Benching your own weight once
 

I am a newbie to weight training, and I am under the impression that this feat is incredibly hard to do.

I would like some discussion with the serious weight training people on this board.

I have heard that if you can bench your own body weight for one full rep, using free weights, that you are stronger than 99% of the people in the world. Is this true?

I was also told that it would probably take me about 1 year of solid weight training(ie in the gym 3 times a week for an hour without fail) to be able to bench my own weight. I honestly think that it will take longer.

For what it's worth, my stats are 6'4.5" 210 13% body fat.

Re: Benching your own weight once
 

I can do it a few times. I'm 6'3" 215. I don't see that its such a big deal, I lift with guys that are 150-170 and they can easily bench their weight.

Re: Benching your own weight once
 

Shouldn't take you anywhere near a year of training. Definitely not that hard.

Re: Benching your own weight once
 

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Shouldn't take you anywhere near a year of training. Definitely not that hard.

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Re: Benching your own weight once
 

Working up to bench your weight should not be too tough. It should not take you a year to bench 215. It will work against you that you are tall and have long arms.

When you first start lifting you wont be able to bench very much but when you get used to benching you will make huge leaps that wont be growing muscle just getting used to benching. If did a bench workout once a week you should be able to do it pretty soon. But you should lift more than just chest if you start.

Re: Benching your own weight once
 

Took me a while to achieve that when I was starting out... I was pretty weak.

Got up to 114% of my body weight, then broke my collarbone and pretty much gave up weightlifting.

I could still do at least one rep at my own weight, though.

Re: Benching your own weight once
 

meh, i can do it and i dont even weight train. i'm only 5'11" 160 though.

Re: Benching your own weight once
 

I wouldn't say it's incredibly difficult, but I think it's one of those things that signifies how in shape you are. Someone once sent me a list of 10 things that meant you were in great shape, but the only other one I can remember is dunking a basketball.

Re: Benching your own weight once
 

Can you do a c0ck push-up?

Re: Benching your own weight once
 

[ QUOTE ]
I am a newbie to weight training, and I am under the impression that this feat is incredibly hard to do.

I would like some discussion with the serious weight training people on this board.

I have heard that if you can bench your own body weight for one full rep, using free weights, that you are stronger than 99% of the people in the world. Is this true?

I was also told that it would probably take me about 1 year of solid weight training(ie in the gym 3 times a week for an hour without fail) to be able to bench my own weight. I honestly think that it will take longer.

For what it's worth, my stats are 6'4.5" 210 13% body fat.

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How did you measure those stats? If accurate, you are in great shape and should have no issues with a body weight bench within a year. Start slowly and don't worry too much about deadlines. However if it's a prop bet, make it for as much as possible.

As others have said, it's fairly trivial but sadly the 99% figure while high, is probably closer than it should be.

The truly elite feat is a 2X bodyweight bench but that is usually only seen from competitive lifters and may be what you are thinking of.