Hi, I have a unique problem I believe, and I would like to consult this knowledgeable forum for help. I am 18 years old, 181 pounds, 5'11, 15.8% body fat, i would say medium build. I would also say I am probably stronger than the average person with my specs, I curl 40 pounds dumbells, strong triceps, do 135 on my lat pulldown machine.. But heres my unique problem, I cant bench press any weight. (now taken I havent been bench pressing more than a month now,) but, I can only bench press 95-100 pounds... I am doing it properly, I have seen many videos on how to do it properly and im pretty sure I am.. When I press, I do it very slowly, and struggle, after about 5 reps, (i normally do 7 reps)..
Can you guys please give me adivce, videos websites, anything to help me.. I know it takes time, but I just feel like I should even be starting at a higher weight
As I also said, I have trouble like powering up, (moving the bar up really fast), I do it all pretty slow, about 5 seconds per rep..
Please help me,
Thanks

Why are you comparing how much you can Lat Pull to your bench press? Or how much you can curl? LP and BP arent even the same movement pattern, or opposites. And wow, you can use your biceps to move 40lbs...but you dont use biceps in your bench.

My suggestion is to not worry about how much weight you can lift, but how much weight you can lift with proper form and the designated amount of reps. Dont let your ego lead you.

I just find it wierd that my triceps and most of my other body is naturally strong, with my chest being so weak. I would think that I would just have a higher starting point ...

Then you simply need to strengthen up the upper body area to increase your bench.

The Bench Press is utilized mostly by the Chest Muscles, and then stabilizing is the Triceps and Shoulders. To strengthen up these muscles you have to simply bench press more. Also don't bench all the time. Every other workout, switch bench pressing with dips. Dips work the same muscle group. Just keep being consistent with your weight lifting and your bench will go up.

I frogot to mention the wierdest thing... On a vertical bench press machine, I bench around 150... That I can't explain.. It doesnt ahve that strong of a pulley system that 150 would be the equivilant of 95 free
also- jmanjman,- "switch bench pressing with dips" do you mean-- do a set of press, then a set of dips, then a set of press etc.. or do you mean on monday do press, then on tuesday do dips, then on weds press.. ??

No, you don't want to workout everyday. You need to rest to build muscle. Heres a sample workout that will add tons of strength and size for you:

Workout A
Squat
Bench Press
Bent-over Rows

Workout B
Deadlift
Dips
Chinups

Alternate these workouts on M/W/F

so workout a on monday, rest, workout b on wednesday, rest, workout a, on Friday, rest, rest and then the next week you will start on B and then repeat.

You also should do push-ups. When I started benching, I could barely do 100 lbs, but I began to do 4 sets of 15 pushups every other day and slowly my bench increased.

Drop the weight to about 65-70 lbs and rep that. When i first started working out my max bench was 120. I started repping 95 lbs. when i could do 9-12 reps every set i would bump the weight up 5 lbs. 3 months later Im now benching 155.

Good advice. I would rep you but I have to spread some reputation first.