yeah man, im pretty tall. I’m currently around 245lbs, but not lean. I’m estimating around 14-15% bodyfat. Can barely see my top two abs when flexing…
yea i have a 4pack at 231lbs but nothin to take my shirt off over even on a 110 degree day hahaha
yeah man, I need to drop some fat before boating season arrives…
Just a couple of comments here… Not that I’m a weightlifter or anything but if you want to be “fair”, don’t compare heights. Compare your dress shirt sleeve length and your chest measurement. A 5’8" guy can have longer arms and reach than a 6’0" dude… People are built differently.
The two measurements above are the ones that will impact how much you have to lift the bar for a rep. The other measurement that of course comes into play is the width of your grip on the bar.
This is something you can do something about, to an extent. The first two are pretty much set unless your name is Mister Fantastic :lol
When you’re lying on the bench, the bench doesn’t care how long your legs are. Being more or less coordinated doesn’t matter either. What matters is lifting the bar up off the rack, down to your chest, then up to full lockout, that’s it.
Energy required is proportional to the height difference from touching your chest to the top of full lockout.
After measuring all the dimensions and stuff, I think in most cases, where you have a height difference of a few inches, you can compensate by changing grip to make things more “equal”.
At the end of the day, you are probably talking a relatively small (5% to 15%) difference in required energy to perform a rep for 90% of the general population’s physiology, and accounting for how they play into dimensions of the linkage made when one is at “full lockout”.
The ability to adjust a bit in grip width also comes into play here.
238-239 and smooth. still seeing abs though. just not very well. 
yeah man, I saw your pics, 5’11" and 238lbs is pretty big…
agreed with you, when i was saying “height” i was meaning length of arms and what not. I just didnt verbalize it well. Basically when i was saying height is because in MOST cases guys that are taller have longer arms and legs and such. I also know that legs have nothing to do with your bench obviously, thats why i listed clean squats and presses in the one post, because people use the same argument as an excuse in those cases as well. And ive never thought about the grip thing either, honestly. Thats a good point, i guess i just assumed most of us use a bit more than shoulder width on the bar.
i have my work cut out for me until im happy
my abs have been slowly dissappearing. time to start mixing some cardio into the routine or find some ephedra. lol one or the other.
Yeah, I hear ya… It’s true in most cases that shorter people have less height to clear. I guess I was just thinking that the advantage is not as huge as it seems. Definitely not on the order of 50% difference unless you are comparing a 4’5" person to 7’0", or basically outside of 90% of the population.
As for my comment on legs, sorry I may not have worded it well but I am just saying that trunk length (and arm length) are more important, legs are kind of an “add-on” in determining your standing height, so that’s why it’s better to look at reach and forget legs and height altogether (for bench only of course).
Grip width- I talked to a trainer (a long time ago), he would compete and he told me some guys were arching their back (yet still touching their shoulder blades to the bench) and then using a massively wide grip to reduce the overall height during the bench. That’s the only reason I thought about it…
I don’t know enough about competition to say, but I would think this is against some type of rule…
i like the way you put that whole scenario, i agree with you 100%
and with the back arch thing i dont know what rules it breaks but i have seen it alot actually.
yea in the end its all a pain in the ass, lots and lots of work
^ lots and lots of work, but I love it
My abs look great! Under some body fat… :lol. I really need to start working my core more, and get a SET diet in place. Been eating better than I have been previously, but there is alot of room for improvement. Currently 6’ and 216.4lbs as of this morning.
New pb tonight, got 250 up on bb flat bench!!
nice!
Thanks mang :thumbup
Yea you’re almost caught up to me, keep at it!
:lol Im tryin brotha, Im tryin!!
Good stuff man, putting in the WORK! :thumb