benched 315 for 3 reps (first attempt at that weight too lol)

I racked it and started laughing..I don't think anyone knew why

 

[Esquire]

Lifting for Lifting's Sake strikes me as very little different than Work for Work's Sake.

I mean ... how often are you called upon to lift heavy objects ...?

If ... every once in a blue moon ... I need to move something heavy ... I'll either ask someone to help me ... or better yet ... hire someone to lift if for me.

Focusing on "how much" you can lift just strikes me ... as Slowlane thinking (metaphorically speaking).

My approach to diet and exercise is simple: what do I look like naked ...?

That's all I care about.

Do I like the person I see in the mirror ...? Do I like the way my clothes fit ...? Do I like the way my girlfriend looks at me during sex ...?

All that stuff is where (I think) the real ROI is.

I know plenty of guys who can bunch press insane amounts of weight ... with very little definition.

Thanks but no thanks.

I don't care how much I can press ... I only care about the guy on the underwear package ... and what I need to do to catch up to him.

 

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[Silverhawk851]

I don't care how much I can press ... I only care about the guy on the underwear package ... and what I need to do to catch up to him.

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”

― Socrates



Now, whatever that manifests itself in, I believe the point is to keep your body in top condition, cuz why the F*ck not

Took me 8 months....the first time.
Mind you it was incessant, relentlessly pushing my body, made a rule to go up every time I went in. Even if it's just half a pound.

Then Fell off my motorcycle, ripped tendons, broken collar etc.
2nd time ...took me 2 years.

+1 on the hitting back for stronger bench. That shit works

 

[theag]

Lifting for Lifting's Sake strikes me as very little different than Work for Work's Sake.

I mean ... how often are you called upon to lift heavy objects ...?

If ... every once in a blue moon ... I need to move something heavy ... I'll either ask someone to help me ... or better yet ... hire someone to lift if for me.

Focusing on "how much" you can lift just strikes me ... as Slowlane thinking (metaphorically speaking).

My approach to diet and exercise is simple: what do I look like naked ...?

That's all I care about.

Do I like the person I see in the mirror ...? Do I like the way my clothes fit ...? Do I like the way my girlfriend looks at me during sex ...?

All that stuff is where (I think) the real ROI is.

I know plenty of guys who can bunch press insane amounts of weight ... with very little definition.

Thanks but no thanks.

I don't care how much I can press ... I only care about the guy on the underwear package ... and what I need to do to catch up to him.

Cool.

 

[Crog]

i needed more than 2years

dead lifting over 500pounds though

 

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[Guest3722A]

OK so I posted here over a year and a half ago

I still can't push 225. I failed on 185 about 2 months ago, can rep 165x3 for a couple sets. I'm up about 30 pounds of lean muscle from my first post on this thread. I now know what a 5x5 is (lol, followed it for a bit) and I like the way my body looks a lot better.

Hoping to hit 225 within the next few months on this linear progression program. Also gunning for a 315 squat and a 365 deadlift soon too.

If you want to do 225, dose heavy on creatine and do partials with a spot. When I say do partials, I mean go only about 1/3 of the way down and then back up. This is in your strong zone. And do this with your top weight and increase as your confidence builds. When you build up the muscle that controls this zone a little better, your confidence will further increase because this additional strength you'll be building up over the next couple of weeks, and you'll recognize, will show you that you have the control to go lower. You'd be surprised how much heavier you can go in this upper zone. I'm willing to bet you can probably even do 200-215 right now in this upper 1/3 area. This info I got from (I think) Lee Haney back in the day. Creatine I added because that stuff works wonders with me. My bench I just got back up to 315 about 3 months ago after a work accident I was in. But now I recently found out I get to have more surgeries! Oh boy!!!

