Maintenance of Skeletal Muscle Mass Does Not Guarantee Bench Press Performance: A Body-Composition Case Study.

The bench press is one of the three powerlifting movements and is commonly viewed as a movement in which preservation of muscle mass should help preserve maximal performance. In practice, however, bench press strength output may also be influenced by body size, torso dimensions, and the mechanical conditions under which force is expressed. This case describes a decline in the one-rep max bench press during intentional weight loss despite relative maintenance of skeletal muscle mass on serial body-composition testing. A 25-year-old male with a past medical history of prehypertension and dyslipidemia underwent serial body-composition testing over a 12-week period. At baseline, the body weight was 82.9 kg, and the one-rep max bench press was 172.5 kg (380 lb). At follow-up after a 12-week time period, the body weight had intentionally decreased to 76.0 kg, and the one-rep max bench press had decreased to 143 kg (315 lb). Body-composition analysis showed that the reduction in total body weight was driven predominantly by fat loss. Body fat mass decreased from 17.9 kg to 11.2 kg, the percentage of body fat decreased from 21.6% to 14.7%, and visceral fat area decreased from 78.5 cm