The Chief

Sorry jacko were'nt being very sharp there was i???


i thought **** me - even Pudzianowski can only do that

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

God reading this thread makes me feel like a complete weed!!! (remind me never to upset ANYONE on SN you are all huge monsters, no wonder you all think scoobies are slow.) I can just manage to bench 8 reps @ 80kg on a barbell and I was quite impressed with myself, I weigh around 84kgs.

I suppose I need to start shooting steroids just so I can get to bench pressing my own body weight. as for benching dumbells, never tried it so may give it a go in the gym tonight for a laugh.

The Snug Rhino

Bench press also relys on short levers - i used to train with a guy that was 14 stone and 5ft4 - he would bench HUGE amounts more than me (at 6ft6 and 20 stone +) In fact, i cant remember using anything over 35kg dumb bells (even when i was on gear) for bench presses and would prob be happy to stick to 30's.....yet at 20 stone i was not someone you would call "weak"

I always work on the theory that if i was getting bigger on lighter weights i was lucky....i wanted to be big, not strong (its not cave man times, there are advantages in life of you are big and look good.....there are few benifits to being super strong though)

B9GLY

lightning, you are a walking fridgefreezer mate! how long has it taken you to get to that size??

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

You don't need to be huge to bench (barbell) 100-120 kilos mate. I'm certainly not (5'11' 15 stones) but 2x 60 dumbells you probably are going to need to be pretty damned big TBH. As Telboy said, it'll be the devils own job getting the damned things up there and alligned properly for the exercise. That's very serious weight on the dumbells. I've never seen anyone under what I would guesstimate as 20 stones (not mostly pie composition either) try that kind of feat.

Ns04

The Chief

like i said **** it what you lift 80kg at a bodyweight of 84kg is pretty s**t hot tbh mate.

like i said its really all round consistant strength - i'm fairly strong up top but i would guarentee you'd destroy me with any leg exercise.


stay away from the gear mate

lightning101

Started doing weights at 14 and i'm now 33

The Chief

Lightening mate - no offence are you on the naughty stuff??

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Nowt wrong with that mate!!!

Reps is another important consideration.

I personally generally don't lift a weight unless I can do between 6-10 reps, 8 is usually my target, IMHO it's just jerking your body around too much otherwise. That said, the one's who really want to pile on the weights generally perform lower reps, 3 is common in my experience.

Also, I've noticed that you can get to stages where it takes you quite a long time to progress further. I currently do 3 sets of 8 reps at 105 KGS on the bench press (barbell) but TBH I don't think I'm going to imrpove much more unless I really up the comitment!

Ns04

lightning101

Not on that pic, no

The Chief

feckin' hell what did your mum feed you on as a child

what do you weigh now mate?

B9GLY

taken from his website! 160kg at 16! OMG

Mariusz Pudzianowski has been involved in strength sports since the December of 1990. At the young age of 16, he entered his first national bench press competition and managed to press 160kg (353lb). Two years later, Mariusz joined the four-wheel club with a 205kg (452lb) lift. His domination of the Polish Championships in the four years that he entered would be the beginning of a pattern of victories that would lead him to become the Word's Strongest Man in 2002.

The Chief

he trains twice a day 6 days a week - and get this plays rugby on a Sunday for his local team for fun

guys an animal

B9GLY

whole cows by the looks of things!!! lol

The Chief

Speaking of monsters on here - whatever happened to Milo????

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Ok thanks so I am not a total weed then

MY bench press consists of 4 sets

1st set is 40kg x8 reps
2nd set is 60kg x8 reps
3rd set is 70kg x8 reps
4th set is 80kg x8 reps however the 8th one i needed a spot for as I was not sure I was going to make it.

then sometimes a 5th set at 40kg with anything upto 25 reps depending how I feel.

and I am about as big as lightnings leg

I also curl 4 sets aswell but reckon my curl limit with dumbels is around 20kg or maybe just under as I have no idea how much the bar weighs, this I do 8 reps on each arm, so 4x16 reps. That about wipes me out.