 

[Mowbetta]

I never lift really heavy anymore. I haven't been on a barbell bench in 10 years. I'm old
(46 lol) been lifting off and on for 30 years. My shoulders are pretty wore down. So I only do dumbbell bench now days. I might grab the 100lb dumbells if I'm having a good day on my heaviest set, but usually it's a little lighter.

If I could give some advice to you young guns out there it would be, try not injure yourself to
Just to get that max lift. Your injuries will be with you until you die. Even the ones you recover from...you will always have to baby that body part because it will always be subject to re-injury as well as always cause some pain and discomfort.

It's good to be strong, but we are not professional athletes.

I could probally bench 315 right now, but it would tear my old shoulder in half. Besides I would rather look like I could bench 350, and be healthy! Than be injured with 315 max.

 

[The-J]

Hmmm I've never done creatine but have considered picking it up since it's so cheap in bulk. I've always done back but never very heavily (mainly pull-ups and lat pulldowns here and there, never keeping track of the weight). I JUST started doing bent over barbell rows a few weeks ago. Lol.

Off topic, but I got about halfway through a muscle-up today. Got most of my chest above the bar but couldn't get into the right position to dip myself up. I'll have it soon.

1/3rd down technique it is. I'll try it next time I'm in the gym.

 

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[Tom.V]

I don't care how much I can press ... I only care about the guy on the underwear package ... and what I need to do to catch up to him.

Let me just take a moment to LOL. Functionality forever trumps aesthetics, but then again I powerlift and giggle at the guys doing curls in the squat rack.

225 took me about 6 months when I first started lifting at the ripe old age of 16. I think I was only about 145lbs when I hit the mark. For strength, be sure to eat more than enough protein and fats (don't skimp on the fats). Toss in a little creatine, and lift lift lift!

 

[Harry321]

Lifting for Lifting's Sake strikes me as very little different than Work for Work's Sake.

I mean ... how often are you called upon to lift heavy objects ...?

If ... every once in a blue moon ... I need to move something heavy ... I'll either ask someone to help me ... or better yet ... hire someone to lift if for me.

Focusing on "how much" you can lift just strikes me ... as Slowlane thinking (metaphorically speaking).

My approach to diet and exercise is simple: what do I look like naked ...?

That's all I care about.

Do I like the person I see in the mirror ...? Do I like the way my clothes fit ...? Do I like the way my girlfriend looks at me during sex ...?

All that stuff is where (I think) the real ROI is.

I know plenty of guys who can bunch press insane amounts of weight ... with very little definition.

Thanks but no thanks.

I don't care how much I can press ... I only care about the guy on the underwear package ... and what I need to do to catch up to him.

Some people will never understand the pure elation that is felt from achieving a goal you have set for yourself, using just your hands. Why would you not want to be the most powerful version of yourself? I would also argue lifting heavy is one of the quickest ways to achieve the physique you are after. More (true) strength = more muscle = less body fat.

 

[Harry321]

Took me about 2-3 years. Currently at 275lbs.

 

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[jockinbox]

lets see if you guys are for real

225 LB BENCH PRESS CHALLANGE​

Maximum Reps with 225 lbs on a flat bench, no pause

Ill go first, enjoy (29 reps)

 

[DeletedUser8]

If you want to do 225, dose heavy on creatine and do partials with a spot. When I say do partials, I mean go only about 1/3 of the way down and then back up. This is in your strong zone. And do this with your top weight and increase as your confidence builds. When you build up the muscle that controls this zone a little better, your confidence will further increase because this additional strength you'll be building up over the next couple of weeks, and you'll recognize, will show you that you have the control to go lower. You'd be surprised how much heavier you can go in this upper zone. I'm willing to bet you can probably even do 200-215 right now in this upper 1/3 area. This info I got from (I think) Lee Haney back in the day. Creatine I added because that stuff works wonders with me. My bench I just got back up to 315 about 3 months ago after a work accident I was in. But now I recently found out I get to have more surgeries! Oh boy!!!

