Poor upper body strength

[victorreed]

I have a terrible natural imbalance in strength between my upper and lower body.

i weight 165lbs. Can leg press 500+lbs but i can only bench 80lbs.

An 80lb benchpress is pathetic, it's under half my body weight. Do i best improve this through alot of bench training and should i do low reps of max weight or lots of reps at a lighter weight and how long before my upper body strength gets respectable.
Any feedback would be great.

 

[silver_shadow]

question: is that leg press all the way down or only a few inches....

 

[bignate73]

my recommendation is get good at full pushups first get up to doing 3-4 sets of 25 or so, then move to dips. likewise with pulldowns and then pullups(the numbers will be a little different here). build your pushing and pulling strength basically.

its not so disproportional with the leg press. the leg press gives a false sense of strength. I know alot of people that can move some weight on the leg press, that you wouldnt think can do it. the angles give it false weight. if you've had physics, calculate what weight 500lbs would be being pressed on an angle less than 90 deg. its interesting....

 

[super_rice]

leg press means squat.

ahaha man i'm in the funny zone today... squat... haha

but seriously, you won't have any problem with overall body strength if you could full squat half of what you leg press

 

[deeder]

but seriously, you won't have any problem with overall body strength if you could full squat half of what you leg press

Agreed

 

[fortunatesun]

I don't think bench press is an indication of overall upper body strength, though of course it's the most popular. You might want to try a few power cleans or deadlifts to develop the entire top half.
Even with benches, you're not just using your pecs. The other groups that play key roles are triceps, shoulders, and lats. The chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.

 

[bignate73]

power cleans are definitely not an upper body exercise, nor are deadlifts, unless you are talking shrug power and grip strength.

 

[fortunatesun]

I'm thinking general back development. These are basic compound lifts that strengthen the entire upper body. He's concentrating on just his chest, which is only just part of the equation.

 

[bignate73]

i agree and his overall stability to handle heavier loads would be better as well.

 

[victorreed]

Thanks guys i'll give it some thought. Specifically the leg press is 45 degrees, going down alittle past 90 degree leg angle (when the upper part of my quads are touching my stomach).
fortunatesun mentioned that chest is only part of the equation which is obviously true but i curl 55lbs dumbells and do lat pulldowns at 180lbs it just seems my chest area is exceptionally weaker than any other part of my body...maybe its my core body strength cause my abs arn't great either....