Pushing Past 225: The Roadmap to a 315 Bench Press Milestone

To determine the number of repetitions needed to bench press 315 pounds from a weight of 225 pounds, the Epley formula outlined below can be utilized; however, generally, lifters should aim to bench press 225 pounds for approximately 11-13 repetitions before attempting to lift three plates on the barbell.¹

Lifters who are close to benching 225 for 11-13 reps or can do more reps can see how close or above this feat they are by finding their max bench press weight with a simple 1RM (One Rep Max) calculation too.

No matter the case, be sure to only load the barbell with a weight that can realistically and safely be lifted in order to avoid injury. Remember, the ego is one of the main reason for avid lifters get broken off so don’t be that guy trying to lift way more than he should.

How Many Reps of 225 Is Good or Impressive on Bench Press?

A single rep of 225 is something that virtually no one will be able to achieve without training their bench press. However, it’s not uncommon at all to see people at the gym doing short sets of 225 at the bench press.

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As a 1RM, 225 is impressive to most, but not necessarily impressive to weight lifters. A truly impressive goal with 225 is to be able to do multiple sets of 5-8 reps, which is practically useful for routine strength training and translates into a 1RM of around 280 lbs.

Is 315 a Good Bench?

While there’s no authoritative data on how many people can bench 315, it’s hard to underline how exclusive this achievement really is. Shorter, smaller men may be unable to ever bench 315 even if they reach the absolute pinnacle of performance for their weight class. Even unusually large men can expect to put in three years of hard work before they achieve a 315 1RM, let alone bench reps of 315.

How Many Repetitions of 225 to Bench 315?

Calculating reps isn’t a perfectly accurate science, but there’s a small rep range that’s roughly equal to a 315 1RM. This rep range is 10-13, with the average number standing at 12 reps. However, individual people might reach a 315 1RM slightly earlier or a bit later. There isn’t a single answer to the number of reps of 225 to bench 315, but this range covers it.

How To Figure Out the Number of Reps of 225 to Bench 315

At first, it might not seem intuitive that there’s such a wide range for the number of reps of 225 to bench 315. There’s a big difference between 10 and 13 reps of such a heavyweight, but there are two reasons for the variance.

First, 1RM calculation is fairly consistent from 2-10 reps but becomes less consistent afterward. Starting from around 240 lbs at 2 reps, the next eight reps each add about seven pounds onto a person’s 1RM. Each extra rep increases the 1RM by about 7 lbs.

However, this increase grows dramatically after 10 reps and is hard to predict from one person to another. So while 10 reps is realistically the minimum to potentially have a 1RM of 315, individual conditioning and training techniques make a big difference at gains in that 11-13 range.

A simple formula for calculating 1RM from reps of 225 is:

240+7(X-2)

The reason why different people have different 1RM’s with the same number of reps mostly comes down to training modalities. Someone who has greater muscular endurance has an easier time performing heavy sets of more than five reps, which makes longer sets less representative of their strength.

On top of that, someone who doesn’t train for high repetitions will need greater strength to compensate. Basically, someone who focuses on powerlifter techniques will reach a 315 1RM with fewer reps than the average person.

Someone who mostly trains with a bodybuilding approach will experience diminishing returns on reps around and above 10, at least compared to a powerlifter.

That’s why the bodybuilder will likely to need 12 or 13 reps of 225 to achieve what the powerlifter does with 10 reps. Naturally, powerlifter techniques are more applicable for someone who’s focusing on increasing their 1RM bench press.

The 1 Rep Max Bench Calculator (225 Bench Press Calculator to Reach 315)

The basic formula for calculating 1RM from 225 starts with adding about 14 pounds once the lifter can complete two reps. From there, each rep increases the 1RM by roughly 7 until rep number 11. While these figures aren’t perfectly accurate, they are reliable within a modest margin of error.

What Should My Max Bench Be Based on Weight

By merging their experience with their powerlifting weight class, individuals can obtain a reasonably precise estimate of their bench press capacity. The bench press experience categories are as follows:

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Inexperienced: Someone who has never lifted before or who’s only begun doing weight training in the past month or so is an inexperienced or new lifter. Hard work, proper nutrition, and plenty of rest are all they need to see considerable gains quickly.

Beginner: When someone has a bit more of a grasp on weight training and more experience, they’re part of the beginner class. Those with one to three months of experience fall into this category.

Intermediary: Intermediary lifters have been at it for six months or more. Their gains have slowed down compared to when they were an inexperienced or beginner lifter, and it’s common for recreational lifters to plateau around this level of strength.

