Bench Press Goal
October 12, 2010 7:45 PM   Subscribe

I'm doing Starting strength and I have just begun. Right now my bench press is at 90lbs. What would be a reasonable goal for my bench press by the end of the year?

If I don't miss a workout but also don't change my diet, what makes sense? I'm 5'8 and weigh 200lbs.
posted by josher71 to Health & Fitness (11 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
How many times are you working out per week?

You can set a goal for yourself of increasing by five pounds or so every week. I don't think there's really a specific goal we can establish for you without knowing more about you. For example, how old are you?
posted by dfriedman at 8:01 PM on October 12, 2010


Best answer: Using just starting strength? 10 weeks left in the year, 3 bench days every 2 weeks. 10 lbs increase ideally over the first two weeks, dropping to 5 lbs increase at best over the remaining 8. If you can manage that (and you'd be a beast to not stall at all as you approach body weight) you'd double your bench with 90 lbs increase.

Conservative would be 2.5 - 5 lbs/workout with 1 stall forcing a reset and losing 2 weeks in the process. That'd see a 30 lbs increase on the low end, 60 on the high end.

60 is within reach if you stick to the program religiously and really rest on your rest days and are a complete novice. 45 is a much more realistic target that will force you to push, imo, though.

I'd caution about fixating on the goal number, though. It's more important to try to increase weight every workout, even if only a pound.
posted by bfranklin at 8:04 PM on October 12, 2010


Response by poster: Three times a week. 36 years old.
posted by josher71 at 8:05 PM on October 12, 2010


Response by poster: Also, yes, complete novice.
posted by josher71 at 8:06 PM on October 12, 2010


Also, what's your diet like now? Makes a humongous difference.
posted by facetious at 8:08 PM on October 12, 2010


Response by poster: I'm really not monitoring diet at all. For example, today I had some waffles, an egg sandwich, and two slices of pizza.
posted by josher71 at 8:14 PM on October 12, 2010


As a longer-term goal, I'd aim for 3RM at 110% bodyweight. By the time you get to there, you should have a good sense of where to aim next/how long it'll take you to progress.
posted by james.nvc at 8:28 PM on October 12, 2010


The reason I ask is because it is very difficult to build strength without getting a lot of good food in you, and without getting good sleep and taking sufficient rest days, as bfranklin pointed out. Lifting weights is physically stressful, and if you don't take really good care of yourself, it is likely to just break you down. An 18-year-old might be able to get away with it, but probably not a 36-year-old. My two cents.
posted by facetious at 8:28 PM on October 12, 2010 [2 favorites]


Increasing 5-10 lbs per workout will be fine for a while but you'll eventually hit a wall if you aren't paying attention to good recovery (rest and diet). Since muscle is built outside of the gym, any positive steps you take will come back to you with increased numbers and better progress. I can tell on my first work set whether I was eating well or not.

The information here is good: How do you recover?

Some people take an all or nothing approach when it comes to dieting. That is, either weigh every single piece of food or don't care at all. But we can make baby steps. For you, if you want to keep those bench numbers going up, get more protein in your diet. Eat steak, pork chops, eggs, and chicken. Instead of 3 waffles, eat 2 waffles and a 3-egg omelet.

The only reason I bothered to mention your diet is that I'm worried you'll hit your wall faster than you should and you might get discouraged and quit.

For me, I'm 15 lbs away from doing a body weight bench for 5x5. I just did 5x5 for 1.5xBW squats yesterday. I've been trying to eat more eggs and meat in preparation for tomorrow and the workouts after that.

Congratulations on starting the strength program.
posted by just.good.enough at 9:08 PM on October 12, 2010


today I had some waffles, an egg sandwich, and two slices of pizza

You're a 200lb man eating like an 8 year old girl. Expect similar results from your training.

Most of the gains you are going to see if you don't change your diet to something more appropriate to mass building will be neurological and from being more efficient mechanically.

Did you read Starting Strength or are you just going by a downloaded template? If you're serious about training I highly recommend you read the book.

Also, at your bodyfat level I recommend a modified version of the Green Faces diet for you instead of the Starting Strength staple Gallon of Milk a Day.
1) If it's a green vegetable, you can eat it.
2) If it had a face, or would've grown up to have a face, you can eat it.
3) If it's not green and didn't have a face, don't eat it.
4) After lifting consume 30g-100g of carbs (the modification) and supplement with protein powder 3 times a day.

It will help you lean out while still allowing for you to put on a lot of mass in your newbie phase.

At your current weight you're going to want to eat 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day and get your metabolism working again.

Seriously look at what you're eating.
I'll be optimistic with what you said you ate today so you can see a comparison.
4 Waffles : 110 calories each + 100 calories in syrup = 540 calories
Egg Sandwich : probably around 400 calories depending what was in it
Pizza : probably around 250 calories a slice

If I was too high on my estimates you ate around 1150 calories. If I was about correct you ate around 1450. Also, you probably got in about 35g-45g of protein ALL DAY. It's the typically high carb American diet that leads to a lot of body fat storage and you won't gain muscle.
If you eat like you are right now I expect you to quit about a month in because you won't be able to recover and you'll feel tired all the time.

To answer your question though, if 90lbs is really your true 5 rep max and you don't change your diet then you will probably hit 125-145lbs and stall.
posted by zephyr_words at 9:15 PM on October 12, 2010 [7 favorites]


60 pounds by the end of the year is pretty optimistic in my opinion. In six months time I was able to go from 85 pounds to 180 pounds max. But the max being me doing it.. one time.. once.

I was comfortable doing 3 sets of ten at 135 and kind of stalling beyond that at 155 and 165.
posted by lakerk at 9:38 PM on October 12, 2010


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