any woman with a bodyweight >150lb could bench 135 in less than 2 years of strength training. any other woman could do it within 3. just because you havent seen many women that fit that description, because you lift at some crapy globo gym franchise, doesnt mean that they dont exist, or even that they're at all exceptional.

I never see any women bench those weights at my gym either, because (for now) I also lift at a chitty franchise gym. but when i've been to powerlifting comps, i've watched a 16 year old, 5' tall girl bench over 135, with less than 2 years training, and not exactly crazy arch....
The women who have been doing it for years are benching a touch over 200.

and if you really think that an arch can let you lift that much more, go find out what your current 1rm weight is, then add another 50% onto the bar, and see if you can so much as unrack it.....
if an arch made a chicks bench go from 120 with a neutral spine to 200 arched, then you should surely be able to at least do a half rep with that.....right??
film it. i dare you.

My wife has been training seriously for ~5 years and has been powerlifting competitively for ~3.5 years. She was also a sprinter and volleyball player throughout HS, so she has been involved in sport for significantly longer than this.

Her best bench ever is 140# at ~118# bodyweight (5'5" tall, FYI). Best in competition is 60kg (132#). With these bench numbers, she is generally one of the last women to bench in her flights at most state level meets.

So, I would say that a woman benching 175# at 130# in under 2 years is probably outside of the norm. F00d, I think you are probably more genetically gifted when it comes to upper body strength than the average female to have the numbers you have in such a (relatively) short time period.

Note: my wife does have a labrum tear in her left shoulder, and has since before she started seriously weight training, which has likely limited her ability to progress on bench. It is hard for me to say how much stronger her bench could be if it were not for that injury.

Jebus, the amount of times the ban and neg hammer has smacked down is lulz worthy.

I already know I can add a significant amount of weight to a decline press than a flat press.

I also know I cannot contort my spine into a decline position on a flat bench. And even if I could I wouldn't because I don't really care about my max press. I'm not competing and I have no reason to try and injure myself.

There is a girl at my gym he doesn't even compete in PL who can bench 185. Freaking insane. My mom got 140 (her BW) at 40 yrs old after training for 3 years or so.. she was natty so it's 100% possible.. now when a girl is pressing 300+.. I'm skeptical af.

lmao wot.

/wouldnotlimbowith

I did a little bit of PL during my bulk.. so I had a few coaching sessions. My bench is wider grip... not real wide. I don't have a huge arch, technique is not on point.

I hit 165 on bench at both meets I did. The first I was at 131 (cut to hit 132 class) the second I was at 134 so I was in the 148 class.

I made that 165 on my first lift at the second meet, so went up to 181.8. I made 181 the first time I tried, but red light for hitching the bar. I failed the next time, couldn't do it.

Following weekend I did 185 at the gym, good enough to get on the chalk board. :/

Those lifts were all PRs when I did them, that definitely is not rep weight. Now I'm cutting, those days are gone for a bit.

(Dipping my toes in the misc. Just saw on interesting title on page 1, so I clicked...)