What weight should you start off at for bench pressing alone on a flat bench with no spotter and are a teen?

Question

I am beginning bench pressing and I would like to know which weight to start off at without hurting myself. I weigh 145 lbs and I know about the diet required.

Answer 1

If you're working alone and just starting out, use a relatively light weight 1/4 - 1/2 your body weight so you can just do a lot of reps without hurting something or getting yourself trapped under the barbells. Get a good burn going but not so much that you fatigue yourself to the point where you drop it on yourself.

Start by building your endurance it will serve you better in the long run, if you want bulk you can easily add it later. so start work with whatever weight you can do 4 or 5 sets of 10 to 15 reps. even if it means starting with 40 pounds there won't be anyone there to laugh at you, and never let peer pressure force you to push so hard that you hurt yourself.

Do an assortment of excercises so you don't end up looking like a disproportionate freak with big upper body and weak skinny legs. ride a bike for a good aerobic workout, work up to 3 sets of 50 sit ups there's a challenge for ya.

Answer 2

Start light and work your way up. Start with say 60 lbs and see how many reps you can easily do with out worrying that no one is there to spot you. Then work up to a weight that you can do 6-8 times and feel it is a struggle after the 3rd set. Be careful that you don't over do the weight with no spotter.

Answer 3

It is unsafe to bench alone without a spotter or "spotter bars" in place. Muscle fatigue can occur even with low weight. If you use weight sufficient to give you muscle mass, it will be too much to safely do alone.

Answer 4

NMO, sounds like your working out at home? The key ingrediant of weight training is (WTF) "work till failure". With a free weight on a bench press, and a squat, that can become dangerous when you reach exhaustion. On a bench press, you might have to roll the weight down your body, to get out from under it? Kind of rough. On squats you can break your neck if you fall forward. Be careful?

Answer 5

You should start out at your weight and work up