Yeah, this thread is old and I’ve not replied but wanted to post about the most impressive feat of benching strength I’ve ever witnessed: 405 pound incline bench for eight reps with zero assistance. Yes, it’s true.
The man is massive (6’6", 305 pounds, not much fat.) Rumor is he was on gear, played defensive line for a local university, and trains in MMA. Whatever the case is, the incline 405 x 8 happened - he asked me to “spot” him (because I totally look like I can do a 405 pound upright power row.) That was 15 years ago, and it’s even more impressive now than it was then.
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I went from never seeing anything over 3 plates to having read this thread and now I’ve seen my SECOND in person 4 plate bench in just a weeks time.
Out of town working on a storm trio and we found a run down tiny anytime fitness that would let us in on a day pass. Big ole dude, probably 6’4 ~350lbs with plenty of fat was throwing around 405 like it was nothing. Told him it was impressive and made me feel even more insecure about my bench. He said all I had to do was gain more weight and it would be easy. The bar he was using was bent and I asked him if he bent it. Said he did while benching 5 something (he told me the exact number but the number eludes me). I have no reason to doubt him by the way the 405 set was done.
Dude was big though, I don’t think anybody who didn’t workout themselves would notice that he definitely did have a lot of muscle under that fat. Even waddled a little when walking. Very humble about it though. Kinda cool. Even told me my bench was more impressive because of my size and I didn’t even tell him what I bench 
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If you can even lay down and get back up looking like that then you got something going for you.
Getting fat as fuck just for the sake of a big bench kind of defeats the purpose unless it’s an all time world record or something like that. You want to be strong relative to body weight, not strong compared to guys half your size.
He was definitely moving slow. I don’t think he competed and idk if he gained weight just for bench. Who knows.
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If you’re in the deep South, they are simply coincidental. No shortage of big ole boys or pickups.
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One was somewhere in Louisiana and the other was in Alabama. Both big ole black dudes
At least he made some effort to stay in shape.
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What’s funny is he was there before and after I was. Just hanging out with these girls. Other guys would come in a hang out for a bit then leave. He sat there talking for 30ish minutes and I never saw him do anything. Then he just loads 405 and hots some reps. Then goes back to hanging out. It was wild.
When I said something about it another guy not with him but apparently a friend of some sort mentioned he’d been lifting 400+ since high school
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Yep. I thought Dukes of Hazard was campy and over the top when I was growing up in Ontario. Then I moved to the mountains in NC. You have no idea what a surprise it was to find out that there actually are real men actually named Bubba.
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