started doing sets of 8-12 with 60 kg at age 15…
now 1 year and a couple of months later i am at 8-12 with 90-95 kgs…
100-ish @ 18
245 @ 20
Started with 95 at 15.
Hit 300 on my 16th birthday and 335 before I was 17. When I was 19 I benched 365 x 6.
I’m now 25 and hover around 400+. I have put a lot less emphasis on bench.
I needed help putting the bar up at 16 or 17. I weighed around 190, no lie. I had it up to 200 within a year though
i remember junior year in highschool, thought it’d look cool with a 35lb on each side to impress the girls. ended up pinned against my chest, luckily i hadn’t put on weight collars, so i tipped the bar to one side to slide the plate off. however, as soon as it fell off, the other end dropped like a freaking rock, cartwheeling the bar over me, and into a mirror. yeah, i was a badass.
anyways, two years later in college i’m hitting 315 twice, and i don’t think i’m committed as a lot of the members on this site are to weightlifting.
good luck OP, just put in some hardwork and it’ll come.
16 … 95x6
18 … 170x5
EDIT: for members, how should I periodize my bench to be able to hit 225 for at least 1 rep in 15 weeks? Right now I’ve just been doing 5x5 and trying to add weight to the bar each week (started at 135x5 4 months ago). Should I just keep doing what I’m doing?
Age 26 If I remember correctly 185 for a few reps maybe 200 for one.
Age 37 310-315 for one and I have hit 250 for twelve.
D
When i first started training at 17 the bar and 25s was good for work sets. The most ive ever maxed with was 385 around 10 years later.
5 x 65 kg, at about 77 kg. Which equals, what 5 x 143 pounds at 170? I did 4 x 70 kg a week or two later. I did that this last summer. I was 17.
No idea where I’m at now. I’d guess not much more, since my main focus the last couple of months have been leg strength.
At 15, I had problems with 90#, but then I only weighed about 110#.
I farted around off and on and never got serious about weights until I was in my mid-30’s. At about 34 or 35, I was doing a lot of machines and some people I trusted told me to do real bench pressing. I was able to do a shaky 135#. And I tore my rotator cuff.
Now, 10 years later, my max is still only 235# (215# at a powerlifting meet) and it took a ton of hard work just to get it there. I’ve torn my rotator cuff several times; every time I start to make progress, I rip it. I’ve got to be very careful with my auxiliary work and my volume. I’ve spent a lot of time not being able to lift my right arm over my head.
I weigh 198# and I am a delicate freaking flower.
first time i ever bench pressed properly in the gym I was 14 and it was 65 kg i think. 19 now and my max is 130 kg
[quote]Liquid447 wrote:
i remember junior year in highschool, thought it’d look cool with a 35lb on each side to impress the girls. ended up pinned against my chest, luckily i hadn’t put on weight collars, so i tipped the bar to one side to slide the plate off. however, as soon as it fell off, the other end dropped like a freaking rock, cartwheeling the bar over me, and into a mirror. yeah, i was a badass.
anyways, two years later in college i’m hitting 315 twice, and i don’t think i’m committed as a lot of the members on this site are to weightlifting.
good luck OP, just put in some hardwork and it’ll come.[/quote]
thanks liquid. ill try my best. very impressive numbers for all of you.
started with the bar when I started lifting. Always have been weak on my upperbody. I was getting a good 6-8 reps out fairly hard. Took me like a year or so (started @ age 18) to get to 175, which is the most i’ve done so far. First time I pulled though I did 315 and squatted 225 first time I squatted.
yeah
1986 I was 14, and it was my first year of football. The coach said we should lift weights, but left it at that. My first free weight bench was 135lb’s at 150lb’s.
I think I did like two or three reps and didn’t touch a weight again until I was a sophomore, and someone showed me what to do.
My 1 rep max was 88 lbs at 13 years old. Now it’s 220 lbs at 157 lbs. Still weak.
I didn’t lift weights seriously until I hit 25, but I remember being 12 in gym class and seeing my classmate incline benching 95lbs for reps and thinking he was pretty strong.
I could only handle the bar. But then I was built more for deadlifting… I remember in that same class period suitcase-lifting a 65 lb pound bar off the floor with just one hand, much to my friend’s amazement.
Sidenote… I remember being 11 and working out with a friend at his apartment’s weight room, where they had that old universal machine setup that had like 4 stations connected to it and I actually leg pressed the entire stack (750?) I remember telling my friend it felt like moving a tank, and then later walking around like I had huge quads.
Good stories in here. For me, it was 95# at the start of my benching career, but I probably only managed that because I did a lot of push-ups for years beforehand.
One defining moment: I was in my university gym strugling with 135# (my working weight at the time), had no spotter, and got pinned. A dude came over and pulled the weight off. He then said, “no worries - it happens to the worst of us.”
DICK!
Anyhoo, I never became much of a bencher, my max being 285# at around 200# bodyweight. Better than average gym rat, but pretty weak by powerlifting standards. Now my focus is overhead press.
Some of these statements of “115# @ age 14, 315# @ age 16” sound like pure keyboard warrior. I’ve never seen a 16 year-old kid handle weight like that.
When I was 14, I was over 200lbs and could bench 95lbs. No joke. By the time I was 18 I was 150 and could do about 205. ( I lost alot of weight and wrestled 140 in HS). Now im in college, and have benched 255.
[quote]HOV wrote:
Good stories in here. For me, it was 95# at the start of my benching career, but I probably only managed that because I did a lot of push-ups for years beforehand.
One defining moment: I was in my university gym strugling with 135# (my working weight at the time), had no spotter, and got pinned. A dude came over and pulled the weight off. He then said, “no worries - it happens to the worst of us.”
DICK!
Anyhoo, I never became much of a bencher, my max being 285# at around 200# bodyweight. Better than average gym rat, but pretty weak by powerlifting standards. Now my focus is overhead press.
Some of these statements of “115# @ age 14, 315# @ age 16” sound like pure keyboard warrior. I’ve never seen a 16 year-old kid handle weight like that.[/quote]
Haha, that guy was a prick, but that’s a pretty good line.
I’m also looking a bit side-eyed at some of the claims in this thread from the younger set, but it is still possible. A large Samoan friend of mine (who benches in the 600s now) said he could already hit 315 as a Freshman in high school.
My high school was also a nationally ranked powerhouse for football, and I remember seeing a board high on the wall above the gym area (that I mentioned in my previous post) listing the names of those who benched 300, 350, and 400. Another friend of mine could bench 225 for about 22 reps at age 17.
15 benched 215 first time in
before i left for bootcamp benched 405 at age 19
after 250ish lol
and now 20 benched 440 every time i got up high bootcamp or football and deployments take me away from it.