It takes months of dedication and commitment to more advanced training techniques to graduate to the next category.

Experienced:

Experienced lifters have worked for years and incorporated concepts like macrocycles and mesocycles, compound and isolating exercises, etc. into their training. It may take two years to become an experienced lifter, or it can take much longer. No one is able to bench 315 without making it to this level.

Professional:

The elite of the elite, professional lifters are the strongest 0.1% of the gym-going public, let alone the world population at large. Professional lifters can bench more than twice their body weight, and all but the smallest of them can handle 315 lbs quite comfortably.

How Long Does It Take to Bench 315 When Training Regularly?

Many lifters never reach 315, and getting there at all requires dedication and an excellent training regimen. From there, guessing how long it will take is a matter of a person’s starting point.

A completely untrained person could easily expect to spend three years or more straining for 315, but an intermediate lifter might expect it to take six to eighteen months. Wherever a person’s skill level is now, the following tips and guidelines will go a long way to push that 225 bench up to 315.

How To Improve Your Bench Press to Go from 225 for Reps, to 315 as a 1 Rep Max (1RM)

Once an individual achieves a 225 bench press, it’s highly likely they have grasped the fundamentals concerning the optimal bench press bar path, dietary protein, and sufficient rest. However, persistence and the basics are all that’s necessary to hit a 225 1RM.

Taking the leap up to 315 will require a year or more of effort as well as more advanced lifting techniques. Some key tips to increase bench press weight and strive for a 315 1RM include:

Perform An Optimal Number of Sets

More isn’t always better when it comes to building strength. When it comes to chest strength, the optimal number of challenging sets is between eight and 12 sets. Three sets of 225 per workout, twice a week will be less than optimal without performing a few weekly sets of a second exercise that targets the chest.

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The other important element of sets, when it comes to pushing for a 315 bench press, is to rest enough. While a 30-second rest is good for beginners performing high volume, low-weight exercises, a rest interval in sets for strength training should be longer.⁵

Reps of 225 deserve at least a two-minute rest, and potentially up to five minutes. That gives adequate time to regain strength and make those sets count.

Prioritize Weight Over Reps & Volume

Volume is an important part of muscle growth, and people who only work a muscle group once a week will struggle to hit the ideal volume for growth. However, it’s easy to hit a good level of volume with two workouts per week and three or four days will often overdo it.

One of the most prevalent deadly training sins for lifters to steer clear of is pushing too hard.

The real emphasis for building strength is to focus on weight, challenging the body as much as possible with short, high-intensity sets.⁶ Building a workout plan around sets of 5-8 reps while progressively overloading is the ideal way to push performance high er and get closer to 315.

Use Chains or Resistance Bands For a Fuller Exercise

Anyone who’s done bench presses knows that the top of the lift is the easiest part. This is suboptimal, though, and it would be possible to make greater gains if the exercise were consistently difficult throughout.

By using chains or resistance bands, though, a person can leave the weight the same at the bottom of the exercise while only increasing it at the top.

With resistance bands, this works by looping the band around the bench and the barbell. At the bottom of the press, there’s little tension and as such, little added force. The push increases the tension in the resistance band, producing a more evenly challenging exercise.

While it may be less graceful, using chains can also improve the challenge of a bench press in helpful ways.⁷ At full extension, the lifter will have to support the weight of many chain links that start the lift resting on the ground.

Just like the resistance band, that means little added weight at the start of the lift and considerably more throughout the full movement.

Incorporate Tricep-Isolating Exercises & Inclined Bench Presses

When people think of the muscles that are involved in a bench press, they think of the chest. This is the muscle group that carries the greatest burden, but it relies on some key stabilizers as well.

The triceps are essential to good bench press performance, and the best way to strengthen them is through a combination of compound movements like the bench press as well as isolating exercises like skull crushers. Add three to eight sets of tricep-isolating exercises each week to see considerable bench press gains over time.

Performing the full bench press produces greater gains than half bench variations, but there are other variations on the bench press to consider. Namely, inclined bench presses can increase the challenge of the exercise and shift the emphasis of work to different muscles.

An incline of 45 degrees or more results in much greater deltoid activation, but 30 degrees appears to be a sweet spot to target the upper pectoral muscles.

Overall, while hitting 225 on the bench press is a good achievement, it takes much more to stand out among gym goers. Knowing how to calculate max reps from 225 is key to moving up to a 315 1RM.

Frequently Asked Questions