How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

[TimK]

I'm on a program to increase my bench press and it's working very well. Simultaneously, I'm gaining weight when I would normally be losing based on diet and exercise.

The gains are not the gains of a first time lifter, I've trained my bench two days a week for 10 years and was already pretty strong.

So, is there some rule of thumb that if you increase your bench press by 10 pounds, you've added X number of pounds of muscle mass?

 

[Starbelly]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

From what I understand,no there isn't. There are too many variables at play. I'm sure JJones or some of the other more knowledgable guys can chime in to explain. Oddly enough, I am always trying to increase or maintain strength while losing weight. For the physical activities I'm involved in, adding extra bodyweight is not efficient... being in my late 30's now it is becoming more of a struggle to keep weight down though...

 

[Slippery_Pete]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

No set #. Tweaking your form can add 10 lbs to your bench. Strength has a lot to do with ligaments and tendons, and you might not gain 1 lb while going up 10 lbs in bench.

That said, bench press is all about leverage, and the heavier you are, typically, the stronger your bench will be.

Also, putting on muscle is going to be a function of diet in the experienced lifter. You can raise your bench by training stability, explosiveness, weak points, etc,,,,,but to gain any more bodyweight would require more consumed, or maybe something hormonal.

Some of my thoughts on the matter.

 

[JJones75]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

Their is some what of a direct corelation between weight gain and againing power , basicly is work on a leverage system.

Example :creatine , when you start creatine you will generaly make a significant increase in weight , this is due to water retention in the muscles , the muscles are now fuller and slightly larger this will give a slight mechanical advantage.

their atre ways to increase your max bench without increasing your body weight and possibly dropping some body weight.

The best thing to do it change your workout up some , if your stuck with the ame max then change something , either the angle of the bench or the reps , add in some forced reps and so on.

I like the DC style training and it has led to a consistant increase in power and size

 

[canman]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JJones75</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Their is some what of a direct corelation between weight gain and againing power , basicly is work on a leverage system.

Example :creatine , when you start creatine you will generaly make a significant increase in weight , this is due to water retention in the muscles , the muscles are now fuller and slightly larger this will give a slight mechanical advantage.

their atre ways to increase your max bench without increasing your body weight and possibly dropping some body weight.

The best thing to do it change your workout up some , if your stuck with the ame max then change something , either the angle of the bench or the reps , add in some forced reps and so on.

I like the DC style training and it has led to a consistant increase in power and size </div></div> Very true. Sometimes just changing the width of your grip or range of motion will cause new motor units to fire and your workout and 1RM will increase considerably.

 

[TimK]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

The plan I'm on is already working perfectly. Bench has gone up 10# a week for 3 weeks in a row, and I'm now up to 175% of my body weight (bench 340#, weight 190#).

There have been no form or grip changes, just a change in the frequency and intensity of training. I have cleaned up my diet and added some more protein.

What I was hoping to hear is that the 5# of body weight I've increased could be accounted for by the 30# increase in 1RM.

 

[canman]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

Well results speak for themselves, and you certainly have good results. Nice job.Frequency and intensity will increase strength no doubt. In light of those numbers one would think the five pounds must be muscle.

 

[SeanRT]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

There are too many factors that are to be included in your increase in body mass and strength. And, no, there is no formula for that sort of thing.

But great job on the strength increase!

 

[WhiskeyWebber]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

340 Bench @ 190 is officially really fucking strong! Kind of freaky strong actually. What's your squat, DL, PC?

 

[VKC]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

As far as weight to strength increases, there isn't a rule for gains that I know of.

That's an impressive max for your weight. When I was younger and into powerlifting, I found that squats and deadlifts helped my overall strength more than just benching. Also doing dumbells, weighted dips and shoulder presses helped. It is easy to obsess about one's max, but don't forget to strength you joints and supporting muscles to avoid injury.

But sound like you know what you are doing already.

