Bench Press in Popular Culture

Why is it that you never see any other weight exercise get as much exposure as the bench press? The “how much you bench?” phrase has infiltrated our common vernacular, and has been around for a while. Why is it so hard for other weight exercises to get as much exposure?

Cause most people (like me when i was younger) are to much of a bitch to squat or deadlift.

^quite literally

Somehow it’s become associate with being more “manly” than other lifts. It’s odd considering squats and deadlifts can help increase testosterone more-so than the bench and you can move more weight (just look at Konstantin Konstaninovs). Quite frankly, I agree with the old adage that a hefty overhead press is more impressive.

Bench Press gets a lot of credit because it IS a manly exercise, and most dudes can do it without really killing themselves (see: squats/deads) or using embarrassingly low weights to start (see: military press).

curls, too. i think they are as legendary as bench. though i guess people can bench more than they curl…

benching (and curling for that matter) is mostly about males impressing other males…
maybe benching is legendary because it involves the prosocial element of how much your brofriends can / are willing to row??

maybe that is it.

sure. lifting weights is manly. i grow another dick everytime i do it rofl

[quote]alexus wrote:
sure. lifting weights is manly. i grow another dick everytime i do it rofl[/quote]

I feel you. I gots way too any dicks because I hit biceps liek 3x per week yo breh

It’s definitely part of the way people talk:

“So do you work out?”
“how much do you bench?”
“have you heard of (insert trendy fitness system here)?”

my favorite one is
“how much do you lift?”

and I never know quite how to answer

I agree and I hate it…especially these 5’6" chunky dudes that bench alot but can hardly do any functional body weight exercises (pullups, chinups, dips)…also when your arms are only 25" long benching is alot easier

[quote]dcolacu1 wrote:
It’s definitely part of the way people talk:

“So do you work out?”
“how much do you bench?”
“have you heard of (insert trendy fitness system here)?”

my favorite one is
“how much do you lift?”

and I never know quite how to answer[/quote]

answer with “I can lift you”.

gets em every time.