There is a bench competition at a fitness world down the block from me or fitness something or other. Any ways. I heard there was a cash prise so I might do it. My max right now is 285 but after this tuesday it should be 300. It does go by weight class I am 195-205 pounds depending what I have on or what I ate. Does anyone here think I have a chance of wining or even comeing close?
The most someone at the school I go to benches 335 and weighs 216 pounds.

It is in a month so I could lose some weight. Maybe 10 pounds or so.

Depends how big of a town you lift in.  The high bencher at my highschool which was only a 4A shool did 405 for reps during heavy days at 210lbs... he was a sophomore at the time.  We had a state champion at another school I attended who did 325 at 155 lbs... also high school.  You will only be competative if you are in a small town.  Dont go to win though... go for the experience.  Have you used a bench suit before? Have you made weight before?  If the answer is no you will learn a lot and the other competitors will help you out with advice if you ask nicely.

Quoted:
We had a state champion at another school I attended who did 325 at 155 lbs... quote]



Damn!!!!!


My friend weights 195 and benchs 365 lbs(3-6 times...).

Thats insane. Anything over 350 for anyone who weighs under 200 pounds must be something to look at. They must have a huge chest and no legs.

I've never made weight or even done one but my brother use to do the junior oly weight lifting and he was 13th in the country.

That is not super impressive for someone of your weight. Much better than the average man though.

Quoted: Quoted: We had a state champion at another school I attended who did 325 at 155 lbs... quote] Damn!!!!! My friend weights 195 and benchs 365 lbs(3-6 times...).

Thus, why he was the 5A State powerlifting champion...

Quoted: Thats insane. Anything over 350 for anyone who weighs under 200 pounds must be something to look at. They must have a huge chest and no legs.

You'd be surprised by the variety in appearance of competitive power lifters.  Some look like bodybuilders, some look like huge, strong guys, and some don't even look like they exercise much less train with weights.

When I was competing in Northern California in the late 1980s, there was a guy who dominated the drug free bench press meets in the 165 lb class.  I know he was doing 210+ kg then (that's over 462 lbs).  He was just sort of a dumpy looking guy, maybe 5'7" tall at the most.  Not fat, but you'd never guess he was a lifter.  I've seen his name in recent results and he lifts in the 181 lb class now, and goes over 227.5 kg in the drug tested meets.

In my class (over 275 lb), there was a guy who always beat me who always opened with 200 kg (over 440) and he also looked like he never lifted (but then so did/do I).  There was another fellow who always opened with 225.5 kg who looked kind of like a big farmer type.  Those aren't impressive numbers by today's standards, but for legitimately drug free people using the stricter bench press rules back then, they were the best in Northern California in the late 1980s.

Things are a lot different now.  The shirts back then might have helped 25-30 lbs at the most, but the shirts today give some people 100 lbs or more over what they can do bare chested.  The rules on form are different too.  Since some organizations allow foot movement and being on the balls of your feet, some of the big guys can arch like the little guys could always do in the past.  That allows them to use their lats and especially rear delts (like in a decline press) which gives them a tremendous advantage over someone who has their back flat on the bench and both feet flat and stationary on the floor.  Plus, people are probably a little stronger (on a basic level), as is the nature of things, and of course the drugs (or at least how to use them) have "improved."