Press to Bench Ratio

A lot depends on the person. I haven’t been working out that long and the difference between my dumbbell chest press and shoulder press stays between 20lbs. Around 80lbs for chest and 60 for shoulder right now. A standing press is way harder than sitting down, so there should be a big difference in that weight.

I know some elite power lifters who can rep over 500 on bench and maybe do a couple reps of close to 400 on shoulder press.

I’ve been trying to find it since this morning but one of the big named guys (Rippetoe, Johnny Palin, etc) mentions ratios in an article. Can’t find it.

I remember it saying 50-60% of bench for OHP was a normal ratio. Anything lower was a sign of muscle imbalance.

I’ve worried about this because my OHP is very slow in progressing but my bench seems to have no limit except when I stop focusing on it.

Working sets on bench (5, 5, 5+) is 215.

OHP is 125 but I can barely get 5 on the AMRAP set.

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When my Bench was around 400, my OHP started at 235. I could have probably gotten around 25-30 more lbs if I trained it more potentially more.

Now I’m around 315-325 bench and can likely get 200-215 in OHP.

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You had an injury baw?

Yeah thats what I'm after - a percentage to work to as a goal.

I might chase some big numbers again but now ain’t the time lol

for example if your max bench is around 225-250, your overhead barbell press max should be around 135

Youre going to want to focus on reps with the overhead press, dont worry about weight, too much can go wrong with your shoulders

Ive seen somewhere a good general goal for the average noncompetative lifter for 1rm bench is 2x body weight and 1 rm press is 1.5x body weight. There are online calculators the get your estimated 1rm based on your working weights, sets x reps.

This is ridiculous, not counting the OT there are no average lifter, 175 lb men who are benching 350 and pressing 260. In fact there are probably no 175 lb men who are not a competitive weightlifter, powerlifter, or some type of bodybuilder benching 350 and pressing 260.

I consider myself an average 175 lb lifter in my 40s and even if I got on hardcore juice I'm probably wouldn't get to benching 350 and I'm definitely not pressing anywhere near 260.

Yeah I'd say it would take a while for an average lifter to just hit BW on strict OHP. 1.5x BW would be .000001% type shite.

You better be a committed mother fricker if you wanna hit that.....good luck.