Very true.
The "five plates" benchpressing in FLEX mag has totally fcuked up everyone idea of a good bench.
If someone can benchpress 4 plates while weighing under 200 lbs, then that would make you very competitive in almost any benchpress competition.
The best natural benchpresser in the world @198 lbs presses cerca 525 lbs raw.
His name is Dennis Cieri, and he's an absolute freak. One of the best raw benchpressers regardless weightclass IMO.
So if your benchpress is only 125-150 lbs behind his, then you are of course elite.
I agree with you on this...the magazines would have us think that we can and should be supermen, able to lift hundreds of pounds if we only put in a lot of effort in the gym...this leads to people having very unrealistic goals concerning their personal lifts...I am trying to get to 315 but find I am having great difficulty getting past 275 on bench...I am going to need another year to achieve this goal...and I still may not be able to do it.....depending on your height, weight, stress levels, diet, motivation, etc, we as individuals only have so much finite strength and we cannot keep making gains in strength forever...pretty soon we will reach the strength ceiling for our bodies and will be unable to go further unless we get a little "help" if you know what I mean. everyone on here should stop worrying and just do their thing...worry about your own body and strength and don't worry about what others are doing
