Interesting bench press data

According to this data, only ~.075% if the world's population can bench press 225 lbs.
Only ~3% of gym goers can actually bench press 225 lbs

So, are you a member of this elite club or no?

I would like to also see the data of body weight average of those who can bench press 225 or more
 
I would like to also see the data of body weight average of those who can bench press 225 or more

It raises some questions, for sure. With some variance of body proportions/leverages, a push up is going to be around 70% of your bodyweight. One would assume, being able to perform some amount of push ups would roughly equate to being able to bench press 70% of your bodyweight. On that scale, a 325 lbs man who can perform some amount of pushups should be, in theory, perhaps capable of bench pressing 225 lbs.

On the (highly debatable) scale of being reasonably strong, its often been argued that a "reasonably strong" male should be able to bench press their bodyweight for "reps", but the average American male is ~200 lbs so, on that scale, 225 lbs bench press would still have them being well above average of what some/many consider to be "strong"

Of course, with these global statistics, we can immediately eliminate the female population across the board as the percent of women who can bench press 225 lbs is insanely small. And then if you consider that the average Asian and African male populations probably weighs somewhere in the 130-140 lbs range, its puts it into perspective.

However, in strength based sports or Western gym culture in general, or even in your average American high school football locker room or your average owner of an autographed copy of Cam Hane's book, there is nothing particularly impressive about the ability to bench press 225 lbs, but it appears to still be far, far more rare than what people who have regular exposure to people bench pressing 225 lbs+ seem to think it is. Myself included.
 
It raises some questions, for sure. With some variance of body proportions/leverages, a push up is going to be around 70% of your bodyweight. One would assume, being able to perform some amount of push ups would roughly equate to being able to bench press 70% of your bodyweight. On that scale, a 325 lbs man who can perform some amount of pushups should be, in theory, perhaps capable of bench pressing 225 lbs.

On the (highly debatable) scale of being reasonably strong, its often been argued that a "reasonably strong" male should be able to bench press their bodyweight for "reps", but the average American male is ~200 lbs so, on that scale, 225 lbs bench press would still have them being well above average of what some/many consider to be "strong"

Of course, with these global statistics, we can immediately eliminate the female population across the board as the percent of women who can bench press 225 lbs is insanely small. And then if you consider that the average Asian and African male populations probably weighs somewhere in the 130-140 lbs range, its puts it into perspective.

However, in strength based sports or Western gym culture in general, or even in your average American high school football locker room or your average owner of an autographed copy of Cam Hane's book, there is nothing particularly impressive about the ability to bench press 225 lbs, but it appears to still be far, far more rare than what people who have regular exposure to people bench pressing 225 lbs+ seem to think it is. Myself included.
I own two of those copies. And yes, I can bench twice as much.
 
It took me a very long time to get past 225 on the bench. I could deadlift 405 for reps of 10 and I was still benching 215 forEVER. I could flat DB press 110's for roughly 6 months before I could BB bench 225.
 
It raises some questions, for sure. With some variance of body proportions/leverages, a push up is going to be around 70% of your bodyweight. One would assume, being able to perform some amount of push ups would roughly equate to being able to bench press 70% of your bodyweight. On that scale, a 325 lbs man who can perform some amount of pushups should be, in theory, perhaps capable of bench pressing 225 lbs.

On the (highly debatable) scale of being reasonably strong, its often been argued that a "reasonably strong" male should be able to bench press their bodyweight for "reps", but the average American male is ~200 lbs so, on that scale, 225 lbs bench press would still have them being well above average of what some/many consider to be "strong"

Of course, with these global statistics, we can immediately eliminate the female population across the board as the percent of women who can bench press 225 lbs is insanely small. And then if you consider that the average Asian and African male populations probably weighs somewhere in the 130-140 lbs range, its puts it into perspective.

However, in strength based sports or Western gym culture in general, or even in your average American high school football locker room or your average owner of an autographed copy of Cam Hane's book, there is nothing particularly impressive about the ability to bench press 225 lbs, but it appears to still be far, far more rare than what people who have regular exposure to people bench pressing 225 lbs+ seem to think it is. Myself included.
I would argue that the ability to dead hang pull-up even once is equally a small number among adults but actually a better overall measure of practical fitness. With that said I work in LE and sadly the vast majority of the profession can’t do 10 clean pushups, much less a pull up.
 
Bench can be an awkward exercise for many. Even guys who regularly work out and bench press don’t have the body type and/or supporting muscles to be well above average at the movement.

Then you have a farm kid who’s first time benching is freshman year football practice and he benches 230 lbs haha. Or the guy who seems to be in decent shape and struggles a bit with just the bar.
 
Bench can be an awkward exercise for many.

I don't know if there is anything "awkward" about it. Certainly, some people have less of a leverage profile for it -being skinny with long arms is less of an advantage than being barrel chested with stocky arms. But, end of the day, its expressing pushing force with the upper body which is a perfectly natural human movement pattern.

Now, certainly, many people don't ever put any thought into the technique of bench pressing and consider setting themselves up for the best leverages, bar path, breathing/bracing etc (as opposed to laying there like a limp noodle and pushing with their chicken-winged shoulders): A good bench presser will usually be actually good at bench pressing with dialed in technique and an sequence for setting up. But even for the person with poor technique, I'm not sure I would describe it as "awkward" -its just pushing/apply force.
 
This reminded me of two guys talking about how much they could bench - those of us on the sideline suggested they have a push-up contest and the looser had to buy everyone lunch, and of course they jumped at it. The odds were awfully good we were going to eat for free that day. lol
 
There a lot of technique involved in a proper bench. I'm 55, compete at 198-lbs and my PR is 385 lbs in competition. I find it very relaxing. The gym bro's are always amazed, but I am far from the strongest bencher at the gym. Old man strength rules...


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Seems over stated, I'm 66 and can bench that all be it hard with a bum shoulder that's nagging I will say at Anytime most people don't even use barbells. This was not much weight even 40yrs ago.
 
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