what % of average lifters bench more than they squat?

n0ob
n0ob Posts: 2,390 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'd guess at least 75% as at least 50% of those have never squated before.

what say you?
«1

Replies

  • FullOfWin
    FullOfWin Posts: 1,414 Member
    unfortunately probably correct or even low. I definitely see dudes in the gym that can bench more than me because they have been doing it off and on for years and years, but i'll squat and deadlift weight that would break them in half even though it isn't really all that much for someone my size.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
    probably close to that. hahah


    it should never happen in the real world, but it does.

    I've got a friend who benches around 315 and squats around the same. he's a strong kid and i've never figured out why he doesn't squat.
  • Zero2hero2013
    Zero2hero2013 Posts: 458
    in my gym it would appear 50% and most of the ladies in my gym
  • n0ob
    n0ob Posts: 2,390 Member
    granted I'm one of those weirdos who squats A LOT more (relatively) raw than I deadlift, so I understand unusual imbalances that can occur even when folks do the exercises. .
  • Zero2hero2013
    Zero2hero2013 Posts: 458
    ohh and i wish i could bench what i squat and i wish i could squat what i deadlift.
  • Tyrone_S
    Tyrone_S Posts: 94 Member
    Yeah would't surprise me. For me its dead>squat>bench. But a mate who I bench with does the same weight on the bench and about half on the dead and squat. For him bench = dead > squat.

    I rarely see anyone doing a heavy squat or dead lift, but kids are all over the bench.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
    Sadly, I quite believe this.

    I myself never squatted until over a year after starting bench press. Although my squat is higher, it's only higher by around 10-12kg. The difference should be greater IMO. I wish I started earlier, I love squatting (did some today!!)

    Also, my boyfriend (while he has always squatted) does bench more. He puts more focus and attention onto bench because that's his favourite exercise. His max bench is 170kg (374lbs) and his max squat is around 140kg (308lbs)
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
    Yeah would't surprise me. Form me its dead>squat>bench. But a mate who I bench with does the same weight on the bench and about half on the dead and squat. For him bench = dead > squat.

    I rarely see anyone doing a heavy squat or dead lift, but kids are all over the bench.

    For me it is dead>squat>bench too. Depressing. At my gym we have 5 benchs with an oly bar that are usually busy and 2 squats racks that are alll free for me. :)
  • FullOfWin
    FullOfWin Posts: 1,414 Member
    Yeah would't surprise me. Form me its dead>squat>bench. But a mate who I bench with does the same weight on the bench and about half on the dead and squat. For him bench = dead > squat.

    I rarely see anyone doing a heavy squat or dead lift, but kids are all over the bench.

    For me it is dead>squat>bench too. Depressing. At my gym we have 5 benchs with an oly bar that are usually busy and 2 squats racks that are alll free for me. :)

    It SHOULD be dead>squat>bench>ohp so I am not sure why you are depressed
  • dhansen999
    dhansen999 Posts: 15 Member
    I do a lot of running and upper body weight lifting and haven't really done much with my legs. I am in this scenario. I changed that 2 weeks ago and have worked in lower body weights and less running into my routine. For now though, my bench is more then my squat but I imagine that will change.
  • amann1976
    amann1976 Posts: 742 Member
    who cares half of the people i see in the gym that lift or squat crazy weight have ****ty form... what is the point of benching over 300lbs if you can only bring it halfway down and the same goes for squats.
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
    Yeah would't surprise me. Form me its dead>squat>bench. But a mate who I bench with does the same weight on the bench and about half on the dead and squat. For him bench = dead > squat.

    I rarely see anyone doing a heavy squat or dead lift, but kids are all over the bench.