Creatine saturates the muscle improving strength over time. "Dosing Heavy" will do nothing but result in potential kidney stones/problems.

 

[RogueInnovation]

6 months to get to 300 pounds 8 reps 4 sets

 

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[Guest3722A]

Creatine saturates the muscle improving strength over time. "Dosing Heavy" will do nothing but result in potential kidney stones/problems.

I sincerely appreciate the balance you're providing here, I think its great. Thank you. To be more specific, as I do tend to speak in "dude" at times, I follow the instructions on the package according to my size. Saturation occurs in about a week, and then I maintain thereafter according to the packaging. (My body holds a lot of muscle so I require more.) On a side note though, seeing that I'm going through some work related issues, I just had a full body mri about a month ago and I'm quite healthy. No kidney stones, nor have I ever had kidney stones. But, that's me. (And I've been taking creatine for a very long time.)

Also, as someone who does a 6 day program trading aerobic and anaerobic every other day, with the use of creatine (my maintenance dose is more than 1 tsp per day) , I was also able to get my biking (preferred aerobic) from a 30 minute 5 mile ride to a 20 minute 7 mile ride. That was fun, and I loved every minute of challenging my potential to my max. But then I got serious and dropped the games and went strait into the H.I.I.T. Which at my level was everything I had for 1 minute, then rest for a minute, then everything I had again for a minute, then rest 1 min, etc. etc. for only twenty minutes. ......and then I was informed that I needed another surgery. Which by the way was work related, as I was in an explosion. But that's irrelevant. The working out and pushing myself has nothing to do with this whatsoever -and in-case you're speculating a flaw, the gym-time was doctor's orders..

The creatine, however, is the shiznit. And without it, my energy levels and my personal gains absolutely would've taken much longer. HMB is also a good one. On a side note, since some of us are starting to compare **** sizes here, my finishing exercise after presses generally would be a pullover movement or maybe a dumbell flye movement, and sometimes I'd do the nautilus machine for flyes. AND with the help of creatine I was able to build up to the stack for reps. That's like 400 lbs + ..... reps. (I did it because I liked it).

Out of curiosity, what's your personal experience with creatine?

 

[Alveko]

6 months to get to 300 pounds 8 reps 4 sets

not sure if srs...

 

[GuestUser140]

I don't care how much I can press ... I only care about the guy on the underwear package ... and what I need to do to catch up to him.

You need to lift heavy and eat clean over a sustained period of time. Simple, but not easy.

 

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[Guest24480]

At the end of freshman year of highschool I was benching 130lbs. By end of junior year I was benching 235 by only working out 2 times a week (full body, heavy, eating big). Now I'm benching 200. I slacked a bit after my hs football career ended but I'm now working to get it back up.

 

[RogueInnovation]

not sure if srs...

Nonchalant

I went to gym 3 times a week with a friend, and it took around 6 months for him to get to 100kg (225) and I got to like 110 (250) by 5ish months, I got this weird hormone surge or something around the 5th month and let out a monster and I went up 50 in a few weeks.

I think that sometimes when training, if you have a good pacer, you sometimes take big leaps. At the time it was almost twice my body weight, and people in the gym were needless to say rubber necking.

"Dude, are you a gymnast"

I don't know about all that, I just know that 6 months is enough time to really develop your own personal base, increasing about 10 pounds a week or two weeks was pretty standard once you got into the flow.
I say six months because its my impression that you can get nice results by 3 and get into a groove by 6. Guys that are good with all this stuff I doubt would find my stuff that impressive, and I don't care either way.

I just think that its certainly realistic for guys to get to a weight around 225 in 6 months.
Right now I only bench 200 cuz I don't do anything.

I should get back into it, I'm so scrawny right now.
Anyways, always measure off yourself, not others, all I do is just focus on getting it right and challenging myself without ever being desperate to add weight (add it when it feels too light).

Props to MJ on him doing 400 and up. Very cool.