What an average 23 yr old can do

[stretchMk]

Greetings:
I met a guy last week and he told me about some of the meets that people go to for competition. he told me that for someone who is about 150 lbs and 23 yr old is considered in the junior league. he also told me that an average "junior" competitor can bench about 300 lbs. is that true? I can now only bench about 225 - 235... (well, i am not considering going into a meet, but just looking for some motivation for my bench press)
how much can you guys bench?
is a 150 lb benching 225 consider "average" or "weak"?

Thanks

StrecthMark

[Lift2Live]

Naw, 225 isn't anything to scoff at. I am only at 240-245 for 6 reps and i'm a big guy. The weight isn't important, it's an ego thing (not to be judgemental, i fall into it alot). You can build an awesome chest and only bench 250 or you can bench 300 and look like Olive Oil, which would you rather have? It's all about the quality!

[Cort]

A powerlifting meet?

It is kind of discouraging but you will probably run into people at 150-160 benching over 300 lbs, we had more than one powerlifter like that in my High School. That doesn't mean you shouldn't compete if you want to, the experience will only do you good.

and Lift, the 150 guys I've seen benching 300+ were just relatively short, not skinny. To tell the truth they looked like they could do well in an amateur body building competition. You just don't bench 300+, squat 450+ and deadlift over 500 at that bodyweight without most of that weight being pure muscle.

To answer your question though, I'd rather have the strength, but that's me.

[Lift2Live]

That's fair enough Cort. I passed over the part of it being a meet and assumed it to be bodybuilding in nature. 225 at a PL meet will probably place you pretty low.

[rbuchman]

IMHO there are really three lines in the sand.
Benching your own wieght; you've made commitment to fitness
Benching 1.5x your wieght; people will start to be impressed
Benching 2 your own wiehgt; people will stop and stare when you do a set of bench

Maybe I'm biased (at 200 lbs) but these numbers are more impressive at higher wieghts. I.e a 250lb guy benching 500 is more notable than a 150lb guy benching 300.

[threenorns]

UNLESS, of course, if you're overfat or if you're female, in which case totally different guidelines apply, lol.