What Percent of Adults Can Bench 315

Introduction

A common question asked to me from beginner lifters is: What percent of adults can bench 315? This impressive lift is a highly desired benchmark for everyone that starts lifting, it can look amazing for someone to bench that amount so a lot of people want to do it.

Table of Contents

In reality only a small amount of the total adult population will ever bench this amount of weight. There are many reasons for this but remember that the vast majority of the population doesn’t even go to the gym, so don’t be discouraged!

It’s no surprise that many who start want to see how common it is to bench this amount, so in this article we’re going to cover everything related to this feat and more.

Wait, What Does “Benching” 315 mean?

The term “benching” is a common abbreviation for the bench press, one of the most popular and important lifts in every single gym in the world. In this exercise the person will lie atop a bench and then they lower a barbell to their chest, they then perform as many repetitions as they can for a couple of sets.

This exercise is great for the pectoral muscles but also for the triceps and deltoids. The bench press is a fundamental lift and it is included in pretty much every weight lifter’s routine from the beginning.

The exercise is so popular that there are even some competitions for it, these weight lifters go the extra mile and specialize in this lift, they train for it and can lift even more than 315lb or 143kg.

How Many People Can Bench 315

So, now you know “benching 315” refers to a lifter that can bench 315 and it’s a really impressive lift, but how many people can really lift this much?

In general, it can be assumed that only a small amount of people can lift this much weight, and out of those a vast majority will be weightlifters.

Being more specific about 1% of the total US population can probably lift this much, this is out of about 5% of people who do resistance-training. If we exclude the general population and only include weightlifters then we’re left with only the strongest 5% of weightlifters, these are the guys that can bench this or more.

Does this Include the Weight of the Barbell?

Yes, it does! For all lifts the weight listed includes both the barbell and the weights combined. Most of the time this means that the barbell is a standard Olympic barbell that weighs 45 pounds.

In the case of the 315 lift the most common way to load the barbell is to use 3 pairs of 45-pound plates, which totals 6 plates of 45 pounds. This combined with the barbell will get you to an exact 315 pounds.

One thing, there are some different barbells which weight less, in that case it’s not a true 315 lift and the weight of the lift will be 270 plus what that barbell weights.

Why is it so Hard to Bench 315

Its simple, 315 pounds is a lot of weight, only people who have done resistance-training for a significant amount of time can even get close to lifting this much. And even then, some lifters might not ever reach this level because of how challenging it is.

I estimate that to be able to lift 315 you need to be an advanced lifter that has trained for about 3 or 4 years, but it can be more than that depending on other factors like height, age and genetics.

Most people who can lift this much are male and weight around 200 pounds or more, they have been training for a long time and some might only be able to lift this weight as a 1 repetition max.

What is the Average Bench Press for Men and Women?

There can be massive differences between strength for men and women, but also with untrained and trained people as such we need to be careful when talking about “averages”.

Remember there is a stark difference between what weightlifters can do and the general population, so don’t feel discouraged with these numbers, anyone can start lifting and improve really quickly.

Among untrained men the average bench-press should be between 120 and 140 pounds, for women this number will be about 55 to 75 pounds.

What’s the Average Bench Press of a Weightlifter

Things take a drastic turn if we only talk about weightlifters! Their training and diet will enable these athletes to vastly outperform the common person off the street.

Among male weightlifters a common average should be around 200 pounds depending on their weight but the 200-pound mentioned assumes a 180-pound man is doing the lifting.

For women the average intermediate female weightlifter should be able to lift about 100 pounds or more depending on their weight, so assuming a common 140 pounds for women this seems about right.

These numbers are for mostly 16-40 years old lifters, if you’re older than 40 (for men) or 35 (for women) your strength standards will vary accordingly (it’s harder to lift more as we age).

How Many Repetitions of 220 is Enough for a 315 Bench Press

Most Coaches will probably agree that lifting 220 or 230 pounds for a total of 11 or 13 repetitions will be enough to attempt a 315-bench press as a single repetition.

But remember, everyone is different just because someone could do a 315 after these numbers doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you will be able to do the same. Everyone is different and some people are naturally stronger but have less endurance for example.

How Can I Bench Press 315 Quickly?

To be blunt, you can’t. Lifting this amount of weight puts you firmly in the advanced category of lifters so to get here you will need to put in many hours of training and give your body time to grow stronger. This process can take as much as 4 years or even longer so it’s not going to be a monthly affair.

While we are not going to go over all the possible ways to reach this level, we can give you some great tips no matter your level that can take your lifts to the next level.

Be Consistent

Whether you’re a newbie or an experienced lifter, being consistent is the number one priority for all of us. Missing gym days is the easiest way stall your progress, every day that you miss going to the gym is another day that your body doesn’t train and the process of growing is delayed.

Remember, weightlifting is not only about going to the gym its an entire process that includes growing bigger and stronger, and to do that the body needs to be fed the signals that will induce muscle growth. To do this you need to be consistent about your training otherwise your body might not believe that you really need to grow stronger.

While you can easily maintain your strength level by only lifting a specific muscle group once a week the reality is that this is not optimal and you’re reducing your potential by only training once. In general, most coaches recommend training about 3 times per week for specific muscle groups.

Don’t overtrain, going more than three times per week is not optimal and can harm your progress, your muscles need time to recover and grow and that only happens with proper rest.

Take your Rest Seriously

Rest days are extremely important for lifting, your body grows when resting so you need to take this into account for your training.

Diet and sleep are vital as well, make sure you’re eating enough calories and proteins to reach your goals, a suboptimal diet will result in suboptimal results.

Make sure you’re eating 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and that you’re eating about 3000 calories per day, or at least something close to that this is a rough estimate so if you want more exact numbers you need to use your target weight (not your current weight) and use something like a calorie calculator with proteins too.

Bench Twice a Week or More

If you’re trying to bench 315, then you need to bench a lot. To do this your body needs to master this lift by doing it a lot consistently.

Some people can easily recover from doing it three times per week but you should experiment and see how it feels, depending on the weight three times might be too much and you should only do it twice a week then.

Conclusion

Benching 315 is an amazing feat of strength, reaching that goal is not going to be easy. Be patient with yourself and your body, with enough training most healthy males should eventually reach this goal if everything goes right.

But don’t be too harsh on yourself, comparison is the thief of joy. You should only compare yourself with your past self, you will be surprised when you look back at how strong you are now