Hey there,
first of all: I know you guys say it's impossible to plateau when you're <225 lbs, but I just can't get it up. I'm at 140 lbs and can do about 6-8 reps with it for the first set, after that it's straight to failure after 5 reps and I'll rep it out with a spotter for 1 rep extra.
Should I just increase the weight even though I can only complete my reps (6-8 reps is my aim) for one set, or should I just continue pushing myself until I can do 4 full sets of 6-8 reps?
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Thread: Bench press plateau
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12-29-2012, 01:12 PM #1
- Join Date: Oct 2012
- Location: Berkel en Rodenrijs, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
- Posts: 160
- Rep Power: 0
Bench press plateau
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12-29-2012, 01:13 PM #2
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12-29-2012, 03:25 PM #3
@ 6ft 178lbs, and your bench isn't going up, You gotta be doing something way wrong, switch to dumbbells for a bit, and eat more... but Honestly, I have no idea how your stuck @ 140lbs. I know a girl @ my Gym who's like a solid 120lbs who can Bench 135lbs for reps.
Keep lifting I guess...Exercise to stimulate, not to annihilate. The world wasn't formed in a day, and neither were we. Set small goals and build upon them.
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12-29-2012, 03:30 PM #4
You add more weight... and go down one or two reps next session....than the session after that you go down one rep....than the session after that bam your 5lbs heavier at the same reps...whys this hard lol?
Bench Press: 205x5[x] 210x5[x] 215x5[x] 220x5[x] 225 x 5[x] 230x5 []
^^Scratched the 5x5 program. Lifting BP 255 x 10, do not know max as I could care less.
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12-29-2012, 05:22 PM #5
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12-29-2012, 05:45 PM #6
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12-29-2012, 06:19 PM #7
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12-29-2012, 10:49 PM #8
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12-30-2012, 06:50 PM #9
- Join Date: Oct 2012
- Location: Berkel en Rodenrijs, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
- Posts: 160
- Rep Power: 0
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12-30-2012, 06:57 PM #10
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12-30-2012, 06:59 PM #11
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12-30-2012, 07:01 PM #12
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12-31-2012, 08:49 AM #13
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12-31-2012, 09:32 AM #14
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01-01-2013, 03:46 PM #15
- Join Date: Oct 2012
- Location: Berkel en Rodenrijs, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
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Oh, I am not afraid to eat haha! I'm eating my brains out, I'm putting on several pounds per month with some of it being fat yes; but still, rather have a bit of fat and cut than gaining no muscle (and yeah, I know about fatcells; so I'll keep it at a minimum). Like I stated in my bodystats: goal is around 200 lbs before I'm going to cut a little, maybe even going to 210 lbs
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01-01-2013, 05:02 PM #16
I still don't fully understand what your main goal here is. It sounds like you are worried about how much you can bench, but then you're also talking about building mass.
What EXACTLY do you want from your bench press? What goal are you trying to achieve?
Without a goal in mind, it is impossible to get stuck, so you are not plateu'ed.
"Get bigger and stronger" is not a specific goal btw. Way too broad, not enough focus.
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01-02-2013, 05:10 PM #17
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01-02-2013, 06:06 PM #18
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01-02-2013, 07:44 PM #19
It is basically asinine to hope for strength gains if you are training as high as 8 reps. Will they come? Sure. But are you gonna work your way up to 315 bench by doing 6-8 reps? Hell no. Not anytime soon at least.
The most you can do to REASONABLY develop your goal of moving more weight is 5 rep sets. The MOST. I recommend lower, somewhere between 2-4, depending on the rest of your programming. This is the only way you are going to add real weight to the bar.
Any time you go above 5 reps with a heavy weight, your form WILL SUFFER. It is pretty much humanly impossible to do 8 perfect reps with a weight you can only do 8 reps with. THIS is why you are stalling. You're done with your noob strength gains (which could come from doing any damn program you pick) and now you need a real, science-based routine if your goal is to put up steadily increasing numbers on the bench.
Think of the biological reasons that this is due to. When a human being is in nature, is he going to need to lift multiple times his bodyweight for 8 repetitions?? No. So it is very hard to try to develop that type of strength once you get to a certain point. Your body simply uses two different types of biological systems to do heavy short lifting versus lighter sustained lifting. When you try to do heavy sustained lifting you are gonna end up just training neither of those systems.
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01-02-2013, 09:52 PM #20
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01-02-2013, 10:17 PM #21
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01-03-2013, 04:13 AM #22
- Join Date: Oct 2012
- Location: Berkel en Rodenrijs, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
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Well, if you are able to do 6 reps at the last set; you should be increasing the weight by just one heavier. So maybe do 60, 60, 60, 60 or even 60, 60, 65, 65 (I don't know if this is one heavier, here we use the metric system). Just keep on pushing yourself. When you are able to do all your reps just perfectly; your body will not see a need to improve (:
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01-03-2013, 04:14 AM #23
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01-03-2013, 05:41 AM #24
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01-03-2013, 07:01 AM #25
so if this is your mindset, why are you working in a bodybuilding rep range before a power lifting rep range? get your bench up, then add reps. if you know this and aren't doing it, how is anyone supposed to provide advice?
find a strength-based, linear progression routine for a couple months. get strong, then get big.
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01-04-2013, 03:32 PM #26
- Join Date: Oct 2012
- Location: Berkel en Rodenrijs, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
- Posts: 160
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I'm a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter. But I know that for your body to grow, it has to adapt to higher weights. I don't care about lifting 405 lbs for reps, I just wanna see some progression you know.
I did do a 5x5 program before, but I didn't like it. I didn't grow and my numbers weren't going up as fast as when I went with 6-7 reps, weird I know.
But you guys are probably right, maybe I should just give a strengthroutine another try
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01-04-2013, 04:32 PM #27
If you want to increase the weight without plateau's you should be aiming at the 1-5 rep range almost exclusively for now. Pushing it to your limit and having your partner assist you on a rep or two once you fail. Don't be afraid of assisted reps or partial reps at the end of your set, when utilized properly they will allow you to work your muscles harder than if you simply stopped at failure. Keep up with that until you are at the 180-200 range and then you should be prepared for some higher intensity techniques to severely limit plateau's.
After you have built a solid foundation of true strength, then you can effectively stimulate your muscles to grow by training for size after that.Pound for Pound Strength is what I strive for.
-Member of the 300 Press Club-
-Member of the Double Bodyweight Press Club-
-NASM Certified Personal Trainer-
-Studying for NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist as we speak-
-Double majoring for a BS in Exercise Science/ MS in Nutrition-
-Looking forward to attaining a CSCS once I have achieved my BS-
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01-04-2013, 04:53 PM #28
You don't need to have either a strength routine OR a hypertrophy routine. You can mix and match some aspects that highlight both worlds.
The main thing you need to learn is that if you are doing heavy sets of 8 reps, you shouldn't expect the weight on the bar to go up very fast. Stalling for weeks at a time will be normal, because sets of 8 simply aren't designed to give you strength.
There are other options out there. Have you checked out Layne Norton's PHAT routine? I havent done it myself but I plan to when I start bulking in 3 months. It incorporates a mix of exercises for strength gains and size gains. You do low rep and high rep work in the same week. Perhaps thats just the thing you are looking for
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01-05-2013, 05:15 PM #29
If you remember anything, remember this. You have to feel the weight in your hands before you can lift it. Your body and tendons are not used to holding 185lbs or higher weight so you might want to start looking at doing rack lockouts and negatives (with a spotter) just to get the feel of how that much weight feels.
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