We also have a tricep machine which I can just mange 40kgs on.

there is somtheing else but have no idea how to describe it. but it looks like a goal post with weights either side and 4 handles one in each corner so you can do multitude of things on, I used to use this for butterflying on but now do some convaluted crossed arm thing where I pull from top right to bottom left and vice versa at the same time. I also used to be able to butterfly 105kgs but after hurting a muscle or the ball and socket in my left shoulder I gave this up as a bad joke, and moved to lower weights.

Shaolin

Jesus christ Lightning, you want to work on your arms a bit mate.

Tobisausage

I could bench 40KG in each hand but that was after a year of training 3-4 times a week. Miss two sessions and I would go back down to only being able to lift 35kg.

I weighed 12 stone and I am 6ft tall, benching was really hard because I have such long arms and relatively slim build.

I found that benching that amount of weight gave me stupid sized triceps

Shaolin

Again, thanks for the replies on this thread.
Im thinking of becoming a gym instructor / personal trainer, anyone got any advice ?

The Chief

Lightening that Gym you go to looks hardcore mate - a proper gym.

unfortunately none near me like that.

The Snug Rhino

dont do it for the money!

i did 10 years at it from working in a gym to personal trainer for billionaire Arabs.......taught me that doing your hobby for pay wasnt all its cracked up to be (and the pay was rubbish!)

KIPS

Been reading this post and theirs some preety impresive figures been thrown about so I thought id throw my two pennys worth in you dont need to lug big weights about to achieve a fairly good figure im 13 stone 5'11 and have been training on and off since i was 15 found a good book called the abbs diet youd be surprised what you can eat little an often I find best keeps the body topped up with fuel to build never used the droids thats why i will never get huge have added a pic of me last year in my home gym so much easier to get a good workout when you aint got to wait for the christmas/ im going on holiday boys to get off the machines



stands back waiting for a slating

KIP

StiX

iTrader: (4)

I have read this whole thread with a lot of interest.

I have been doing weights for 22years - tried all sorts in my time.

The reason I was so interested is because I have always been best at bench press, and am light.

I consider myself very strong for my weight, and the post earlier that a strong man can bench twice his weight I find unbelievable!!

I can do 90kgs for 8 reps or 100kgs for 5 reps, with no spotter and perfect form (when I was 22/23 I competed in a couple of powerlifting competitions so I know what perfect form is).

I guess I could do at least 110kgs for one rep now, maybe more - although I have never tried, when I competed it was 14 years ago, I was over a stone lighter and could only do 100kgs for one.

I currently weigh 74kgs, therefore can bench (assuming I could do one @ 110kgs) 110/74 = 1.48 times my bodyweight.

So 2 times your bodyweight - that would be impressive.

Also, the gym I use now is not just a meatheads gym, its a mixed type with a lot of aerobic machines etc. However lots of people bench over 100kgs, nearly everyone benches at least 70kgs for sets of 6-8 or more?

daiscooby

As usual NSR descends into bulls1te bingo with any gym related thread.

There are two catagories:
Those on the gear
Those not on the gear.

I am 5'8" ( HONEST )
13st11lb
And not on the gear. Protein and Creatine only.
And bench 140 ( olympic bar and 6x20's plates ) for 4-6 reps. But only to provide a mental confidence base for lower weights (100-120kgs) at higher reps (10-12). I have a training partner as 'spotter' but he doesn't 'do the reps for me'. He is for safety. I do one group of four sets per week on straight bench, with a good warm up.

Guys in the gym I use can go to 200kgs, 3 spring to mind straight away. But thats what using Deca and Sust over a number of cycles does for you.

But as per my previous post, why are people so hung up on 'whatya bench'. Its all about mixing up exercises, pre-ehaust, strip sets, drop sets, super sets etc.

And agree with people who say for those with the big numbers where are the piccy's.





Photo is a year old now.

