Upper body stronger than lower body?

T

thecoffeeguy

New Member
Just a question:

I was working out on Sunday at my gym. Did my normal routine (5's cycle) starting with squats, then to bench etc.

My bench right now, is about 50-60 pounds heavier than my squat. I have never been a great squater (I am 6'3"),but my bench has always been pretty good.

Anyways, a guy mentioned to me that he was surprised at the weight difference between my squats and bench because he said most people are stronger on legs than they are on chest.

Just curious, is this normal? Or am I unusual. :)

thecoffeeguy
 
Yeah, normally your lower body should be a lot stronger. You may want to check your squat form to make sure you are doing it right. For instance, I only bench 200 for 5 reps or something pathetic like that (not sure, haven't benched in a while) but I squat and deadlift over 300 for 5 reps.

There will always be some disparity though, I wouldn't worry about it usually, but your squat should at least be equal to your bench. I would be surprised to see someone unable to squat at least as much as they can bench.

Have you tried deadlifts instead? There could be some weak point or something that effects your squat as well... do you do bentover rows? How do those compare to your bench?
 
Like my friend Tot said, most people can do much more weight with squats than with bench. You have much stronger muscles and joints around the hip.

Have you just recently started training legs? Just research on proper squat form and keep working hard and you'll bring up those weak points in no time. Good luck.
 
Yeah, I agree with my boys Totentanz and chiefhog. I mean, you should definitely be pressing more weight with squats than bench. And as they said, it may depend on your form with both exercises. It's not like you have to have squats make your hams go parallel to the floor but none the less there should be a difference between the exercises.

Unless you were really thin and had chicken legs, your squats should still be more than your bench.

Ahhhh... useless reply as it is a ditto of what my boys said,.

-Colby
 
My bench is >> than my squat....why? I don't train squats...technique and neural coordination just isn't there.

My leg press is about 2.5 x (just higher) my bench though...and deads >>> bench.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]My bench is >> than my squat....why? I don't train squats...technique and neural coordination just isn't there.
Click to expand...

that's a good point about the exercise..

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]My leg press is about 2.5 x (just higher) my bench though...and deads >>> bench.
Click to expand...

but of course your lower body is stronger

Jester, now I haven't trained with squats for over a year until I first tested them two days ago. I figured the load would me at most half as much as leg press, and I did 200lbs for 15 reps. Pretty good after a year off.. so when it comes to technique and coordination, I don't think it take that long to get back into it.

-Colby
 
Hmm, interesting.

Well, I can follow up with the following:

Ever since I have started training, I was always stronger on upper body.

I used to hate training legs and ignored them for awhile, or would do leg presses, but not REAL heavy.

As far as form, I pride myself on doing the best form I can on ALL lifts. I will even drop the weight if my form sucks. But I do my best.

Not sure why it is, but as long as I can remember, my squat always lacked.

I was going to ask my brother, see if he had similiar issues when he was in the USMC. See what I can come up with. Maybe its genetics?
 
I have been testing my RM's this week for my next cycle. I am doing bench press for the first time in 8 months and squats for the first time in over a year. I was wondering what are the usual differences in weight between:

bench press (including bar) and dips (including your body's weight)

AS WELL AS

squats (including bar) and leg press

I know leg press should be twice as much as squats.

Thanks,
Colby
 
I did my workout today (Second week of 5's, 1st WO).

I felt good.

My squats felt good. I felt like I could have done more, weight wise.

My bench felt really good. I could have easily done more reps.

I don't know if im just getting stronger, but I expected this workout to be tougher, but it wasn't a killer.

My bench today was 55 pounds over my squat.

I dunno.
 
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