Relative Strength

Im 6’4, 170lbs my Max Deadlift is 375, Max Squat is 280, Max Bench 245 and an overhead press of 150! Just wanna see what you guys think about me being able to increase my bench to 300lbs while maintaining my body, about to get into amateur boxing cant afford to gain unnecesary body weight

“increase my bench to 300lbs”

“about to get into amateur boxing”

Seriously, make up your mind!

Gaining strength without getting bigger:

  1. Top end sets. Ramp up using something like 5/3/1. Too much volume = hypertrophy; go for quality.
  2. Do not train to failure.
  3. Be patient.

Seriously though, why the 300 bench? Are you a powerlifter or do you need the ego boost?

By the sounds of things, you are a pretty small guy for your height. You have managed to get good numbers for lifts, without putting on any appreciable muscle mass. If you have genuinely got that strong without getting remotely big, then you clearly know far more about keeping bodyweight down whilst gaining strength than most people who train as fighters probably do. Boxing is not going to make you bigger.

[quote]LondonBoxer123 wrote:
By the sounds of things, you are a pretty small guy for your height. You have managed to get good numbers for lifts, without putting on any appreciable muscle mass. If you have genuinely got that strong without getting remotely big, then you clearly know far more about keeping bodyweight down whilst gaining strength than most people who train as fighters probably do. Boxing is not going to make you bigger. [/quote]

Thx bro

[quote]Egg Head wrote:
“increase my bench to 300lbs”

“about to get into amateur boxing”

Seriously, make up your mind![/quote]

If you didn’t want to answer the question then why would you even comment bro, I was looking for suggestions and help, not a life coach! Say what you want i aint even responding to you anymore! I’m not a forum gangster!

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Gaining strength without getting bigger:

  1. Top end sets. Ramp up using something like 5/3/1. Too much volume = hypertrophie; go for quality.
  2. Do not train to failure.
  3. Be patient.

Seriously though, why the 300 bench? Are you a powerlifter or do you need the ego boost?[/quote]

Thx bro! But if you want me to seriously answer your question, its really about me being the stronger and more powerful fighter than my opponent, i am not a power lifter and i don’t aspire to be, its more a personal goal, and as far as my ego, maybe it is an ego thing but dont most men on T-Nation have some sort of ego! If i wanted to be a powerlifter i dont even think a 300 lb bench is elite number to look forward to! And I’m not one of those guys that lets strength training precede over my skill training, and i also do plyometrics so my nervous system can apply the force quickly and so i dont slow down and get an explosive strength deficit, because boxing is more about rate of force development rather than brute strength. Any how thank you bro its not really a rant i was just answering the question!

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Too much volume = hypertrophie; go for quality.
[/quote]

This is not true. How big you get relies solely on the amount of food you’re taking in. Nothing more.

So eat at a maintenance diet while strength training, and you won’t see a huge increase in size.

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Too much volume = hypertrophie; go for quality.
[/quote]

This is not true. How big you get relies solely on the amount of food you’re taking in. Nothing more.

So eat at a maintenance diet while strength training, and you won’t see a huge increase in size.[/quote]

Oh, you would be surprised how easy it is for your body to find the calories for, say, half a pound per month if it really wants to. And those 0.5 pounds can add up. (Not trying to start a new phobia here. But this is why some people like Mac Danzig won’t touch weights - he said so himself)

[quote]smurfkilla wrote:

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Gaining strength without getting bigger:

  1. Top end sets. Ramp up using something like 5/3/1. Too much volume = hypertrophie; go for quality.
  2. Do not train to failure.
  3. Be patient.

Seriously though, why the 300 bench? Are you a powerlifter or do you need the ego boost?[/quote]

Thx bro! But if you want me to seriously answer your question, its really about me being the stronger and more powerful fighter than my opponent, i am not a power lifter and i don’t aspire to be, its more a personal goal, and as far as my ego, maybe it is an ego thing but dont most men on T-Nation have some sort of ego! If i wanted to be a powerlifter i dont even think a 300 lb bench is elite number to look forward to! And I’m not one of those guys that lets strength training precede over my skill training, and i also do plyometrics so my nervous system can apply the force quickly and so i dont slow down and get an explosive strength deficit, because boxing is more about rate of force development rather than brute strength. Any how thank you bro its not really a rant i was just answering the question!
[/quote]

All very fancy on paper. I competed until recently. When I did, I ran, and I hit things, and never lifted anything heavier than my bodyweight. A 300lb bench, or even your 245lb bench, will mean two fifths of fuck all to how good a fighter you are. Seriously, if this is all about being a good boxer, and not about just being a strong guy who can box a little, drop the weights.

[quote]smurfkilla wrote:

[quote]Egg Head wrote:
“increase my bench to 300lbs”

“about to get into amateur boxing”

Seriously, make up your mind![/quote]

If you didn’t want to answer the question then why would you even comment bro, I was looking for suggestions and help, not a life coach! Say what you want i aint even responding to you anymore! I’m not a forum gangster!
[/quote]

You dismissed the best advice on the thread. If you are intending to compete, you really should make your mind up.

[quote]LondonBoxer123 wrote:

[quote]smurfkilla wrote:

[quote]Egg Head wrote:
“increase my bench to 300lbs”

“about to get into amateur boxing”

Seriously, make up your mind![/quote]

If you didn’t want to answer the question then why would you even comment bro, I was looking for suggestions and help, not a life coach! Say what you want i aint even responding to you anymore! I’m not a forum gangster!
[/quote]

You dismissed the best advice on the thread. If you are intending to compete, you really should make your mind up.[/quote]

Thank You!

