110+ Pound DB Bench Press, 160-Pound Barbell Bench

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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Hello everyone,

My 1rm with no spotter for dumbells chest press is along the lones of 110-125. Truly depends on the quality of sleep I had and that’s the highest I’ve ever tried to go. Could be more. Anyways. I struggle with a plate on each side, and a 25 lb weight. So like 160 (45lb bar).

I’m more of a squater, shoulder presses and dead lifter for strength. Hitting 400+ on two of those and obviously a lot lower for shoulder presses. So I’m not the weakest guy in the world.

Tl;dr I’m getting stronger with dumbell chest press but not with barbell bench press. I haven’t been doing this for more than like 2 or 3 months but my bench press is just not getting better, why not? I’m 6’4 with an almost 7’0 ft wing span if that helps.

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  1. you don’t train barbell bench press, but train the dumbbell bench press
  2. you’re lying to yourself on the ROM of the dumbbell bench press
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There are so many reasons it might not be improving it’s ridiculous. Maybe you should give us reasons why you feel it should be improving as a starting point. Reasons like: I’m following this training plan, my nutrition is xyz, my recovery looks like…

Its far more likely to be one of those 3 reasons than your wingspan.

Edit:

But also this:

I don’t know why I didn’t write it first time. I don’t know how you accurately figure out a 1RM on db presses or why you’d want to.

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OP, let me save you a lot of time and back-and-forth with this: Post videos of yourself doing both DB bench and BB bench. Until/unless you do so, I doubt very much if anyone will seriously engage with your question.

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Is 110-125 the combined weight of both dumbbells? Some people say it that way. It’s a wrong thing to do, but it is how I’ve seen some people refer to the weight they use on dumbbell benching. That would explain the “issue”.

I’m no math scientist, but one plate and a 25 on each side would be 185 pounds total.

How much do you barbell shoulder press?

Also, for context and curiosity, what’s your bodyweight?

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Why are you be doing 1rm with dumbells?

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Let’s also not forget that in terms of 1RM DB presses (lol), 15 extra lbs is an ENORMOUS difference.

But no way this dude is putting up the 110s and having a 160# bench.

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Truth

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I read it as 55-65 DBs for a total of 110-125, which is a reasonable mistake to make when describing weight lifted, because it’s obviously impossible to DB bench a combined 250lbs and struggle with 185 on a barbell.

It would be like saying you can squat 440 but only leg press 350. Just doesn’t make any sense.

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This is why I say I bench press 700lbs.

Because yeah, it’s 350lbs with the barbell, but both arms are benching it.

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Hey, don’t sell yourself short: with some leg drive you could call it 1400 lbs…

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I’m sure most people reporting problems with certain movements would benefit solely from an initial video. Amazingly it hasn’t caught on yet despite this site being over 20 years old :confused:

S

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