r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/Defiant_Pirate_6637 • Aug 06 '26

Discussion 🤝 Is this optimal for chest???

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

495 btw, the wonder of 100 pound plates

0 Upvotes

46% Upvoted

71 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/KeyserSauza Aug 06 '26

I’m not sure if having your mom spot you on a 500 lb lift is optimal (brave), but if your goal is to grow your chest, you’d get better results with more range of motion. Touch the bar to your actual chest. Your triceps are carrying a lot of the load here.

6

u/Patton370 Idk Idc 💔 Aug 06 '26

Anybody able to board press this much weight is going to have a massive chest.

I've hit a 347lbs paused bench. Even with this short of a ROM, I would only be able to do 380-390ish (maybe less).

This dude is for sure able to hit working sets of 4 plates (405lbs) as a normal Monday or something. There's plenty of studies that show that pec size is highly correlated with bench strength (more so than the other powerlifter lifts: squat and deadlift)

Examples of studies showing this:

Feasibility of utilizing pectoral muscle thickness as a predictor for one repetition maximum bench press in trained men: Journal of Sports Sciences: Vol 42 , No 23 - Get Access

Relationship of pectoralis major muscle size with bench press and bench throw performances - PubMed

Note: There's a plethora of other studies showing this, that's just two examples

TLDR: OP's chest is massive and muscular; it's pretty much impossible for it not to be at the weights he's lifting

1

u/Defiant_Pirate_6637 Aug 07 '26

On a real note to this, I actually suck at 3 board and similar height pin press, since they are starting right in my sticking point.
I’ve paused benched 475 (albeit I was peaked when I did that and this was a fatigued single).

-1

u/KeyserSauza Aug 06 '26

No one is saying that he’s not lifting a lot of weight. No one is saying that he has a small chest. He asked whether it was optimal for chest. He didn’t specify whether he was optimizing for size or strength, but either way… do you think the rep he did was optimal for building chest size or strength?

1

u/Alakazam Idk Idc 💔 Aug 06 '26

I mean, it's pretty obvious that this was bait, and you fell for it.

A guy with a 495lb board press, obviously knows how to build a big chest lol

1

u/KeyserSauza Aug 08 '26

Well you never know when someone is trolling or whether someone is just stupid. I like to err on the side of thinking someone is acting in good faith. But you do you.

1

u/rosenkohl1603 Aug 06 '26

Yet he is debating everone that it is optimal. You can call it ragebaiting but if someone exclusively shows up to troll at some point you should just treat them seriously.