Bench Press Atrophy

[johnny44]

Hi. I have a serious problem. 2 months ago I moved my bench press wiehgt up to 155 lb. from 145. (16 yr. old, bodybuilding just a hobby(but still dedicated and take it seriously)for those who think the number is low) and could do around 60 reps in 7 sets. All the while I upped my dumbells from 50lb. to 55lb, and then 55lb to 60lb, which I am currently using. Anyways, all was well until around a month ago when it seemed like EVERY time I benched I was weaker and I could do less and less reps. I went down to 150lb, thinking that would be easier, but my body seems just as weak and seems like my bench and chesta re getting weaker every day!!!! At first I thoguht I had merely jumped up in wiehgts too high because I usually only increase 5lb but then I went 10lb and I thought I hurt my body. I also thought I may have overtrained and did as much as I could think of to correct it. I ate better, tried to get more sleep, and took more days off, butr nothing seemed to help. It feels like I'm running out of options!!! Meanwhile, the weird part is my arms/biceps have never been stronger. While my pecs have been getting weaker I am sailing right through my curls. What gives? I also thought my shcedule may have something to do with it. It is , eadch exercise for one day: curls, next day, bench, next day cardio. I used to do bench then curls but I switched when I noticed the atrophy. Should I go back or what? What should I do to regain my chest?????? It seems like the more I try to regain it the more it goes away. All suggestions welcome. thanks for reading my long a-s b--chin question.

[$AJ]

from the sounds of it your routine is pretty damn horrible. (and it follows that diet would be as well)

[The Real Deal]

diet, eat more

[noforunner]

you do nothing but chest, biceps, and cardio? what happened to legs? or back? or delts? or triceps? or all the other smaller muscles... there is your main problem.. and doin chest every 3 or 4 days may be your problem.. i do chest once a week

[_Dominik_]

Originally Posted by $AJ

from the sounds of it your routine is pretty damn horrible. (and it follows that diet would be as well)

That's a pretty broad assumption to make isn't it?

To the original poster, and excuse the rant, I'd like to help you. Read on...

Some people would have you believe that when you reach a plateau the right thing to do is try and blast through it. It's a really flawed approach and I was guilty of believing it was the way to train for quite some time.

AJ's first thought is you're doing something wrong. It's nothing personal, but it's pretty consistent with the gung-ho approach in bodybuilding where you're expected to go for broke and when it suddenly stops working... *drum roll* go harder! This is a proven recipe for overtraining, injuries, and limiting progress. Let me see if I understand this correctly. You've made steady gains in strength over 1-2 months, now you're having trouble going further, you're beginning to go backwards, and suddenly it's because you're doing something wrong??? It annoys me that someone who claims to be regularly injured is now telling someone they're doing something wrong because they can't train any harder. Please.

I don't have a crystal ball but my guess is you've done nothing wrong at all. You most likely reached a plateau with strength and now it's time to change gears. Step back. Deload. Back the weight off slightly and spend a few weeks training with less weight at higher reps. Here's an idea. Break up your training volume into intensity ranges. For starters, try 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12. Now, obviously you'll be able to lift the most weight in the 6-8 range. Since you've made some gains and reached a plateau, let's drop that range for now and move back to doing your compounds at 8-10 and your isolation work at 10-12. After a few weeks, start phasing in the lower rep work with longer rest times. Now you might be doing a few sets at 6-8 after a warmup, some at 8-10, and some at 10-12. Gradually you do more of the lower rep training until you start to plateau again. Try seeing those 3 "zones" as gears, and just like driving a car you don't spend all your time in one gear. Ditto with your training.

I could go into more detail but I've done it at least 50 times before. Just try to think in terms of intensity. There are many ways to go about it and what I explained above is a very simple BB-oriented approach that might work for you. Try to see it like this: just because you maxed out in one of those "gears", it doesn't mean you can't drive the car. Just spend some time training in a higher rep range before returning to the heavier stuff.