What does the average guy lift? HOW MANY PEOPLE EVEN LIFT ANYWAY?

[Reach]

If you bench 8-10 @ 135 lbs, start training with 140 lbs next time you're in the gym. If you hit a set @ 10 repetitions, finish your sets and next time you go to the gym train with 145 lbs.

Repeat indefinitely.

Apply that to all of your lifts.

Training is easy. Diet is slightly more complicated.

[kmay]

so do all sets with the same weight?

[Reach]

Originally Posted by kmay

so do all sets with the same weight?

Yeah.

If you're working out chest structure it like:

3x8 Flat Bench @ 140 lbs.

And then do an accessory like 4x10 incline dumbbell press or 4x10 cable fly.

Then do whatever the rest of your workout is (you should have a pre-programmed schedule with sufficient volume).


Workout two would ideally look like 3x9 Flat Bench @ 140 lbs.

Workout three, 3x10 Bench @ 140 lbs

Workout four: 3x8 @ 145 lbs

Etc.

Eventually you won't be able to gain a repetition each workout, though that depends a lot on how frequently you're training and how much you're eating too. On a bulk I was able to maintain this structure pretty consistently until I hit around 185x8 but, it's going to vary from person to person based on genetics, height, weight, etc. Once you get into the 185-225 range it typically gets exponentially harder to progress and then in the 225 + range progress is usually very slow.

[kmay]

awesome thats how i've been doing it. :D

[rushyrulz]

I don't even lift.

NOT EVEN ONE TIME.

COME AT ME.

[Arch0wl]

Originally Posted by kmay

i need to do more reading on this... damn school i dont care about chemistry i want to be sexy :p

http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=140860

just for you

[kmay]

:3 gracias

[SCWolf]

Originally Posted by blindreper1179

I did try. Went to the gym for about 8 months and still never got over 100.

Almost always has something to do with not eating correctly/enough when the weight is that low.

[andy-o24]

So I should expect little to no gains at all without proper diet?

-o24

[Arch0wl]

Originally Posted by andy-o24

So I should expect little to no gains at all without proper diet?

-o24

Correct.

[alster1]

Used to train with two friends who were really into it for about ~4 months. Went from benching the bar to benching around 115. Felt amazing. That was about a year ago. Haven't gone since because I have a stress fracture in my tailus and have to wear a walking boot around :/
There is nothing that I want to do more than go lift again, I'm just self-conscious about going with the boot/worried I may make it worse.

[kmay]

there was a beefcake at the gym in a boot today :p

[Arch0wl]

Originally Posted by alster1

Used to train with two friends who were really into it for about ~4 months. Went from benching the bar to benching around 115. Felt amazing.

If you think that's amazing, it only gets better.

I think most people are bullshitting when they say they only lift for themselves. It's extremely satisfying to know how far you are above the average, and how well you're doing compared to every other person like you. It puts your progress in perspective.

And there are accelerating returns. It doesn't take an extremely long time (comparatively) to go from, say, 215 to 250 but when you do, you're that much more exceptional. Literally every weight you add to your bar is progress that pushes you further toward greatness and farther from mediocrity.

[kmay]

i agree 100%.

you work out to improve yourself but it pushes you to know not everyone is doing what you do and going to look how you will look. the social aspect of lifting and looking good is what pushes almost everyone. i can't really see any other reason. i mean come on its called aesthetics... the art of beauty

[Arch0wl]

All right, did some more analyses of this.

I think the easiest cutdown of BW as a measure of bench rarity is that D1 athletes bench 300lb on average, but weigh something like 230lb on average. A 1.3xBW bench is, I think, 80th percentile, which means 20 out of every 100 people would be able to bench more than this. If you've ever been on a college campus in the US and seen D1 football athletes walking around, you know how ridiculous that is to imagine. I'd guess the Canadian equivalent would be hockey players, but Canada is cold as fuck and their size is probably obscured somewhat in cold weather clothing.

So basically, 20 out of 100 people definitely don't bench 300lb. That's hilarious to even imagine.

If I used that data about absolute bench press norms to measure 300lb rarity though, I'd get some absurd result like 1 in 160,000 for benching 300lb. That's obviously not true, because that would mean less than 10 people in my city bench 300lb, and I've seen at least 20 people bench 300lb at my gym alone.

So I've tried a very manual approach of:

1. Looking at how many gyms exist in my city that might have people who bench 300lb. People at Planet Fitness or Curves obviously aren't, so we can rule those out. People at Gold's Might. Places like LA Fitness or 24 Hour Fitness are wildcards.

2. Assigning estimated values to each gym. So I'd estimate like 30 people at a large Gold's might bench 300lb, 10 people at LA Fitness, and 20-40 people at a place like Metroflex. (Smaller, but more elite clientele, etc.)

3. Factoring in university gyms and high school gyms. A university might have 30 people who bench that much if it's big and 10 if it's small. A high school might have 3 people who do, based on that data I mentioned earlier. Some would obviously have more and some would obviously have less.

4. Manually adding together all the #s.

I came up with something like 1 in 300 to 1 in 500 for my city for men aged 20-50. That seems more reasonable.

Of note: my city's culture is influenced both by Texas culture and Mexican culture, so a lot of the guys here are hyper-masculine compared to other cities. I feel like a bro whenever I am out in Austin or similar places because the guys there are so dainty compared to what I'm used to here. I'd imagine 300lb is probably much more rare in a city like Portland or Boulder or whatever.

[Wayward Vagabond]

I was benching 350 last year every time I sat down on a bench

[Arch0wl]

rofl