Can't gain strength on Bench and Press no matter what

[PLInTheMaking]

So I'm at a point in my lifting career where I should be adding weight to the bar each workout, being that I can only bench 120x6 and OHP 85x5, however for some odd reason I fail to make progress.

It just doesn't make sense to me, I've tried 5x5's 3x5's, Canditos Linear Training, and am now on a Upper/Lower split with higher volume.

Ive gained 15 pounds bodyweight in the last 6 months while training consistently , and my strength gains have looked something like this:

Bench: 110x5----120x6

Press: 75x5-----85x6

Now that I changed my training from 3x5's and 5x5's to higher volume, my squat and deadlift are finally increasing pretty well but upper body lifts won't move. Is it possible i have some sort of medical issue that doesn't allow me to make good progress?

It just makes no sense to me, I put so much effort into this yet make no progress

[McCabesLifts]

It's a medical condition called eat more

[PLInTheMaking]

It's a medical condition called eat more

Do you really think this is the cause? I mean I've been gaining over .5 lbs a week which I thought was more then what is recommended.

[TimThebodeau]

OP try focusing more on your weak point in the lift. If your lockout is the issue, do movements that'll supplement that portion of the bench press (tricep work, pin presses, etc.)

[NorthStrong]

Your bodyweight increase seems to be going at a decent rate. Doing more of something is usually a good way to get better at it, so more volume might help, but I wouldn't reach for that off the first bat.

However, those bench and press numbers are both fairly low. What is your program like right now? Are you sleeping consistently? Are you really trying as hard as you possibly can to do the best work during your training sessions?

[IsraeliPride]

Make sure your form is correct firstly. Are you doing powerlifting bench press? If so make sure to check a good youtube video on the correct way.

[arian11]

Hire a coach.

[samsont]

So I'm at a point in my lifting career where I should be adding weight to the bar each workout, being that I can only bench 120x6 and OHP 85x5, however for some odd reason I fail to make progress.

It just doesn't make sense to me, I've tried 5x5's 3x5's, Canditos Linear Training, and am now on a Upper/Lower split with higher volume.

Ive gained 15 pounds bodyweight in the last 6 months while training consistently , and my strength gains have looked something like this:

Bench: 110x5----120x6

Press: 75x5-----85x6

Now that I changed my training from 3x5's and 5x5's to higher volume, my squat and deadlift are finally increasing pretty well but upper body lifts won't move. Is it possible i have some sort of medical issue that doesn't allow me to make good progress?

It just makes no sense to me, I put so much effort into this yet make no progress

go heavy and then do high reps after. work hard. don't box yourself into just doing 3x5 or 5x5 or silly stuff like that. don't be afraid to do bodybuilding stuff, dumbbells, skull crushers, pec deck, delt raises, machines. get bigger, get stronger.

this isn't very far off from what the average gym bro does, and in most big commercial gyms plenty of dumb-asses have decent benches. Seriously just think about that. I think a lot of beginner PL'ers really out think themselves with programming and all the youtube stuff.

[PLInTheMaking]

Well I was doing strictly 5x5's or 3x5's previous to the last month.. the last month I was sick of the lack of progress and decided to change things up with my program and do much more volume. Basically I started a month ago just aiming for a total of 20 reps with a certain weight and adding 5 pounds weekly.

So a month ago I did 100x11, 100x7, 100x2. This week I did 120x6, 120x5, 120x4,120x5. After that I do a lot of volume, Incline Bench Press, Dips, skull crushers, pec flies. I think changing it has helped a lot but not really as much as Id hope.

Yes I am getting enough sleep, I make it a priority to get atleast 7 hours of sleep every day.. And honestly I try as hard as I can in the gym, I might not be as intense as a lot of people but I try to get fired up and give it everything I have on each set..

Im going to keep the course for now, and look into hiring a coach. Honestly it sucks cuz I know someone as weak as I am shouldn't really need a coach to make progress, but I'm tired of this ****

[screamingjesus]

what's your height/weight? How long have you been training with consistency? How is your form? Are you sticking strictly to the routine or adding stuff to it?

[Shawal16]

For some people presses are just easy and for others not so much. I'm definitely in the latter category. What helped my bench was perfecting my form.
- I pin my upper back tight against the bench, and retract my lats. Which gives me a slight arch on the bench. ( The PL bench press arch was never comfortable to me).
- Next I plant my feet hard on the ground for some leg drive.
- Work on finding the perfect grip.. and stick with it. Initially i was inconsistently sometimes I would be wide sometimes close. That's problematic in itself because grip determines the primary muscles.