Learning/mastering the task complexity surrounding amateur boxing (i.e. competitive boxing) is going to require a full dedication of all of your mental and physical faculties.

I’ve known several guys who attempted to enter the realm of a combat sport (ring and mat) while holding in high regard the pursuit of muscle development and/or poundage based lifting performance. What did they ultimately all have in common? They threw in the towel and quit! And this was supposedly for fun on the side; not competitively.

They quickly learned that even on a non-competitive basis, the acquisition of physical skill and mental tactics relevant to the combat sport didn’t support or compliment their desire to look a certain way or lift a certain poundage.

Now factor in the entire domain of competitiveness (with the desire to be successful) and all doubts should end there. If you still have room to even consider a poundage based performance goal, then you truly haven’t made up your mind and it will cost you.

[quote]smurfkilla wrote:

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Gaining strength without getting bigger:

  1. Top end sets. Ramp up using something like 5/3/1. Too much volume = hypertrophie; go for quality.
  2. Do not train to failure.
  3. Be patient.

Seriously though, why the 300 bench? Are you a powerlifter or do you need the ego boost?[/quote]

Thx bro! But if you want me to seriously answer your question, its really about me being the stronger and more powerful fighter than my opponent, i am not a power lifter and i don’t aspire to be, its more a personal goal, and as far as my ego, maybe it is an ego thing but dont most men on T-Nation have some sort of ego! If i wanted to be a powerlifter i dont even think a 300 lb bench is elite number to look forward to! And I’m not one of those guys that lets strength training precede over my skill training, and i also do plyometrics so my nervous system can apply the force quickly and so i dont slow down and get an explosive strength deficit, because boxing is more about rate of force development rather than brute strength. Any how thank you bro its not really a rant i was just answering the question!
[/quote]

Having a 300 lb. bench compared with a 245 lb. bench will not make you “stronger or more powerful” as a fighter.

If you’re going to look to compete, adding 60 lbs. to your bench press is the least of your worries. Strength gains are going to come much slower, and your focus when lifting should be on your back to counteract the thousand punches you’ll throw per workout.

Make up your mind. You can’t have two big goals like that at the same time without one of them suffering.

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Too much volume = hypertrophie; go for quality.
[/quote]

This is not true. How big you get relies solely on the amount of food you’re taking in. Nothing more.

So eat at a maintenance diet while strength training, and you won’t see a huge increase in size.[/quote]

Oh, you would be surprised how easy it is for your body to find the calories for, say, half a pound per month if it really wants to. And those 0.5 pounds can add up. (Not trying to start a new phobia here. But this is why some people like Mac Danzig won’t touch weights - he said so himself)[/quote]

I know i been through a similar situation. I think its your bodys natural response of saying feed me i need food! LOL!

Wow. We are actually going to do this again.

OP: there are countless threads on here about lifting + boxing/mma. If you use the search function you will find dozens of well reasoned and in many cases excellent posts where members offer they’re opinions on both sides. This happens like once a week on here and the answers are always the same.

IMO you can bench 300 at your weight, but it will not help your boxing significantly. How often do you box?

[quote]batman730 wrote:
Wow. We are actually going to do this again.

OP: there are countless threads on here about lifting + boxing/mma. If you use the search function you will find dozens of well reasoned and in many cases excellent posts where members offer they’re opinions on both sides. This happens like once a week on here and the answers are always the same.

IMO you can bench 300 at your weight, but it will not help your boxing significantly. How often do you box?[/quote]

3 to 5 days a week boxing and i lift 2 days a week and sprint about once per week.

300 bench at your build is gonna be pretty damn hard unless you plan to focus exclusively on it. I bench 315 at 170 when i was doing MMA training only 2 times a week. Now im getting back into fighting, weigh 180lbs and bench 340, and although it hasn’t made my boxing “better” i do hit harder even without practicing as often for over a year.

Basically don’t let your 300lb bench goal overshadow your boxing ambitions, but also don’t let the others think being stronger doesn’t matter. as long as your conditioning and recovery doesn’t suffer from your weight training, do it. low volume, probably low frequency, high intensity.

[quote]smurfkilla wrote:
Im 6’4, 170lbs my Max Deadlift is 375, Max Squat is 280, Max Bench 245 and an overhead press of 150! Just wanna see what you guys think about me being able to increase my bench to 300lbs while maintaining my body, about to get into amateur boxing cant afford to gain unnecesary body weight[/quote]

Lets get real.

You deadlift over your double-bodyweight and bench close to one and a half your bodyweight at tall 6-4.

So,you want to bench close to your double-bodyweight at 6-4 height while not gaining any muscle mass?

Thats very,very unlikely (not to say impossible) even if you just focus on bench.

[quote]EllisUFC wrote:
300 bench at your build is gonna be pretty damn hard unless you plan to focus exclusively on it. I bench 315 at 170 when i was doing MMA training only 2 times a week. Now im getting back into fighting, weigh 180lbs and bench 340, and although it hasn’t made my boxing “better” i do hit harder even without practicing as often for over a year.

Basically don’t let your 300lb bench goal overshadow your boxing ambitions, but also don’t let the others think being stronger doesn’t matter. as long as your conditioning and recovery doesn’t suffer from your weight training, do it. low volume, probably low frequency, high intensity. [/quote]

Thx Bro.

Wasn’t trying to let it overshadow my boxing goals for me boxing is always first before strength training it really just supplements my training! At the end of the day its a personal goal i never knew there was anything wrong with that, and maybe i should of reworded the post but i do plan to get stronger at the other lifts i mentioned, im looking for a more myofribrillar response over a sarcoplasmic response! i know i may put on a little muscle but not banything extraordinary!