I’ve always found that to be true also.
In fact when push came to shove, I was always the one called upon to do the stuff others couldn’t. A few people have challenged me every now and then, but its typically appreciated when somebody is strong and capable.
My theory is that when you focus on recovery from lifting it bleeds into recovery from work.
We used to joke with new guys who complained about working over 40 hours “Yeah, I remember my first part-time job.”
Look man, we agree on something!
Dips are a nice option.
Is the bench the heaviest upper body weight? I think it’s just the one most people do. Most people can rack pull or viking press more than they bench. Or do a “squat hold” with the weight held in the top position. I get these all use a lot of muscles including some in the lower body. Though I also think isometric holds are much underrated as a quick way to work everything.
For hypertrophy, I personally got some mileage out of benching but more out of weighted dips, overhead work and pec dec volume. Doing high volume and high weight on the bench is hard on the shoulders, but the viking press is not.
For those who lifted weights during the 1970’s the Barbell Bench Press was the only question people who knew little or nothing about lifting weights would ask someone who they thought lifted weights. “How much can you Bench?”
Functional? Most definitely the most “functional” lift if wanted to participate in our “Bench Press Parties.” The biggest party was on Mondays. Those who had a decent Bench Press were in the party. It was always at least 4 people and sometimes as high as 7. It was also a big “all men” social hour. No women lifted weights in most of the 1970’s, at least at our gym.
Posterior chain is involved in those exercises u mentioned. Sure you can lift more but bench uses more upper body muscle contractions
Oddly “what do you bench “is still asked by most generally outside the internet.
And, in turn, everyone lies about it so much that no one even knows what an impressive bench is.
Mike Jenkins (RIP), when asked how much he benched, would respond “800lbs”, because it didn’t matter what he said. People would hear that and go “oh…hmm”. No one ever thought to inform him he was the strongest human to have ever bench pressed.
Oh they lie 100% of the time. As of late im getting disgusted online of all these teenage boys wearing elbow wraps ( called gators?) Ass completely off the bench , arched all to hell and bouncing the weight with maybe a 2 inch range of motion…. Yes im being judgmental.
Maybe this belongs in the hot takes thread, but I think if a man can bench 225 for reps, without a spotter, that’s pretty respectable for an average joe.
Very true… being doing this shit on and off since I was a teen. I couldn’t tell you what is a decent bench for your average guy in the gym is anymore.
Standards seem to be from one end of the spectrum to another.
You got one source saying only x % amount of people can bench say 225lbs. Then you got the a few freaks and fake weight lifters putting up weight that makes you question reality. I mean you can still look up meet results online a get a rough idea. BUT I pretty much have said whatever.
I been back at a commercial gym for 3 weeks,nearly every day..granted there’s been about between 5 to 15 people at that given time(it’s a small gym),mostly male… not even once. Best I’ve seen is 90 kgs 5 inches off the chest close grip. I also saw a skinny teen get pinned with a full ROM 90 kg bench. Contrast it with this board where everyone can or has at a point in their lives. Is it a good press. I’m going to be a dickhead and say no it ain’t. I can do it easily and I don’t rate it. But when YouTubers say it’s a 1 in a thousand,they may be right. You ask me about 3 plates then you get a more deferred answer.
My standard is 3 plates natty under 100 kgs bw. Now it sounds like I’m being a jerk off setting a relatively high standard,that even I haven’t it but 2 plates is just too god damn easy. I hit that being young, small ,natty,and not even training properly. Hell I hit it first time doing bench in 12 years. It’s too light. 3 plates looks like you’ve worked. Extra points if your natty,you can’t just up the dose in a linear fashion,it becomes a thinking man’s game
Here’s the thing, I recently hit 3 plates but I ate my way there pretty much. Next is 4 plates but I don’t wanna to be a 5 7 130 kg turd in order to do so and this is where the OPs assertion starts to carry more weight as in relation to functionality
Yeah. And the meet results show only people who decided to compete in a strength sport, which narrows it down quite a bit.
As with any strength movement, there’s too much variation that we could say what’s strong enough/respectable. Of course some elite numbers, like over 450lbs/200kg benches are always very impressive, but when you go below 400s it gets pretty murky.
Just to throw an anecdote: one of my friends is a weightlifter with bulky torso and short arms. He barely benches as a weightlifter, but can still bench around 350lbs with zero specific preparation/training.
I have long arms and narrow torso, so I haven’t yet hit 300lbs in a meet, even that I’ve done a fair bit of PL training, which is pathetic.
On the other hand, I have like 60-80lbs better DL and slightly stronger squat than him.
And we both train hard and with a plan and we weight around the same amount. Only thing that explains the differences are the base differences in our physique.
How common is 2 plate bench. 4.5 billion males. I’ll take real wild guess and say about 1 in 50,000 men on average worldwide
Sure. But when you bench, are your feet on the ground, or on the bench?
(You know, I have had a very big bench. I started doing floor presses during Covid due to lack of spotters, gym time restraints and the idea it was safer, and I never fully regained my strength right off the chest. But I never mastered “leg drive”. The difference for me was not large regardless of where my feet were.)
Ah your right,I get your point.
Strong arguments were made for why the bench press truly is functional, and beyond that for why any exercise that builds muscle mass and strength is. Thank you.
I think this depends on the type of labor being done. I do hobby work around a recreational ranch and occasionally that looks like driving fence poles in the ground, baling and stacking square hay bales, bear hugging and literally farmer walking spools of fence wire et cetera.
There is a direct correlation to power driving fence posts from bench press and strong pecs, stacking overhead (arguably overhead press too but more of a clean and press if being technical - and bench has carryover benefit here) and the bear hug farmers walks leave my chest feeling like I just did some cable crossover burnouts, replete with doms.