Is it possible to bench 400 lbs

I lifted heavy max efforts for Olympics lifts and squats twice per week. Bench press was a maximal effort once per week on Tuesdays. Speed or dynamic effort for the bench was once per week on Fridays and the Olympics and squats were lifted with dynamic effort twice per week. It was lighter than the max efforts, but by no means easy — at all.

I would also do extra work on the same days I benched press. It was simple — push-ups of all variations. That time under tension was important for me to be able to break through sticking points. Never underestimate the influence of going back to reinforce your foundation of basic bodyweight strength. The training is brutal, but the relentless pursuit it built and translated to how I show up to swim now has made a tremendous difference.

Incorporating sets of director rotator cuff exercises twice a week helped keep my shoulder stable at the bottom of my bench press. For me, my favourite exercises were seated external rotations or standing external rotations with a low elbow. I have seen many reviews saying that swimmers should not do heavy bench press because of inability to maintain shoulder stability or risk of rotator cuff strain. While this may have some merit, you could also mitigate by training your rotator cuff, especially given the cyclical nature of the sport about the shoulder joint — it would be beneficial to have strong rotator cuffs, to begin with.

So, bulletproof your rotator cuffs if you swim regardless of if you are going to attempt a heavy bench press. I firmly believe that doing nothing at all is almost always the worst course of action, especially when you strained the body. Active recovery jump-starts the healing process, so any pain-free movement you perform can put you on the path to being stronger without pain again. In my case, a back strain while unracking a squat meant that for some weeks I had to do submaximal loads across many lifts including the bench that did not elicit further pain.

I also cycled in plenty of pain-free pressing movements — including various push-ups as described above. You have to be able to express your strength in your sport — regardless of how strong you get. Now that gyms and pools have reopened and I no longer have to swim in frigid lakes early in the morning in a drysuit, I have returned to being able to express my strength in the pool — already feeling stronger and more effortless in the pool and more powerful with my starts, turns, breakouts.

Most importantly, my legs have gained significant strength and endurance in the water, which for me as a sprinter has always been a weak point — finishing those last 15 meters with power. The extended off-season that was brought on by COVID globally forced many of us to adapt and find ways to be stronger or find excuses. It has been almost a year since I swam at a competition, but now that I am back in the water more consistently working on my skill, my next goal is qualifying regional swimming competitions towards the end of the year and hopefully representing my home country Barbados again after many years.

Lo and behold, pec pain gone, press achieved. Turns out every exercise has its place. In my case, the combination of overloading the movement and avoiding my painful range of motion was just what I needed. Keep an open mind. A post shared by Tony Bonvechio bonvecstrength. Despite the previous point, when choosing accessory or supplementary exercises to strengthen your squat, bench press or deadlift, choose exercises that take away your leverages whenever possible.

This means choosing an exercise that takes away a specific strength i. Use them sparingly. Active recovery jumpstarts the healing process, so any pain-free movement you perform can put you on the path to being percent again.

While board presses ended up being my saving grace, I also cycled in plenty of pain-free pressing movements to keep inching forward. Push-ups and dumbbell presses proved particularly effective. Oftentimes the biggest payoffs are right around the corner from the biggest setbacks.

I missed a double at on the bench seven weeks prior to hitting I could have easily packed it in and figured I was nowhere near hitting my goal. But I buckled down, fixed some technique flaws, cranked up the volume and proved myself wrong. Every victory or failure comes with valuable lessons to be learned. Skip to content. View this post on Instagram. Like this: Like Loading The heaviest bench press in a single lift is Blaine also squat-lifted kg during the competition.

His bodyweight at the time was Once you are strong enough to bench press , you want to be able to do it for as many reps as possible. To an average gym rat, a bench of pounds is weak. A bench of say is strong.

To a competitive powerlifter, a bench of is not that impressive. The answer is yes. A lbs bench press is a very good number for a true natural bodybuilder. However, the lift has to meet certain criteria to be considered legit.

A lbs bench press is pretty rare.