    For me it is dead>squat>bench too. Depressing. At my gym we have 5 benchs with an oly bar that are usually busy and 2 squats racks that are alll free for me. :)

    It SHOULD be dead>squat>bench>ohp so I am not sure why you are depressed

    Sorry depressed might not be the right word....more like annoyed since I am stuck at a pathetic 75 pounds bench :)
  • George1567
    George1567 Posts: 107
    This past weekend my wife and I went to watch a natural bodybuilding/fitness show. We had never been to one before, just thought it would be interesting. In the men's division they had a "physique" class, the contestants wore "board shorts" knee length swim wear. As soon as they came out the first thing my wife asked was "is this the class for the guys who don't squat?"....... my reply was yes, they are trying to win the Captain Upperbody title. You could not see the ham or quad and they all had sticks for calves, but the upper was cut and well developed. So I guess there are enough ppl who ignore lower body work to create a class for.............
  • jcstanton
    jcstanton Posts: 1,849 Member
    I do squats without weight at least two or three times/wk, but I rarely do any with weight. I'd like to start doing more, but I have knee problems and I'm afraid to do them without a partner or someone to spot me. Maybe it's an irrational fear, but I'm afraid my knee is going to buckle and I won't be able to control the weight.
  • jcstanton
    jcstanton Posts: 1,849 Member
    This past weekend my wife and I went to watch a natural bodybuilding/fitness show. We had never been to one before, just thought it would be interesting. In the men's division they had a "physique" class, the contestants wore "board shorts" knee length swim wear. As soon as they came out the first thing my wife asked was "is this the class for the guys who don't squat?"....... my reply was yes, they are trying to win the Captain Upperbody title. You could not see the ham or quad and they all had sticks for calves, but the upper was cut and well developed. So I guess there are enough ppl who ignore lower body work to create a class for.............


    aka the "Launchpad McQuack Division".

    http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Launchpad+McQuack+Images&view=detail&id=0E7266E27B74C5A375F041436AE9DA649DF80056&qpvt=Launchpad+McQuack+Images
  • FullOfWin
    FullOfWin Posts: 1,414 Member
    Yeah would't surprise me. Form me its dead>squat>bench. But a mate who I bench with does the same weight on the bench and about half on the dead and squat. For him bench = dead > squat.

    I rarely see anyone doing a heavy squat or dead lift, but kids are all over the bench.

    For me it is dead>squat>bench too. Depressing. At my gym we have 5 benchs with an oly bar that are usually busy and 2 squats racks that are alll free for me. :)

    It SHOULD be dead>squat>bench>ohp so I am not sure why you are depressed

    Sorry depressed might not be the right word....more like annoyed since I am stuck at a pathetic 75 pounds bench :)

    It is very difficult for most women to build upper body strength
  • Tyrone_S
    Tyrone_S Posts: 94 Member
    This past weekend my wife and I went to watch a natural bodybuilding/fitness show. We had never been to one before, just thought it would be interesting. In the men's division they had a "physique" class, the contestants wore "board shorts" knee length swim wear. As soon as they came out the first thing my wife asked was "is this the class for the guys who don't squat?"....... my reply was yes, they are trying to win the Captain Upperbody title. You could not see the ham or quad and they all had sticks for calves, but the upper was cut and well developed. So I guess there are enough ppl who ignore lower body work to create a class for.............

    I think this can be deceiving. I know a guy who competes in that class, on stage in board shorts which are cut off slightly below the knee it really doesn't flatter the legs. He got the same sort of comments on a lot of his photos. But I know first hand that the guy has monster upper legs and if his quads were exposed no one would have opened their mouth.

    It would be worse for someone like me who has genetically small calves. I've brought them up a lot but they are still way out of proportion to my upper legs and you would be forgiven for thinking I had toothpick legs based just on my calves.
  • Game8
    Game8 Posts: 442
    It depends. Most people at my gym don't even hit legs. They look ridiculous walking around like half empty tooth pastes.
  • JasonDetwiler
    JasonDetwiler Posts: 364 Member
    ohh and i wish i could bench what i squat and i wish i could squat what i deadlift.

    Me too, and I wish I could DL my truck.
  • Mighty_Rabite
    Mighty_Rabite Posts: 581 Member
    That's a sad percentage, but probably true!

    Just glad I'm not one of them! At 178lbs currently I don't mind benching what I bench (225 max so far), squatting what I squat (275 @ 8 reps), or deadlifting what I deadlift (1RM 315lbs).

