Bench pressing 200 pounds is a fairly impressive achievement for every gym-goer.
In this article, I explain how to bench press 200 pounds, how hard it is to bench 200, and how rare a 200lb bench press is.
How To Bench Press 200 Pounds
Despite it being quite challenging, most people will be able to bench 270 with discipline and the right mindset.
If you want to do so, these 6 tips will certainly help:
- Practise Bench Press Often
- Be Patient
- Take Creatine
- Track Your Progress
- Train With A Partner
- Eat A Lot Of Calories
Let’s explore these in a bit more detail.
Practise Bench Press Often
You’ve heard the saying practise makes perfect, and it’s true – even when it comes to bench press!
It’s a fact that the more you practise an exercise, the better and stronger you get it.
(Assuming you’re following the principles of progressive overload, of course.)
If you want to be able to bench press 200 pounds, then practising the exercise twice a week will help a lot.
Any less than twice a week and your progress will be slower which can demotivate you.
Any more than twice a week increases the chance of injury which will hold you back.
It’s important to give your chest at least 3 full days of recovery before benching again.
Be Patient
One of the reasons why most people can’t bench press 200 pounds is that they realise how hard it is and don’t have the patience to build up to that weight.
Like with most successes in life, patience is crucial.
If you’re willing to accept that it could take over a year for you to reach a 200 lb bench, then this will help prevent you from giving up on your ambitious goal.
Take Creatine
Creatine is one of the most studied bodybuilding supplements on the market.
It works by increasing the amount of available ATP in your muscles, which increases your power and strength.
By supplementing with creatine, you’ll be able to bench more weight than normal.
Track Your Progress
As covered earlier, it’s a fact that you will get stronger at an exercise if you apply the principles of progressive overload.
Progressive overload means that every time you’re hitting the weight room, you’re beating your previous lifts.
This can be done by keeping the weight the same and increasing the reps or keeping the reps the same and increasing the weight.
Without tracking your progress in the gym, it’s almost impossible to remember exactly what weight and how many reps you lifted in your last session.
Train With A Partner
Having a training partner is useful for 2 main reasons.
Firstly, a bit of friendly competition will help spur you on and keep you accountable to your goal.
And secondly, a training partner will be able to spot you when you start benching really heavy.
Without a spotter, it would be foolish to even attempt a 200 bench.
Eat A Lot Of Calories
If you’ve ever watched the world’s strongest man TV show, you’ll realise that none of them are skinny.
The reason being, they eat a ton of calories.
In fact, it’s believed that former world’s strongest man, Eddie Hall, eats 15,000 calories a day!
If you’re wanting to shift a heavy weight, then consuming plenty of calories is crucial to fuel your muscles.
How Long Does It Take To Bench 200?
This depends on multiple factors, including your current strength levels, how often you practise bench press, genetics, and more.
As a rough estimate though, the average male would be able to bench press 200 pounds after 1-2 years of consistently training following progressive overload principles.
How Rare Is A 200 Pound Bench Press?
For males, a 200 pound bench press is quite rare. It’s estimated that 1 in 1,000 males can bench 200 lbs.
For females, it’s rare. It’s believed that 1 in 40,000 females are capable of bench pressing 200 pounds.
The difference between both sexes is due to the fact that males have more upper body strength than females.
Is It Hard To Bench Press 200 Pounds?
It’s fairly hard to bench 200 pounds.
It takes a lot of patience, pain, and consistency to build up the strength levels required to bench such a high amount.
What Percentage Of The Population Can Bench Press 200 Pounds?
Time for a bit of maths!
If we say the total population is 8 billion people, then there are roughly 4 billion males and 4 billion females.
If 1 in 1,000 males can bench 200, then around 4,000,000 males can bench 200.
(4000000000/1000 = 4000000)
If 1 in 40,000 females can bench 200, then around 100,000 females can bench 200.
(4000000000/40000 = 100000)
That means around 4100000 people in the world can bench press 200 pounds.
Which gives a percentage of 0.1%.
[Calculated by (4100000/8000000000)*100]
Conclusion
In summary:
- 200 is a good bench press and most people can’t do it.
- If you train consistently, eat plenty of calories, and have a lot of patience, there’s no reason why you can’t bench press 200.
That’s all for benching 200 pounds, but how rare is a 300lb bench press? Or is 275 pounds a good bench press?
Hope this helped!
Sources
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12701817/
https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/eddie-halls-15000-calorie-day-7282049
I’ve been in the fitness and strength training industry for nearly a decade. In that time, I’ve gained 30 pounds of muscle, written hundreds of articles, and reviewed dozens of fitness supplements. As for my educational background, I’m a currently studying for my Active IQ Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training.