Ladies, how much do you bench?

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245

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  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
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    Yeah, I'm following Jamie Eason's program, and she said to use the Smith for the incline press. So I just did both on it. That, and I wanted to get a feel for it before going all out and using the normal bench press

    Start with free weights. Machine bench is nothing like free weights. It doesn't incorporate stabilizers. Let's pretend you worked up to 120lb bench on the smith, then switched over to free weights - when you unrack it's going to cause a wreck because of massively underdeveloped stabilizers.


    For a bench to count you have to bring it down and touch your lower sternum, then bring it straight all the way up. If anyone but you touches the bar in any way, it doesn't count.
  • Beastette
    Beastette Posts: 1,497 Member
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    Barbell=105 or so. I love lifting free weights!
  • ShellyKay67
    ShellyKay67 Posts: 489 Member
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    started at 45# (14 reps), and a wk later moved up to 50# (2 sets of 12)............i can't wait to see how much more i can do as i have just started getting back into lifting!
  • lauren3382
    lauren3382 Posts: 372 Member
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    Chest is by far my weakest muscle group. I'd be happy to bench 45 for 10 reps. I'll join you in that weak sauce, lol!
  • ali_b83
    ali_b83 Posts: 324 Member
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    Yeah, I'm following Jamie Eason's program, and she said to use the Smith for the incline press. So I just did both on it. That, and I wanted to get a feel for it before going all out and using the normal bench press

    Start with free weights. Machine bench is nothing like free weights. It doesn't incorporate stabilizers. Let's pretend you worked up to 120lb bench on the smith, then switched over to free weights - when you unrack it's going to cause a wreck because of massively underdeveloped stabilizers.


    For a bench to count you have to bring it down and touch your lower sternum, then bring it straight all the way up. If anyone but you touches the bar in any way, it doesn't count.

    I've been doing free weights for a month now. Just hit phase 2 of the program, so it's just progressing.
  • angelic1123
    angelic1123 Posts: 45
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    When I actually weight lifted throughout the week I was benching 135
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    To be fair ladies, you should probably state whether your benching is true touch the chest stuff or the half benches I see all the time in the gym (women and men). Not saying anything wrong but if you are going to be strutting your 1RM, best to compare apples with apples!

    I touch my chest. :grumble:
  • GeneveSparkles
    GeneveSparkles Posts: 283 Member
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    To be fair ladies, you should probably state whether your benching is true touch the chest stuff or the half benches I see all the time in the gym (women and men). Not saying anything wrong but if you are going to be strutting your 1RM, best to compare apples with apples!

    I touch my chest. :grumble:

    oops double post!!!
  • GeneveSparkles
    GeneveSparkles Posts: 283 Member
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    To be fair ladies, you should probably state whether your benching is true touch the chest stuff or the half benches I see all the time in the gym (women and men). Not saying anything wrong but if you are going to be strutting your 1RM, best to compare apples with apples!

    I touch my chest. :grumble:

    Me too. What an unecessary assumption ... :huh:
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
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    To be fair ladies, you should probably state whether your benching is true touch the chest stuff or the half benches I see all the time in the gym (women and men). Not saying anything wrong but if you are going to be strutting your 1RM, best to compare apples with apples!

    I touch my chest. :grumble:

    Do not question Rae's weightlifting! :tongue:
  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    Wow! If a trainer told you to use the Smith machine I would seriously question everything else they are having you do, just my opinion.

    If you have a power rack or squat rack at your gym set up the bench inside of it to do your bench press. Some people think the squat rack is "holy ground" that should only be used for squats, the way I see it I pay the same everyone else does for my gym membership so if you ain't squatting in it I'll use it to squat, deadlift, bench, do chin-ups hell if I'm feeling extra spunky I might do a heavy set of curls in it!!! The biggest thing is whatever lift you are doing make it a priority from day one to learn perfect form even if it means you have to use a little less weight. The majority of machines out there do not let you use good form so do some research.