    A lot of people at my gym out-bench me, but a lot of the same ones probably couldn't keep up otherwise.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member

    For me it is dead>squat>bench too. Depressing. At my gym we have 5 benchs with an oly bar that are usually busy and 2 squats racks that are alll free for me. :)

    What's this? The squat racks just sit there all lonely? But everybody on this site swears there's a waiting list a foot long for the squat racks and it's a disservice to the world if anybody (read: me) does 3 sets of curls or OHP there. You must be at the only gym on MFP where people aren't squatting 24/7
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member

    For me it is dead>squat>bench too. Depressing. At my gym we have 5 benchs with an oly bar that are usually busy and 2 squats racks that are alll free for me. :)

    What's this? The squat racks just sit there all lonely? But everybody on this site swears there's a waiting list a foot long for the squat racks and it's a disservice to the world if anybody (read: me) does 3 sets of curls or OHP there. You must be at the only gym on MFP where people aren't squatting 24/7

    oh. you're one of THOSE people. i might have to rethink our MFP friendship


    my squat is WAY heavier than my bench. I'm almost squatting my BW and i'm barely above benching half my my body weight
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Yeah would't surprise me. Form me its dead>squat>bench. But a mate who I bench with does the same weight on the bench and about half on the dead and squat. For him bench = dead > squat.

    I rarely see anyone doing a heavy squat or dead lift, but kids are all over the bench.

    For me it is dead>squat>bench too. Depressing. At my gym we have 5 benchs with an oly bar that are usually busy and 2 squats racks that are alll free for me. :)

    It SHOULD be dead>squat>bench>ohp so I am not sure why you are depressed

    Sorry depressed might not be the right word....more like annoyed since I am stuck at a pathetic 75 pounds bench :)

    It is very difficult for most women to build upper body strength

    This is very true. While we are a little behind guys in leg strength we are way behind in upper body strength.

    I squat 75% of my deadlifts, bench 50% of my deadlifts and OHP 40% of my deadlift.
  • Awkward30
    Awkward30 Posts: 1,927 Member
    granted I'm one of those weirdos who squats A LOT more (relatively) raw than I deadlift, so I understand unusual imbalances that can occur even when folks do the exercises. .

    My deadlift finally caught up to my squats! I'm still newish (almost a year and a half), but I hated being able to squat far more than I deadlift.

    Oh, back to the OP. I say at least 90% of guys. And is bet that less than 10% of women bench press regularly.
  • xcoyote
    xcoyote Posts: 25
    I actually always thought I had a very weak bench.

    I can Dead 190kg for 1, Squat 160kg for 1, and Bench (just recently) 100 for 5 (so, I can only imagine 1 rep max would only be 110 maybe?).

    Interestingly, my missus who has just started squatting again after having our kids, is on 60kg squats for 5-6 reps (On strength days)...which is kinda shameful considering I started off squatting 30kg :-o
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    My squat and bench are close, 5x5x140 on squat, 5x5x110 on bench. I've done squats for longer I think.
  • Barberini
    Barberini Posts: 140 Member
    It depends. Most people at my gym don't even hit legs. They look ridiculous walking around like half empty tooth pastes.

    Hahahahaha
  • Cespuglio
    Cespuglio Posts: 385 Member
    ohh and i wish i could bench what i squat and i wish i could squat what i deadlift.

    I'm the opposite. I squat more than I deadlift :ohwell: Is that bad??
  • Wonderob
    Wonderob Posts: 1,372 Member
    ohh and i wish i could bench what i squat and i wish i could squat what i deadlift.

    I'm the opposite. I squat more than I deadlift :ohwell: Is that bad??

    Me too. I'm well aware that my legs are powerful, my core is average, my chest is below average, and my arms are weedy! Sports injuries have taken their toll unfortunately
  • wildapril
    wildapril Posts: 97 Member
    Most of the women on my track team could squat far more than they could bench. As for me, I could squat 180 but only bench 120, and I weighted 160 at the time.

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