OHP
- Just like the bench its important to find the perfect grip for you and stick with it.
- When i'm pressing I keep my glutes and abs tight. Makes for a much more stable base.

[Rags85]

OP try focusing more on your weak point in the lift. If your lockout is the issue, do movements that'll supplement that portion of the bench press (tricep work, pin presses, etc.)

He is benching 120x6. The entire lift is a weak point.

OP, for most people at your level benching improves a lot with just more volume. Bench, bench and then bench some more. Do a 5x5 then amrap a few sets after. No offense, but you are weak, your body will recover from a few weekly sets to exhaustion at this point. Also, Practice makes perfect. Keep in mind, you are learning a skill. A skill that requires a lot of practice to be proficient at it.

[smokinHawk]

[kaleida]

My bench has been in a similar dilemma for a while and my new (to me) strategy is making sure I'm reaching outside my volume comfort zone as often as I can. I built a chart to help me visualize my volume comfort zone - it is from liftingcharts.com which is a free mobile-friendly website I built for log entry and charts.



Personally, I need a very large number of sets to get outside my volume comfort zone for bench press, I can do a lot of volume with a relatively high percent of max, and that is not true of my other lifts for some reason. My other lifts have a much steeper slope in this chart.

[308smk]

Eat more. Like double that chit

Fix your technique.

Bench more often and do a ton of dumbbell work.

Don't use ****ty equipment.

[JUGGERNAUT1333]

Agreement with everyone who says work on your technique. Most beginners don't realize how much actually goes into a powerlifting bench. A small fix in technique can go a long way.

Any chance of shooting a video for us to watch? A lot of the experts here will probably pick out your problem easily.

[breathinglife]

No offense, but if you are 17 and benching 120x6... you don't need to get all confused with advanced training info. Even if you've gained 15 lbs in 6 months (that's quite slow, I've done that in a month), you need to up your game with eating.

How much do you weigh?

Coaches are great, but not at all necessary for someone benching 120x6. That's where I started. All I did was follow simple powerlifting routines and eat tons. I'm now benching nearly 400 without changing any of that. Still doing simple routines. Still eating a lot if I want to get stronger.

[PLInTheMaking]

http://youtu.be/mjffrSMO7Rc

Heres a video, ive put it up before asking for form critiques and people have said theres no major issue with my form. Of course if you guys see anything that might be off id really appreciate and could use the critiques

And with eating more, ive basically decided to increas my calories. Im gaining weight at a decent rate but not strength, time to add some milk to my diet

[kaleida]

http://youtu.be/mjffrSMO7Rc

Heres a video, ive put it up before asking for form critiques and people have said theres no major issue with my form. Of course if you guys see anything that might be off id really appreciate and could use the critiques

And with eating more, ive basically decided to increas my calories. Im gaining weight at a decent rate but not strength, time to add some milk to my diet

I think your setup looks looser than it could be, and because of that your vertical and horizontal ROM is bigger than it needs to be. Can you get your chest higher and closer to your face while still maintaining butt contact on the bench? (For example, one or more of the following: arching your back more, setting up with your upper traps on the bench instead of your shoulder blades flat on the bench, puffing up your chest with a huge breath of air before the bar descends. You might not be able to do everything in that list, but you could probably do some of it - whatever doesn't hurt.)

Reducing ROM would help you do a heavier legal bench press with current strength levels ...most of the other suggestions in here so far are about increasing strength and those are excellent suggestions too...ideally you should work on both.

When I run into a plateau it helps me to make sure I have resolved all tendon or joint pains, I'm regularly reaching past my comfort zone with volume, I'm working in a variety of different rep ranges, and my weight is not dropping (sounds like you have the last one covered already).

[kaleida]

After watching the video one more time time, I wonder if going to almost-failure is working against the goal of getting more volume. I know I can do a lot more volume if I end each set without a struggle and just do more sets. When I try to maximize the number of reps in a single set then I feel exhausted before I can get enough overall volume.

[PLInTheMaking]

After watching the video one more time time, I wonder if going to almost-failure is working against the goal of getting more volume. I know I can do a lot more volume if I end each set without a struggle and just do more sets. When I try to maximize the number of reps in a single set then I feel exhausted before I can get enough overall volume.