Shaolin

No it wouldnt be for the money, just been interested in fitness etc for a long time and think its a job i might actually enjoy rather than hating every moment of my current 8 yr !!!! job.

Shaolin

As i have said, im just interested in peoples opinions of what they think is a half decent weight to bench press, for me its the only exercise that i do that really really completely kills me!.......although when i do my shoulders thats a close second.
Im def not big, im 6 ft 2 and weigh about 15 stone and to be honest i was alot more into fitness ( playing football about 3 times a week ) etc rather than just going to a gym.
However ive been going to a gym for nearly 3 years now ( i think ) and it does make me laugh with the different types of people down there.
The best ones are the ones that look about to see if anyone is watching, then straight away start doing a weight that they clearly cant manage, but to save face they cant drop down a weight, and start either bouncing the weights ( if using a machine ) or a good one is dumbell curls, when the arms dont move, they just rock backwards and forward using their back ;-)
Or the bloke that comes in to use the leg press wearing his running shorts from the 60's, with his nads hanging out the sides as hes pressing !
And theres even a couple of chavs, grab the heaviest weight possible....and then only do 1 rep .......still, you have to lift heavy to get massive ;-)

t563sk1

Interesting reading this for me as I was a fairly succesful powerlifter in my younger years. At our club we could have any reasonably fit person off the street benching their own weight for reps after six months. After that depending on their goals and natural ability you could have them benching 1 1/2 times bodyweight after 1 year - 18 months for a single rep.
Personally after training six days a week for 7 years I was comfortably benching double bodyweight in competition (147.5Kg at 71.3Kg bodyweight as well as squat 242.5Kg and deadlift 260Kg) as well as having good fitness - for example I could squat 200 for reps of 12 - 15 when on a burnout and deadlift 200 for 20. I was only 22 when I done this BTW.
Over the last few years (I'm 32 now) I've been unable to compete and train as often but I do still work hard on my bench press and fitness. I'm 76Kg now and I know for certain that with 1 year of dedicated training i could push 200Kg.

SJ_Skyline

I'm not a big weights fan, preferring cardio and endurance work myself. The ones that make me laugh at the gym are those that sound like steam engines trying to get that last extra rep as if their life depended on it.

dan83590

Listen to this guy, it seems he is one of only a few in this thread that actually knows what he is talking about. In order to lift these big weights you first have to perfect a technique using smaller weights. Lifting one rep at 100kg does you no good whatsoever. I've been to some proper meathead gym's in the past and only one maybe two guys would be lifting the kind of weight that has been mentioned here. You should choose a weight that you can rep 8-12 times. For muscle building: Towards the end of your Set (wheather you go for 8 or 12 reps) your chosen weight should be feeling rather heavy. For fitness and stamina: Choose a lighter weight and aim for 20 reps.

At the end of the day everyone is different. I have seen huge guys that can't lift as much as me and in turn there are skiny guys that can lift more than I do. Don't treat the gym as a compitition, stick to some golden rules and you will find that every few weeks you will be adding another 2.5kg.

Remember it is all about HOW you lift NOT what you can lift.

Oh and look out for the squating! Hubba Hubba!!

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Yep, as I said in earlier posts:

Beginners or people returning to the gym certainly should not be jerking a weight about for one or two reps. TBH reps that low is not something I'd advocate for anyone, but I know that some strength atheletes may take issue with that.

Competition with others is a bad thing and invariably leads to injury (either to person or ego). Some people will be able to lift more than you: deal with it! You would be amazed at the number of people at my gym that simply cannot get on the bench press machine if it means they have to remove weight; they either wait till someone else who can press less than them has been on it or they try it with the weights set. Ridiculous and potentially very dangerous. As a general observation, you don't see the big guys suddenly getting all coy when they start working with the lower weights; they have their workout and they execute it- that's how they get results.

Lift what you can manage a set of... just - the last few reps should require some real exertion!

TelBoy made the definitive post on the subject of the gym a while back IMHO. Do a search.

Ns04