#175 lbs. First time I ever touched a regular straight Olympic Bar. I was 15 at the time. Funny thing is, I don't work out with much more than that now-17 years later. Not that I havn't made any progress, just that I don't lift heavy on Bench anymore, due to Shoulder & Elbow injuries. I've hit #375 for 3 reps. My personal best ever.
im still working on musclemind bullshit blah blah, but ive been a member of my gym for about 2 weeks, and lifting for less than a month so i guess what i do now is it...
the most ive ever done is 165x5 when i was really psyched up, close to the beginning, but now this is what my last bench (thursday) looked like:
a bit too late to start deadlifting. since i have started, i don't bench much more, as i've fallen out of love with the bench and madly in love with the deads
My natural chest strength sucks. I was 12 years old at about 95-100 lbs.. I think I would do like 75 for 6-8 reps for a w orkout. So maybe I could get 90-95 lbs for 1.
95lbs for sets of 10... thats when I was 17 and about 135lbs... now im 20 about 160lbs and am on the 5x5 doin reps with 165. Maxed last week with 205x3
damn that was a long time ago for me..think it was 225 age 16 i know less than a year later it was 315 cuz i got my name on the wall in school..i played hockey and was always solid think i weighed 180-190 then..my school had an awesome gym..loads of d-bells bars squat racks leg press..you name it..
between 14-16 i probably worked with no more than 105lbs, i think i might have done 120lbs a few times in our basement. i know when i was either a junior or senior in high school i put up 135 and 145 in the school gym. at the time i was probably 130lbs and i've remained my "short" 5'6".
i'm 26 now. 7 months ago i started up in the gym for the first time seriously. i could barely put up 165lbs once. 3 months later i managed to put 200lbs up 3 times. last week my Close grip 5x5 was 165lbs and my flat bench 5x5 was 185lbs. i'm getting anxious to test out new maxxes, but i think i'm going to wait until the semester is over, so about 7 more weeks.
I was 14 prob 150lbs 6'1''.. my bro showed me the high school gym... he put on 95 ,i did an easy 10, then he put on 115 and i did 10 again... so i did a few sets of that... I tryed 135 , and i barely did it once.... oh man i was soo weak and skinny back then.
At 14 years old I needed a spot with the 45lb bar at 105-115lbs. This is why I think most, if not all of the "hardgainer" claims are complete bullshit. Sure its hard, but train hard and give it your all, eat like a motherfucker and you will see gains. My genetics werent anything great. I have good muscle shape and thats it. I grow very slow and my beginning strength was shit. It didnt take me long to rack all the machines though. It takes extreme drive and persistance which is something most lifters lack. But it can be done
Last time I used to not bench, for fear of getting big breast look. I only did pullups but never bench. And the first time I started was when my friends asked me to try it, 88lb for a shaky 4 reps.
I think I did 55 or 65 pounds for about 8-10 reps when I first benched for 8th grade football. I was about 5'5'' 125lbs of pure hate. I didn't start lifting seriously until last year.