My 8 reps has slowly improved as I changed my diet recently (not especially healthy, I still live in the US and am broke af so healthy food is a treat for me) and I’m up to 185 lbs (bar+ Plate and 25 each side), I very rarely do 1 Rep Max because it gets me exhausted for the rest of my exercise unless I drink a shitload of water. Last I checked I’m at 205 (bar+ Plate and 35 each side). Sorry if this is confusing to anyone because of the Lbs to Kilos dilemma. Around 84 kilos for 8 Reps, around 93 kilos for 1RM, what are yall at?
I personally love benching, but to each their own, dumbbell lifts are also typically better for range of motion, so I may think about working that into my routine
I managed to do 2 reps today with 27.5Kg on each arm. This time, I didn't need a spotter so that's some progress.
The problem with the bench-press is that you don't have a big range of motion. This is why some people struggle with developing the inner chest area. This happens when you don't fully stretch and compress a muscle. In fact the best exercises for chest are the Machine Peck Fly or Cable Crossover.