Benching 400 Is Easy

I actually know a few people who can or have put up over 400.my bubby billy put up 535 propably 4 years ago after training for 5-6 years and using. A guy i went to high school with had all kinds of natural strength and one day a few years ago when i was lifting at the gym he came in and started warming up then put 4 plates a side on reped it a few times and left.

It pissed me off. But i know lots of people who put up more then it seems like they would be able to. Both my buddys greg and mike were putting up over 300 weighing under 175#. My buddy justin weighs probably 180-185 and puts up 375. So in my opinion its genetics and how u focused youre training when you first start lifing.

A lot depends on whether you are a natural puller or pusher. Pulling came easy for me, with long arms and good hip/leg strength, but benching was hard and slow going. Took me eight years of dedicated benching, and a lot of weight gain, to get to 405. Guys with big chests, shorter arms, and natural pushing power can do amazing things.

My workout partner in high school, Ken M., weighed 132 lbs and benched 330, in 1975!

I hit 400 on the bench in several competitions when I was in my teens, blew my knee in football, blew my back deadlift, made amazing recovery, then blew my wrist going for a 500 lb bench. Just got back into competing, should be hitting 400 again sometime within the next month to two months…

[quote]OneDay wrote:
I hit 400 on the bench in several competitions when I was in my teens, blew my knee in football, blew my back deadlift, made amazing recovery, then blew my wrist going for a 500 lb bench. Just got back into competing, should be hitting 400 again sometime within the next month to two months…[/quote]

Those RAW or shirted? How do you blow your wrist benching? that sounds painful.

I went from 375lbs in Dec to 405 this July using a frequency/toal body program.

[quote]Antman517 wrote:
I manage a hardcore PL gym. We have plenty of guys who bench over 405 raw. I hit my first 405 at 181 back about 5 years ago. I think your training focus and atmosphere play a huge part in hitting big numbers. You won’t see alot of 300+ benches at your local YMCA or rec center.[/quote]

You are right and that is my point, you never see it in the average gym goer gyms, most of the people who can do it likely train in a good atmosphere, and most people don’t get to experience that.

I just turned 17 and recently hit a 325 bench press.I intend to hit 405 before I graduate.I know of only two people to graduate my high school with 400+ benches.I also intend to hit 500 before i graduate college.I also want to squat in the 500’s before I graduate high school.To most of my freinds these numbers seem ridiculous and unachievable.I strive to be above average.I recently injured my knee so my quest for a 500+ squat is going to be put on hold,but the way I see it I just have a good excuse to focus on bench pressing now.

[quote]MAS50 wrote:
but the way I see it I just have a good excuse to focus on bench pressing now.[/quote]

Im with you on that man, got hurt squating and been loveing being able to devote time to my bench.

The best thing is with a big bench you get a big upper body all around.

[quote]Joe84 wrote:
Antman517 wrote:
I manage a hardcore PL gym. We have plenty of guys who bench over 405 raw. I hit my first 405 at 181 back about 5 years ago. I think your training focus and atmosphere play a huge part in hitting big numbers. You won’t see alot of 300+ benches at your local YMCA or rec center.

You are right and that is my point, you never see it in the average gym goer gyms, most of the people who can do it likely train in a good atmosphere, and most people don’t get to experience that. [/quote]

Yeah most regular gyms are crap. Everyone gives you strange looks and think they know it all.

I envy you guys who have a place you can go to train with people who have the same goals and mind set as you.

I like how this thread is slowing turning into internet bragging.-I’m sure most of you do bench said weight-

I like one of the points someone made on how some people are built better as pullers, while some are built like pushers. This makes sense to me as I see some small guys who can push a lot of weight but struggled bit in the dl.

Honestly I think 500 bench is possible naturally-no steroids- but above that I don’t think most people could go to 600+ bench naturally.

[quote]shizen wrote:
I like how this thread is slowing turning into internet bragging
[/quote]

Well, he DID ask how many of us could bench 400+ raw. Do we need to spell out what constitutes bragging and what constitutes just answering the question?

It all comes down to how you train. i trained for many years for bodybuilding and only benched 315 for a few reps. about three years ago i switched to powerlifting and within a
year and a half my bench went to 520 raw.

before i got into powerlifting, i just trained muscle groups. when i got into powerlifting i started to train the bench, squat and deadlift. i learned to focus in on my weakpoints and then focus on them.

From my observations in the many gyms i’ve trained in, most people keep plugging along with the same old style of training. they don’t know how to fix something that’s not working. i’m constantly changing my ME work around to address weaknesses.

