If someone can bench press 225lb once they are in the upper 1% of Human Strength and Power in the world. A lot of that upper 1% has used Performance Enhancing Drugs to get to that mark. I have never taken Performance Enhancing Drugs and as light volume work I cranked out 10 reps tonight with no spotter and could have likely dug in and got that 11th rep. My PR is 13 and if I focused on getting that number up I could likely achieve 15 if it was my full focus.
Right now I'm weighing in right at 225lb so this is essentially doing my body weight 10X for reference. You have to go through this bulking process to then go through a cut to have the volume and strength in your muscles. Dropping to 205lb I look pretty insanely jacked and my abs and obliques chisel in a lot more. For a couple weeks in that 205lb window I would still be able to get 10X on 225lb on Bench but then after a couple of weeks it would no longer be able to get that kind of volume. Suddenly it will drop to 8 reps or so.
That is just the reality of things when you are natural. You can't walk around shredded year around and keep all your power. I'm way more athletic at 205lb. I start to really fly on the basketball court.
With Flat Bench if I can get 275lb X 3 that would be really solid volume. I have been very close to getting that last spring.
This is the song I put to the back of my Story on Instagram.
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So, a really overweight guy, doing one pushup, is top G? 😝
But, really, every pound of muscle you put on, is another pound of muscle you have to drag around.
And so, when you are lighter, your muscles can really propel you towards the net.
But, but, we have to talk about slow burn muscles and fast twitch muscles.
I really do not know a good metric. What size makes a man irresitable to women? It is probably the size that makes him the most V tapered. Is that the best size to be?
Strongest man competitions are dominated by what look like short stubby guys. Like, square blocks of muscle. And women do not usually find that attractive. But reassuring in a relationship.
And congratulations getting to that bench level.
I have studied the situation quite a bit and a lot of lifting and various sports actually become too niche.
It seems like between 6'2 and 6'4 with a good V Taper, showing abs, built chest, sharp jawline is the best for women.
Cristiano Ronaldo is 6'2. Henry Cavill is 6'1. Tom Brady is 6'4
It has a lot to do with someone's facial structure as well but they have to be lean enough to show a sharp jaw.
World's strongest man guys are in that Freak Fringe of strength. They have to have so much mass and are on drugs to move that much weight it isn't a good look. Same thing with bodybuilders that are mass monsters.
If I had to pick just for looks I would be 6'3 or 6'4 with a very similar type build when I'm lean which would put me in a lean good look at 225lb instead of having to cut to 205lb to have that look.
So I would take my weight clear up to 245lb and then cut down to 225lb and be stronger but end up with the same equivalently jacked build when I cut but just be bigger and stronger.
I remember back in high school that was always a psychological thing for me. I just couldn't get past the two 45 pound weights on each side. There was one day they put other weights on a little at a time and I was finally able to do it without realizing it. I didn't believe them at first, then I got up and counted everything and I was like dang! It was only once, but still pretty cool. I'd like to see if I can still do it today. I'm kind of chicken though.
If you are going to work back up to it I would say start slow and getting your back and shoulders strong contributes to your bench but you wouldn't want to suddenly be challenged to do it and then just jump in there and try to do it because you can tear your shoulder or your peck.
Even if I hadn't benched in 2 months I wouldn't even try doing 225lb. I would maybe go up to 135lb but if I hadn't done it in years I would even start out with even lighter and build up.
This is one of the reasons it is frightening to try to do 1 rep maxes. You an get in this max tension and just tear a tendon right off your bone. It's terrible.
I have one of those total gyms at home, I've been using it a little bit about three times a week for a couple of years now. It's made a huge difference in my upper body, but I don't really know how much which is why I'd like to try some free weights again sometime.
Another point I wanted to make with it is you might be strong enough to rep 225lb+ out 5 or more times or more than 10 or whatever. The thing is getting your connection points acclimated to that range and testing them safely instead of tearing something.
"practice safe sets"
I worry about catastrophic injuries all the time and the risk vs reward of all this. Hahhahah.
There's a good chance I will never do it. I don't have anyone to spot me and there is no way I would try anything alone. I'll just stick to using the total gym and doing the occasional push up.
That would get you well on your way and so can pushups. I'm not crazy on pushups. I would maybe be able to do 50 in a row and not have my form break down completely but if I'm just doing pushups to sort of do something if I'm not able to get in the gym I will do 2 sets of 30 and I feel like if I could do that and wasn't in a gym for a long time I would be able to warm up and get up to 225lb without getting hurt.
You might already be close to getting it and repping it but I would say if you try it in a gym the safest way would be to go in there once and just go up to 135lb and see if you can get up to 5 reps the first time in and don't try to bench for the next 4 days and see if you feel a ton of soreness in your pecks and let them sort of recover. Then the next time trying to go up to 185lb and see if you can get it for 2 reps or so and do the same thing. Take some time and see where you are at. Keep doing a similar thing and working your way back up and past 225lb.
The reason why I say all this is because the most dangerous situation is someone feeling really strong and really good and moving on up and then suddenly tearing their peck. I had a friend who is 6'7" and got all the way up to 295lb body weight and played football for SMU. He could rep 315lb and I think got up to around 435lb for a one rep bench max. He hadn't benched heavy for a couple years and he got back on the bench and felt strong and though it wasn't a big deal to load up 315lb and tore his peck. So even if you feel good your connection points might not be ready for it.
Trust me I worry about it all the time. If something gets overloaded it can tear.