 

[TimK]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: WhiskeyWebber</div><div class="ubbcode-body">340 Bench @ 190 is officially really fucking strong! Kind of freaky strong actually. What's your squat, DL, PC? </div></div>

I'm 45 years old,so I don't do 1RM's on anything but bench. It's just too scary. I used to work out with 405# on the squat rack, but my knees don't tolerate it anymore. I still do DL's, but not as often as I should. Knees limit me again to working out with 225# at the most.

It sucks to get old. If you can avoid it, do so.

 

[canman]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Tim K</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: WhiskeyWebber</div><div class="ubbcode-body">340 Bench @ 190 is officially really fucking strong! Kind of freaky strong actually. What's your squat, DL, PC? </div></div>

I'm 45 years old,so I don't do 1RM's on anything but bench. It's just too scary. I used to work out with 405# on the squat rack, but my knees don't tolerate it anymore. I still do DL's, but not as often as I should. Knees limit me again to working out with 225# at the most.

It sucks to get old. If you can avoid it, do so. </div></div>45 is not young but I wouldn't say old. 57 on the other hand is old. I don't even want to tell you about all you guys have to look foward to in this place.When you tell the Dr. this or that hurts and he says "what the hell do you expect" thats old.

 

[Starbelly]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

if you're 45 and still adding lean muscle mass, that in itself is impressive. Benching 175 to 200% of bodyweight is also very, very impressive.

 

[Nocalphoenix]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

I was up to 395lb on my bench and 405 squats when I was 200lb (thought I had 400 but forgot the fricken 2 1/2 on each side). Then it went down hill fast, elbow swelled up very bad and I could not lift for over a month. Fast forward another year or two and know Im waiting for surgery on a torn labrum, Dr pretty much told me my bench press days are over, a white on white tear just does not heal enough to be pushed that hard at my age. I have backed off of everything and accepted that kettlebells and dumbells under 90lb do everything I need to do to keep the muscle mass I need to be active and healthy.

And for what its worth when I went from 315 to 395 on my bench my body fat still held at about 13-14% and I dont think my weight varied more than a couple pounds at most. My buddy said I have "dense muscles" to look at me at the time you would never guess I was doing that much weight. His arms looked like a pair of thighs attached to his shoulders and we were lifting the exact same amount of weight.

 

[swage]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

As others have stated there are too many variables involved. The human body is extremely efficient. It will attempt to adapt to the increased stress the most efficient way it can which is by increasing the force of contraction in the muscle fibers. This is less taxing on the body than cell hyperplasia. However if your body fat percentage is remaining the same and your weight is increasing, then it's due to new muscle growth which would correlate into increased strength. I highly doubt the 15 pound increase in weight is all muscle. Think about what five pounds of lean chicken breast looks like sitting on the table. That's a lot of tissue.

 

[Jcas2012]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

Tim K, what is your new bench routine you are currently on? Seems to be working very well for you, keep it up!

 

[JJones75]

Re: How much muscle added when increasing bench 10lbs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: swage</div><div class="ubbcode-body">As others have stated there are too many variables involved. The human body is extremely efficient. It will attempt to adapt to the increased stress the most efficient way it can which is by increasing the force of contraction in the muscle fibers. This is less taxing on the body than cell hyperplasia. However if your body fat percentage is remaining the same and your weight is increasing, then it's due to new muscle growth which would correlate into increased strength. I highly doubt the 15 pound increase in weight is all muscle. Think about what five pounds of lean chicken breast looks like sitting on the table. That's a lot of tissue. </div></div>

15 pounds of actual muscle gain is not impossible , i have seen guys that were 250 lean stop training for a year lose 20 pounds and stay lean then get back to training (and hormones) and in 6 months time gain all the weight back.

The most i have seen anybody natural that had been training for several years gain in actual lean mass was about 6 pounds in a year and that guy trained like a machine and ate like an animal the full year