When people find out you’ve been lifting a while the go to question is always the same. ”How much do you bench?” That is without question the dumbest thing they can possibly ask. Nothing says, “I don’t have a clue about weight lifting” like asking that.
Who cares how much I bench? Why is that lift so damn popular? There are a thousand lifts you can do in a gym. I can think of a bunch of them that are more indicative of someone’s level of strength. We could pick the squat, deadlift, clean and jerk, snatch, etc.
Doesn’t matter though. People seem to think that your bench number equates to how strong you are. That’s probably the reason that I’ve seen every single guy at my gym doing it.
I’m occasionally asked to spot on the bench press. I don’t mind. I’m all about helping a guy out. The crazy thing is that every time I do this the guy has 225 on the bar. EVERY TIME! It’s like that’s the magic number. Once you can bench 225 you are officially cool.
You’d think that as much time as these guys spend doing that that they’d be able to hit 300 or 400lbs. Guess not. Just do your 225 for 2 reps and come back every other day to make sure you stay there. If anybody ever asks them how much they bench they can tell them with a clear conscience.
I never see those guys doing squats. My wife and I take up two of our gym’s three squat racks every time we go. We just camp out there because nobody ever uses them. We’d have to share the smith machine occasionally but I think I already mentioned my utter disgust with that thing so no problems there.
Does anyone ever have a leg day? I’ve been keeping track and I’ve counted three times that I’ve seen someone in the cage. As for lunges, I saw one girl doing them. She was the only one. I’ve seen two people doing step ups so far - the lunge girl and some old guy. Never seen any deadlifitng. Never seen any olympic type movements.
OK, so I’ve spent all this time ranting about “how much do you bench” guy. What if someone ever asks me how much I squat?
They will be my new best friend.
When people find out you’ve been lifting a while the go to question is always the same. ”How much do you bench?” That is without question the dumbest thing they can possibly ask. Nothing says, “I don’t have a clue about weight lifting” like asking that.
Who cares how much I bench? Why is that lift so damn popular? There are a thousand lifts you can do in a gym. I can think of a bunch of them that are more indicative of someone’s level of strength. We could pick the squat, deadlift, clean and jerk, snatch, etc.
Doesn’t matter though. People seem to think that your bench number equates to how strong you are. That’s probably the reason that I’ve seen every single guy at my gym doing it.
I’m occasionally asked to spot on the bench press. I don’t mind. I’m all about helping a guy out. The crazy thing is that every time I do this the guy has 225 on the bar. EVERY TIME! It’s like that’s the magic number. Once you can bench 225 you are officially cool.
You’d think that as much time as these guys spend doing that that they’d be able to hit 300 or 400lbs. Guess not. Just do your 225 for 2 reps and come back every other day to make sure you stay there. If anybody ever asks them how much they bench they can tell them with a clear conscience.
I never see those guys doing squats. My wife and I take up two of our gym’s three squat racks every time we go. We just camp out there because nobody ever uses them. We’d have to share the smith machine occasionally but I think I already mentioned my utter disgust with that thing so no problems there.
Does anyone ever have a leg day? I’ve been keeping track and I’ve counted three times that I’ve seen someone in the cage. As for lunges, I saw one girl doing them. She was the only one. I’ve seen two people doing step ups so far - the lunge girl and some old guy. Never seen any deadlifitng. Never seen any olympic type movements.
OK, so I’ve spent all this time ranting about “how much do you bench” guy. What if someone ever asks me how much I squat?
They will be my new best friend.