Thanks to the Westside approach to powerlifting I’ve made unbelievable progress over the past three years.

meat

I am a beginner, and even though I have not maxed out yet, I think it would only be around 200lbs. I’m wondering how long did it take everyone to get to 300lbs, then form 300 to 400lbs?

[quote]ashos wrote:
I am a beginner, and even though I have not maxed out yet, I think it would only be around 200lbs. I’m wondering how long did it take everyone to get to 300lbs, then form 300 to 400lbs?[/quote]

It took me about 9 months of training to go from 185-320, with 3 months of no training in between (so a year), but I’m really heavy so that might have affected it.

I can’t wait to hit 405 :slight_smile:

[quote]Uber N3wb wrote:
MAS50 wrote:
but the way I see it I just have a good excuse to focus on bench pressing now.

Im with you on that man, got hurt squating and been loveing being able to devote time to my bench.

The best thing is with a big bench you get a big upper body all around.

[/quote]

Well I didn’t get injured squatting it was in a pickup football game.I’m the strongest out of my group of freinds so obviously the tackles are gonna aim to take my legs out.

Shit happens lol but I’m really pissed about not being able to squat for a while.I had just cleared a plateau and was gaining mass throughout my legs,chest,back shoulders and increasing my squat and bench.I’m really just trying to look on the bright side.

[quote]ashos wrote:
I am a beginner, and even though I have not maxed out yet, I think it would only be around 200lbs. I’m wondering how long did it take everyone to get to 300lbs, then form 300 to 400lbs?[/quote]

I started out at 14 with 165 and I just made 17 years old and I’m pushing 325 so that’s 160 pounds in three years minus three football seasons and a few months doing a program set up by my coaches that didn’t do jack shit.It’s not about how long it takes it’s just about getting there.The hardest thing is learning how to break through plateaus again and again and again.

[quote]Uber N3wb wrote:
Joe84 wrote:
Antman517 wrote:
I manage a hardcore PL gym. We have plenty of guys who bench over 405 raw. I hit my first 405 at 181 back about 5 years ago. I think your training focus and atmosphere play a huge part in hitting big numbers. You won’t see alot of 300+ benches at your local YMCA or rec center.

You are right and that is my point, you never see it in the average gym goer gyms, most of the people who can do it likely train in a good atmosphere, and most people don’t get to experience that.

Yeah most regular gyms are crap. Everyone gives you strange looks and think they know it all.

I envy you guys who have a place you can go to train with people who have the same goals and mind set as you.[/quote]

I work out in a gym with some guys who lift heavy and some guys who lift to maintain and for all other different sorts of reasons.I wouldn’t want to work out anywhere else though.There is one big guy who does reps with 405 on bench.They don’t look at him like he is an idiot for doing so.Everyone respects strength and respects eachother.

For the most part everyone recognizes that not everyone is in the gym for the same reasons and everyone trains differently.On the other hand there people who think they know it all.I was doing reps with 275 and this guy comes up to me and asks why I touch the bar to my chest.He’s about a year younger than me and extremely average in build and body fat.You can’t tell he works out by looking at him.I explain to him why full range of motion is necessary and everything.

He then goes on to tell me that once your arms hit 90 degree angles you don’t need to go lower.I suppose that is why we have been training the same amount of time and he has seen no results.Any time someone who is obviously much stronger than me gives me advice,I generally take it.

I could always bench 315 pretty easily, but I had a lot of trouble getting stronger than that until I started doing a 5x5. I’ve been lifting pretty seriously for almost a year, and I can bench 390 now. If I can stay healthy, I think I’ll get 400 in eight weeks.

I think it’s rare to see 400 lb bench because very few people do any serious lifting. At any gym I’ve belonged to, there are only a handful of guys who squat, deadlift, and row. There’s no way to get really strong without doing that kind of stuff.

[quote]Joe84 wrote:
OneDay wrote:
I hit 400 on the bench in several competitions when I was in my teens, blew my knee in football, blew my back deadlift, made amazing recovery, then blew my wrist going for a 500 lb bench. Just got back into competing, should be hitting 400 again sometime within the next month to two months…

Those RAW or shirted? How do you blow your wrist benching? that sounds painful. [/quote]

Always shirted, I’d never bench any other way. Old Rage for first few comps with 400 lb benches, then switched to a Rage-X, hit a few PRs in that.

You blow your wrist benching by being very unlucky. I can’t really explain it to you. I pulled a tendon off of my radius, causing fluid leakage into my arm. Emergency surgery. Scar sucks too…

I hit 405 @ 18 during my fresh year of college.