How many of you have seen a natural bench press 300lbs?

[Templar]

The Gold's gym I go to routinely has people benching 300+.  I can't confirm they're natural or not but after reading an article from barbell medicine, I think, about 1 in 6 people you see in the gym have taken or are taking steroids.  So statistically, there are plenty of natural lifters benching over 300.  Why is this so scary to believe.

Your logic is flawed. Let's assume that 1-in-6 thing is correct (it doesn't matter actually). That ratio doesn't translate to the subgroup of people who are benching over 300. In theory, all people there could be on drugs and you don't know the ratio in that particular subgroup.

Now, I think that some of you guys are missing the point. It's not impossible or unnatural to have over 300lbs bench as a natty. But it's not about whether it's possible but about probability. Let me explain further.

I don't use lbs so I am gonna talk about 140kg bench (that's 309lbs, close enough). Well, depending on your weight 140kg bench is either advanced number for heavier guys (unless you are really heavy like 110+kg) or elite number for lighter guys. Or something in-between. Yeah, I know that on the internet you are basically a loser if you can't bench 140, but the real world is something different. Now the estimation is that only about 20% of the lifters are advanced and have advanced numbers. I would say it's even lower but never mind. We don't know how many of those advanced lifters are on drugs. But our experience can help. What we do know is that in order to reach advanced numbers as a natural you have to be dedicated, you have to know how to train and you need time. And only small percentage of people have all of that. Not to mention that most lighter guys would never reach that number unless they are genetically gifted. So the conclusion is that while 140 is not impossible for a natural only a few of them will get there. On the other hand if you take drugs you will reach advanced numbers pretty quickly. Then you will have to put some work for elite numbers but that's not important now. My point is that almost everyone who is on drugs has advanced numbers. Just look around. I see many bodybuilders in my gym who are repping 110 or 120  for 10 reps. So they all have at least 140 1RM, and they don't even train for strength, they don't even know anything about programming, they are just doing their chest workout. Dumb people on the internet say that bodybuilders are weak (they are weak only compared to powerlifters), but you can't be weak when you have advanced numbers. And I have seen only two guys in my gym who are natural and can bench 140, yet there are like 15+ who can bench that weight just because they are on drugs. So the next time you see a guy benching over 140 ask yourself what's the chance that he is actually natural. On the one side you have a small number of dedicated naturals and on the other side you basically have everyone who is on drugs. And as I said it's not about possibility, it's about probability.