Hungry talking here. We receive a lot of questions through our various platforms. While we’re most responsive to email and text/phone calls (as long as it isn’t blatant spam), we try to give as many personal responses to comments on the blog as well. Sometimes, Facebook Messenger, YouTube comments, Instagram direct messages, and Twitter whatever-they-haves (plus all of the other platforms… LinkedIn, etc.) are lost, and we apologize if you’ve never received a response.
Often, these questions are repetitive. That is, if you weren’t aware, one of the reasons that we created the blog. As we moved across the country, and left clients behind in the process, we decided to use the blog as a way to communicate with our former clients. When the blog picked up, and we started seeing tens of thousands of views in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, we decided to use the blog to provide free advice.
Circling back to the nature of the questions we receive, yes, many of them are in response to our posts… especially recipes and workouts. People want to know if they can substitute this for that and that for this. We also receive a lot of questions about products that they’re interested in buying. Then, there are the more personal questions. How tall are you, what do you weigh and what is your body fat percentage? Since my height never fluctuates and my weight doesn’t move a whole lot, so I’ve considered listing them in my bios on social media. Then, you get the questions about lifts.
Recently, I received this DM through Facebook. “hey papi, how much do u bench? 1 rep max and 10 times? cheers!” Other than just giving you this general reminder about one of the purposes of the blog, how to contact us if you want a response, etc, we might as well answer this question for the heck of it! (I did, by chance, send an immediate response to this individual and never heard back from them, for the record. The numbers I provided were different from the numbers here, because they change!)
As much as my height, weight, and body fat rarely change, my lifts change significantly. Now that I think of it, my lifts aren’t the only numbers that change a lot. My times and other measurements of performance are all over the place depending on a number of factors, mainly, if I’m training for a competition and what injuries are bothering me.
For the past few months, I’ve been having more problems with my wrists, elbows and shoulders than I have since I tore my left labrum for the second time. As a result of this, and the fact that I haven’t competed in any lifting competitions in a long time, I rarely bench over 245 lbs. My go-to “heavy” bench sets are 185 for a 5×5 on the incline with a standard barbell, and 225 for a triple with the parallel grip on a swiss bar. I don’t really touch the decline anymore because of my shoulder issues.
While my all-time biggest bench isn’t very impressive, (most likely due to my first torn labrum back in ~2003), I’ve never attempted anything over 315 lbs since the second torn labrum in 2011. (I attempted weights over 315 but under 405 on a decline bench, but that doesn’t count for a bench press.) Since the tear in my right rotator cuff in 2014, I haven’t attempted anything over 285. After seeing the MRI/other test results and speaking to my orthopedists, I decided to forego surgery, as I always have. I’ll live with that decision and continue to build a shoulder girdle that can try to compensate for the injuries.
Since I’m not competitive in any sports anymore, I have no problem changing my personal approach to training. As a result, I lift less in every exercise, but I’m more mindful of the movements in order to prevent further injury and concentrate on specific muscles. It’s been extremely useful as a trainer and coach, since I can relate to clients that are going through something similar. It has expanded my knowledge and has been eye-opening, by somewhat forcing me to learn new techniques. If you’re interested in in-person or online training, email hungryandfit@gmail.com.
Well, I suppose that is enough about me for now! So, how much do I bench? Not that much, but I’m extremely grateful that I’m able to get under the bar once a week and push some weight! Let us know if you bench and how much you do in the comment section below, and thanks papi, for your question! Stay hungry and fit!
I may sit on benches …torch passed