Yeah, maybe this is my problem. Its just crazy because ive gotten so much stronger in my squat and deadlift training this way (They were also stuck while I was on 5x5's and such)

[kaleida]

Yeah, maybe this is my problem. Its just crazy because ive gotten so much stronger in my squat and deadlift training this way (They were also stuck while I was on 5x5's and such)

I think I know what you mean although I am not exactly sure how to explain why it happened. My squat and deadlift also got a boost at one point from very large sets to near-failure (15-20ish reps), but when I tried the same thing in my bench press it didn't seem to make much difference. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the large squat & deadlift sets helped me work with a higher percent of my max for smaller sets (2-6 reps), and then that work helped my max. I still have a pretty steep dropoff from max to repping ability for squat and deadlift, but the large sets made it less steep. For whatever reason I can already do bench press volume with a pretty high percent of my bench press max, so maybe it didn't change anything for my bench press because I was already doing volume with a high percent of my max. Just wasn't doing enough volume to get to new volume territory for that weight.

[thelojones]

Along with the advice given i'd say your weakness is in the triceps. Triceps are a huge part of bench. They also make up 2/3rds of you arm and will make them look much bigger. Bonus: girls love big arms.

There are tons of good tricep exercise but the one that worked best for me was the press down with a v bar attachment on the cable machine.

[Lilbambito]

why don't you post your workout routine and show us what your training looks like?

Sometimes it has to do with not doing accessory movements to help the main lift. I know for myself I would always stall as a beginner at 150x5. Started doing dumbell work and tricep work and it helped. Floor presses also helped. Another issue is food. Not eating enough, but sometimes not eating enough day before or before you lift.

At that weight it has to be something trivial that is holding you back.

[bigasianboi]

you are a beginner and you've barely been lifting

3 tips:
-EAT MORE
-TRAIN HARD
-HIRE A COACH

You don't need to "work your lockout" or your "weak points" cause let's be honest, as a beginner, everything is weak. You need to build everything up
You just started training. Don't say you can't get stronger on certain exercises "no matter what" when you haven't even been training for 10 years. Even THEN you can still get stronger.
Be consistent. This is a lifelong journey. If you don't have the heart then leave. Don't blame it on some "medical issue".
You need a coach to fix up your form cause chances are, you're doing it wrong.

All this is just tough love buddy. Get your act together and we're all gonna make it.

[TSNBTAN]

Quit heavy nightly drinking a week ago. BP went up 7.5kg. First bench session since I quit the poison.

Might be something for you there or not OP but best of luck.

-fellow crap bencher.

[thelojones]

Quit heavy nightly drinking a week ago. BP went up 7.5kg. First bench session since I quit the poison.

Might be something for you there or not OP but best of luck.

-fellow crap bencher.

OP is 17 so I would hope that isn't his problem

[carolinahbrah]

No offense, but if you are 17 and benching 120x6... you don't need to get all confused with advanced training info. Even if you've gained 15 lbs in 6 months (that's quite slow, I've done that in a month), you need to up your game with eating.

How much do you weigh?

Coaches are great, but not at all necessary for someone benching 120x6. That's where I started. All I did was follow simple powerlifting routines and eat tons. I'm now benching nearly 400 without changing any of that. Still doing simple routines. Still eating a lot if I want to get stronger.

Maybe you did gain weight that fast, but most of it was fat. I think it is foolish to suggest OP should be gaining more than .5-1 lbs per week.

[TSNBTAN]

OP is 17 so I would hope that isn't his problem

Lolz mossed that. Yeah good point. Slso i wouldn't worry too much about my numbers while I'm still growing.

[joshuadelapenha]

Well I was doing strictly 5x5's or 3x5's previous to the last month.. the last month I was sick of the lack of progress and decided to change things up with my program and do much more volume. Basically I started a month ago just aiming for a total of 20 reps with a certain weight and adding 5 pounds weekly.

So a month ago I did 100x11, 100x7, 100x2. This week I did 120x6, 120x5, 120x4,120x5. After that I do a lot of volume, Incline Bench Press, Dips, skull crushers, pec flies. I think changing it has helped a lot but not really as much as Id hope.

IMO sounds like you got bored and decided to mess around/jump around a bit. Doesn't sound like your programming is solid.