    Oh and to get back to your original topic, don't worry about how much someone else is lifting, if it feels like the correct weight to you and you can eek out about 10 reps with it it doesn't matter if the girl next to you is lifting twice as much she may have been lifting for a while to get to that poundage. Good Luck!!! :drinker: :wink:
  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    To be fair ladies, you should probably state whether your benching is true touch the chest stuff or the half benches I see all the time in the gym (women and men). Not saying anything wrong but if you are going to be strutting your 1RM, best to compare apples with apples!

    Wow! Really?
  • soehlerking
    soehlerking Posts: 589 Member
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    props to all of you. i'm still a big scaredy pants about venturing onto that side of the gym, not to mention accidentally trying to lift more than i can handle. you're far ahead of me!
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    To be fair ladies, you should probably state whether your benching is true touch the chest stuff or the half benches I see all the time in the gym (women and men). Not saying anything wrong but if you are going to be strutting your 1RM, best to compare apples with apples!

    I touch my chest. :grumble:

    Me TOO!
  • ali_b83
    ali_b83 Posts: 324 Member
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    Wow! If a trainer told you to use the Smith machine I would seriously question everything else they are having you do, just my opinion.

    If you have a power rack or squat rack at your gym set up the bench inside of it to do your bench press. Some people think the squat rack is "holy ground" that should only be used for squats, the way I see it I pay the same everyone else does for my gym membership so if you ain't squatting in it I'll use it to squat, deadlift, bench, do chin-ups hell if I'm feeling extra spunky I might do a heavy set of curls in it!!! The biggest thing is whatever lift you are doing make it a priority from day one to learn perfect form even if it means you have to use a little less weight. The majority of machines out there do not let you use good form so do some research.

    Oh and to get back to your original topic, don't worry about how much someone else is lifting, if it feels like the correct weight to you and you can eek out about 10 reps with it it doesn't matter if the girl next to you is lifting twice as much she may have been lifting for a while to get to that poundage. Good Luck!!! :drinker: :wink:

    My gym is small, and actually only has the power rack as an option for benching, so that works :smile:
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
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    I just started this week, and I could only do the bar (35lb) and only about 8 reps each try :-( Gotta start somewhere I suppose.
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
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    If you have a power rack or squat rack at your gym set up the bench inside of it to do your bench press.

    Little bit off-topic, but I tried that, and it didn't really work for me. The catch bars in the power rack are either so high that the bar can't touch my chest, or too low to matter. I found a couple of videos of how to recover from a failed rep on a bench press (assuming you have no spotter), and combined with the gradual weight increases of the StrongLifts 5x5 program, I'm comfortable enough to just bench by myself.

    Here's one of the videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_OdXKfSp-Y . I found several other explanations of this technique on the bodybuilding.com forums, etc. Just bring the bar slowly down to your lower chest or stomach, and go from there. You can either roll it down to your thighs, sit up and deadlift the weight, as shown in that video, or you can just rock the bar sideways until you spill some plates onto the floor. Makes a bunch of noise, but at least you're out from under the bar. Just don't drop the bar onto yourself, and don't bring it down so high on your chest that it would roll toward your throat.
  • lucythinmint
    lucythinmint Posts: 239
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    60lbs no incline. and yes, I touch my chest with the bar.

    and this is my progression from just being able to lift 30lbs :bigsmile: :drinker:
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
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    To be fair ladies, you should probably state whether your benching is true touch the chest stuff or the half benches I see all the time in the gym (women and men). Not saying anything wrong but if you are going to be strutting your 1RM, best to compare apples with apples!

    Yes, I do, but that's about 3 inches less for me than if I were a guy, finally large tatas give me a work-out advantage!
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
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    To be fair ladies, you should probably state whether your benching is true touch the chest stuff or the half benches I see all the time in the gym (women and men). Not saying anything wrong but if you are going to be strutting your 1RM, best to compare apples with apples!

    I touch my chest. :grumble:

    Me TOO!

    So do I. :angry: :angry: :angry:

    I bench barely 65 pounds. It is really my weakest lift

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