How to bench press 300 pounds or 140kg
This is an overview on how to move from 100kg to 140kg on the bench press. If you can not bench 100kg yet refer to the articles I have already written about that and which are linked in the text. Let me know in the comments if you found any other techniques to help you to get to the magic 300.
Big bad bench
Three plates touching each other slightly on each side of the barbell. The noise of metal to metal with each repetition you do. That is what a 300-pound bench press means in real terms. The knowledge that you are one of the stronger ones and being remembered of you on started lifting.
Once you have achieved the 100kg bench press 140kg is the next stage and, if you are not a semi-professional rugby player, NFL player or powerlifter you will probably be one of the few, if not the only person in your closer circle who benches this number. You will notice a different reaction of people to the question “How much do you bench?”, if you care for that sort of thing.
While the 225 pounds / 100kg bench press are very achievable for a mid-sized male, the 300-pound version of the lift is another level up. The 100kg bench press will be between as much as twice of bodyweight to as low as less than bodyweight for most men. Physics, therefore, dictate that it is easier to achieve.
If you go up to 300pounds you work with a range of almost three times bodyweight if you are very light to at least more than bodyweight if you are a heavy man. There is a lot of pressing you need to do.
Before the big bench, there is the little bench
So how to achieve such a number? What are the best techniques? Which programs are the worst? I hope my experiences help you as they are written from my perspective where I achieved this goal as a hobby.
I do not take steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. I make my living as a salesman in the corporate machine, my parents were no athletes and I have a family to provide for when I come home including walking dogs, paying bills and all of that jazz. The first two things you need to bench press 300 pounds are the following:
I have linked two articles which describe the techniques and the program to get to a 100kg bench press. If you do not have one yet, stop reading here, open my other two articles, read them and get working. Once you are done, come back to this post to move forward from 100kg to 140kg. I predict that most of you won’t come back as they won’t make it to the 100kg mark or lack the will/commitment to push beyond that.
The road to three plates
Once you have reached the two plate mark it is also very likely that beginner programs like Stronglifts 5x5 and Starting Strength which work with progressive overload will become less and less helpful to bring you to your goal. This has two main reasons.
Firstly your body gets used to the template and therefore is under less stress by the exercises you do if they always stay the same. Secondly, you have grown to be so strong, that it cannot recover from the stress that you put it under within a day. Based on this you need different programming. By all means, though, as long as a simple program does make you stronger consistently, keep doing it. There is no need to change. The program which I used after Stronglifts was Wendler 531.
I did Stronglifts for 10 months and moved my 1RM on the bench to 120kg. After that, I used Wendler 531 for 8 months and moved the needle from 120kg to 140kg. The key was to stick with the programs and not to mess around too much. I only stopped using the programs because I got injured. For Stronglifts it was a tennis elbow and for Wendler 531 some lower back problems which did not let me deadlift more than 140kg for half a year. (In which I did Smolov Jr to move my bench press max to 150kg and Smolov to move my Squat to 170kg).
In terms of diet, I did not to anything special. I tried some protein shakes here and there, I like meat and sugar and had way too much McDonald’s. If you want to find the magic diet that makes you stronger I am the wrong guy to ask.
Conclusion
So the road to 300 is pretty simple and explained in more detail if you follow the links in this article:
- Learn the powerlifting bench press setup
- Do a beginners strength program
- Do an intermediate strength program
- Have about 12 – 24 months of dedication ready at hand
Further reading
- 6 common mistakes when you bench press for strength
- An easy guide to bench press like a powerlifter for any age
- Bench press or floor press
- Bench Press or Military Press
- Eliminate these mistakes with the bench press
- How accurate are bench press calculators
- How to bench press for Stronglifts
- How to bench press more weight quick
- How to do the bench press properly
- How to increase your bench press
- The reasons why you need to bench press
- What are bench press boards
- What does the bench press target
- When you should bench press with dumbbells
- Which bench press is best for chest
- Who can bench press 1000 pounds
- Why bench press with bands
- Why bench press with chains
- Why is the bench press so popular
- Why use a bench press shirt
