Bench pressing goals

Patto

Just started back weight lifting after a few years. Just wondering about goal setting. Play a lot of field sports (soccer, gaa) so I would be reasonably strong, strong legs anyway. Main goal is to improve upper body strength. How quickly would you expect to go from Bench pressing 50Kg (3 sets of 8) to Bench pressing 80-90KG (3 sets of 8). Age 28, height 5"10 weight 80Kg (18% body fat). Good diet, taking whey after training, training 6 days a week (3 weights, 3 tempo running).

Can anyone post examples of such progress, would be interested in squats also.

Dragan

Depends totally on form and intensity and it's kinda hard to judge from that.

But it's different for everyone. Some people will never bench 90 kilos. It's just the way it is.

g'em

Do you do do dumbell presses as well as the bench? Using DBs will help your stabiliser muscles and can increase strength significantly. I do DBs after bench and have seen a major increase in strength over about 6 months.

amazingemmet

Learn to do planche press ups and then you can officially call your self a beast. also as g'em said db press is the way to go, i like to do bench one week db the next.

Patto

Ok so, taking average form and intensity, how quickly can an average male advance from bench pressing 60% to 80% of his bodyweight to 100%. I would have thought anyone can potentially become strong enough to bench press their own body weight?

My guess on this would be that it probably takes about 8 weeks to go from 60% (~50kg) to 80% (~65Kg) and about another 16 weeks to get to 100% (80Kg). About 6 months in total. Is this a realistic goal?

amazingemmet

At the moment i've been adding 5kg per session to all my lifts. It depends on yourself really

Patto

Thank you amazingemmet, I am very happy for you.

I am no closer to an answer though. I am talking about goal setting. I am interested in realistic, measurable goals. To be measurable I need some sort of average, the *250Kg extra per year you lift isn't really relevant.

*Sorry if the 250Kg estimate is too low, I'm assuming you only do one session a week.

g'em

well your goals will all be dependent on you. Fair play to Emmet, if he adds 5kg every session, then those are his limits. If you're asking if its reasonable to set yourself a goal of lifting 100% of your body weight then absolutely, of course that's a resonable goal. You may not actually get there, but that all depends on the hard work you put unto it. I went from barely being able to bench the 20kg bar to having an 80k 1 rep max (110% of my body weight) in a year, which exceeded my original goal of 70kg.

Goals tend to be basic outlines of how well you want to do- you may exceed them, you may not reach them. But everyone is indiviudal so we can't say for definite how long it'll take you to get to benching 100% body weight. Some people add 5kg a week, some take a month to add that.

Patto

Thanks G'em that is the kind of info I was looking for.

amazingemmet

Patto wrote:

Thank you amazingemmet, I am very happy for you.

I am no closer to an answer though. I am talking about goal setting. I am interested in realistic, measurable goals. To be measurable I need some sort of average, the *250Kg extra per year you lift isn't really relevant.

*Sorry if the 250Kg estimate is too low, I'm assuming you only do one session a week.

Sorry only meant that as an example not as a look at what i can do. But the amount of weight you can add is dependant on a lot of factors, your goal is fully achieavble within a year probably sooner if you push your self i'd say aim for bodyweight and you'll be surprised at what you can do. Just keep varying your program and don't let yourself stagnate always keep pushing forward

LegacyUser

Patto wrote:

Ok so, taking average form and intensity, how quickly can an average male advance from bench pressing 60% to 80% of his bodyweight to 100%. I would have thought anyone can potentially become strong enough to bench press their own body weight?

My guess on this would be that it probably takes about 8 weeks to go from 60% (~50kg) to 80% (~65Kg) and about another 16 weeks to get to 100% (80Kg). About 6 months in total. Is this a realistic goal?

yep, that's a realistic goal, as long as you're regiem is strict.

make sure you're using a spotter, you'll be able to reach this goal alot easier.