It's the little victories...

[Hikeon3]

I've heard it for a long time: Eat big to gain big.

This last week I did this.

For 5-6 months I've been stuck failing @ 155lb at the top of my pyramid on flat bench. Well, last week Sunday I did the same thing. Pyramid 135, 145, 150, 155 and failing on 3-4 reps as usual. But then this last week I LOADED up on food.

4000 cals + daily, keeping my normal routine. Oats, Milk, Tuna, Broccoli, Chicken Breast, Pasta, Almonds, Avocadoes, Sweet Potatoes, Cottage Cheese at night, Whey in the morning and post workout, religiously for the past week.

Well, today I shattered that 155 plateau. I warmed up on the bar, 135 felt fine for 10, 145 even felt great for 8, so I jumped it to 155 immediately so I could perform a few work sets. 155 felt fine for about 2, so I jumped to 160 for 6, then 165 for 6, then threw on 170 and repped 6, nearly failing on the final rep (I don't have a spotter). This felt AWESOME.

So, good, hard eating and good hard training helped me bust through this plateau. Now I'm just excited about where I can go next, and maybe finally seeing the 200 mark.

Thanks to everyone on the boards for all the discussion and information that is so easy to find on this forum.

[Bringindapain]

Its amazing what actually eating lot does for you, not just saying you eat a lot. Keep giving your body an excess of calories while lifting hard, and the body will have no choice but to adapt.

[dbx]

I've heard it for a long time: Eat big to gain big.

This last week I did this.

For 5-6 months I've been stuck failing @ 155lb at the top of my pyramid on flat bench. Well, last week Sunday I did the same thing. Pyramid 135, 145, 150, 155 and failing on 3-4 reps as usual. But then this last week I LOADED up on food.

4000 cals + daily, keeping my normal routine. Oats, Milk, Tuna, Broccoli, Chicken Breast, Pasta, Almonds, Avocadoes, Sweet Potatoes, Cottage Cheese at night, Whey in the morning and post workout, religiously for the past week.

Well, today I shattered that 155 plateau. I warmed up on the bar, 135 felt fine for 10, 145 even felt great for 8, so I jumped it to 155 immediately so I could perform a few work sets. 155 felt fine for about 2, so I jumped to 160 for 6, then 165 for 6, then threw on 170 and repped 6, nearly failing on the final rep (I don't have a spotter). This felt AWESOME.

So, good, hard eating and good hard training helped me bust through this plateau. Now I'm just excited about where I can go next, and maybe finally seeing the 200 mark.

Thanks to everyone on the boards for all the discussion and information that is so easy to find on this forum.

Congrats! Yes, it does feel good, doesn't it?

If you want to go even further, try this warm-up/acclimation method:
50%-12 reps
50%-10
67%-6
82%-3
93%-1

Base the % on what your ending working weight will be. In other words, if you're going to work with 180, start with 50% (or 90lbs). It'll make a believer out of you.

[Hikeon3]

I may give that a shot. What should the rep range on the final set be? Or should it just be a "to failure" circumstance?

[dbx]

I may give that a shot. What should the rep range on the final set be? Or should it just be a "to failure" circumstance?

I'm not a believer in training to absolute failure. You working sets with a scheme like I described would typically be 4-6 rep range. In other words, heavy. However, you can use the same scheme for different rep ranges....you just have to guestimate what your working weight will be with "X" amount of reps, and make adjustments accordingly. Obviously, if you end up changine the weight up or down, you'll be changing the warm up numbers.