Virus and dealt with post up some videos of YOU lifting and punching

You may as well have told us your shoe size, that would have been more relevant.

 

Benching 80 kg for reps at 65 kg without prior training is very, very good. I certainly wouldn't expect many people to be able to get similar results especially in their teens.

If I remember correctly, the first time I did the bench press I was between 65-70 kg and I was struggling with 50 kg for 4-5-6 reps. My upper body pushing strength has always been much worse than other movements though.

In my experience, most people are have similar results to me i.e. they can manage to lift between 70 - 90 % of their body weight for 5-10 reps. Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule.

 

Hitting 80kg for reps at 65kg bodyweight is way past intermediate level I'd say, excellent for somebody with little/no weight training. Most people new to the gym can't bench anywhere near bodyweight when they first start and don't get anywhere near it very fast; although I believe the latter is due to being on a bro-split where more of their routine is made up of accessary movements like flyes.

 

I understand that 80kg at 65kg would be good for somebody with no training but as I mentioned I did push ups regularly so really I was trained and there was obviously a lot of transfer over to the bench press. I have relatively short arms for my size so that may be a factor as well.
Still if somebody does push ups with ease and can't then at least bench their bodyweight I think that'd be very strange. For somebody who has never worked out at all (or an overweight person) before then I guess it would be different, I just find it difficult to picture a male being unable to bench their bodyweight.

 

Yeah look at those athletes - long distance runner, triathletes, high jumpers... none of them have much of a need for any sort of upper body strength really.
Swimmers are typically large (so have a poor strength to weight ratio) and have long arms so aren't built for strength. I can believe that those athletes struggled. I don't know much about taekwondo but I'd hazard a guess to say that little upper body strength is required for that as well.

 

I know. But I was just making the point that those were world class athletes, gold medalists with, let's be honest, superior athletic genetics than your average person. If anyone would be able to bench their bodyweight with no prior experience, it should be them, logically. They'd all die.

 

It's very rare to see somebody bench near their bodyweight first time. I've never seen somebody benching + their bodyweight first time. I think this comes down to the culture we live in as Primate pointed out earlier.

The vast majority of people do very little physical activity, when they do it's either walking or running. Bodyweight exercises are a no go to most people because they may end up sweating or aching or something.

It also has to do with mind set and environment. If you stick a guy in a nice clean, quiet fitness centre with his buddy, he probably won't lift a decent amount for bench press even if he tries. Stick that same guy in a powerlifting gym with guys pushing him to lift as much weight as possible and other guys around him throwing around weights he'll never be able to move let alone lift, I can guarantee he will lift more weight in the second setup.

The problem is everywhere these days is turning into pansy land. No chalk, no deadlifts, no grunting, no dropping weights, no going bare foot, it's all bull****. It's about making everybody comfortable with how incredibly weak they are instead of what a gym should be, an environment where you go to get as strong and as fast possible and build some muscle while burning fat.

 

already said you got to give respect if u want it back.

 

Superior in a specific way, not necessarily strength.

Not really. As I said above it's specific. You're pretty much saying all of them should be able to run a marathon because a long distance runner can.

At some point your body will choose either endurance or strength. You'll get some freaks that can do both, but the vast majority will excel at one or the other.

 

OK, I dunno, I'm like a caveman m8. I just lift stuff and eat meat.

 

The whole 'athlete genetics' thing is overblown if you look at it, it doesn't make much of a difference and if you're more endurance inclined you're generally weaker strength wise. Your body is very adaptable and genetic expression is influenced by what you do, if you spend years running long distances you're not going to be able to do much strength-wise.

 

Very true, well said. I guess the only complete beginners I've been associated with have been females so I just assumed other males would be similar to me in that they'd done at least a few pushups before they first hit the gym.

 

This.

 

Perfect example - the "Lunk Alarm" at Planet Fitness aka "The judgement free zone".

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXP6WaVTJpM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXP6WaVTJpM[/ame]


I am actually appalled by this.

 

Ah yes, because a massive ****ing alarm isn't more distracting than a bit of a grunt. What a load of ****. Somebody I know who lives down south trains at a gym where curling in the squat rack can cost you your membership...