Bench Press has gone down

[writher]

Hey guys,
I started lifting weights almost exactly a year ago. Back then I could press about 85 pounds on barbell and 25 pounds in each hand on dumbells.

In the summer my barbell bench was up to 155 and my dumbell press was up to 55. Now my barbell bench is back down to 135 and seems to be stuck there while my dumbell press has gone up to 60. I work out about 6 days a week....although many times I will just go in and do abs or calves/bis on days where my major muscle groups are fatigued....so a typical workout routine would be something like:

Day 1: Chest/Tri
Day 2: Back/Bi
Day 3: Shoulder/forearm/Trap
Day 4: Leg
Day 5: Bis/Abs
Day 6: Off

Or possibly like this:

Day 1: Shoulder/forearm/trap
Day 2: Back/bi
Day 3: Leg
Day 4: Chest/Tri
Day 5: Bis/abs/Calves
Day 6: Off

I cannot seem to get my barbell bench press over 155...it just goes up and down between 135 and 155 now. When I do bench should I only do one "press" motion per chest day? (IE Just flat bench or incline or decline) Or could I do 2 sets of one and 2 of another? Or 4 sets of each?

Thanks.

[DJAuto]

Concentrate on dumbbell press for awhile. Then try bench press again.

Change something...your routine, diet etc.

[J2jud]

This is not enough info....give a little more Description. Whats yout chest reps and sets like? If your not doing so then Pyramid your training. This is a quick way to get your strength up!! Overtraining might give you this side effect. Whats your energy levels?

[Blimp2Pimp]

Overtraining possibly? If you are one of those guys in the gym (life myself) who brutalizes their body when they train than it's a good idea to take a week off every 2-3 months. I have noticed that even though i do have relatively steady gains, after 3-4 months my strength slowly starts to diminish. The only way to gain your strength back (for me atleast) is too take time off. I just came back from taking 4 days off and feel amazing now. I came back at the same strength I was at my peak of training.

Take time off, but please don't neglect diet. Without this you will be nothing.

[jason_bh]

Hey guys,
I started lifting weights almost exactly a year ago. Back then I could press about 85 pounds on barbell and 25 pounds in each hand on dumbells.

In the summer my barbell bench was up to 155 and my dumbell press was up to 55. Now my barbell bench is back down to 135 and seems to be stuck there while my dumbell press has gone up to 60. I work out about 6 days a week....although many times I will just go in and do abs or calves/bis on days where my major muscle groups are fatigued....so a typical workout routine would be something like:

Day 1: Chest/Tri
Day 2: Back/Bi
Day 3: Shoulder/forearm/Trap
Day 4: Leg
Day 5: Bis/Abs
Day 6: Off

Or possibly like this:

Day 1: Shoulder/forearm/trap
Day 2: Back/bi
Day 3: Leg
Day 4: Chest/Tri
Day 5: Bis/abs/Calves
Day 6: Off

I cannot seem to get my barbell bench press over 155...it just goes up and down between 135 and 155 now. When I do bench should I only do one "press" motion per chest day? (IE Just flat bench or incline or decline) Or could I do 2 sets of one and 2 of another? Or 4 sets of each?

Thanks.

Being lifting for a year? No offense, but you're still a newbie. I really think that you need to "nail down" a program for yourself and not just go with what you feel is right. Find a solid program and stick with it for a while. What you have described above doesn't sound like there is a plan to the "madness". I could be wrong here, because there's not enough info, but it doesn't look like you have a plan of progression.

[Guardian]

How old are you? People that are young can hit genetic platueaus.


At 16 I was stuck at 115 on the bench in high school. I took the summer off came back the next year after some natural growth and suddenly was reping 135.

I dont feel lifting stunts growth, but I think until your older you can more easily hit platueaus and at that age you shoulldnt take extreme measures to break them.

[ElderJefferson]

How old are you? People that are young can hit genetic platueaus.

Great point. That whole puberty thing can make a world of difference.

Also, most plateaus come about from either poor nutrition or lack of rest. Are you keeping your diet in check, and do you take periodic breaks from the gym (I go a week w/o lifting every 6 weeks)?

[a_nelson]

There is definitely something beneficial about takin time off every now and then. Last year I hit somewhat of a plateau on bench, took a week off of lifting over spring break while not keeping a very good diet and going out a lot. However when I came back my bench sets went up 10 lbs.

[writher]

Hey guys,
Thanks for all the responses.

First I am 22 so I do not think age is a factor.

Energy levels is a possibility - one thing is that in the summer I was taking no-xplode (or xpand) and xfactor ....so that may have been helping my gains. Right now the only supplements I take are Whey Protein, NOW Adam Multis, and the occasional fish oil (I have a lot of salmon and tilapia in my normal diet so I don't need to supplement that often).

As far as dumbell vs. Barbell I prefer doing barbell because I feel like I get the most gains from it in terms of muscle firmness/appearance. I only use dumbells when I don't have a spotter to work with. In the summer when I had a spotter everytime, I could definitely tell that my chest had significantly improved, and I feel I have lost much of those gains since. My last two girlfriends both had the same (somewhat joking) criticism of my chest being less firm than the rest of my body (both of them loved my triceps, back, legs, and butt).

My diet - I don't have a written diet....but I follow the saying "When in doubt - eat" and I find myself eating at every possible free moment in my day, and my foods always include some protein and they usually include an amount of carbs and fat. I eat whole grain cereal, eggs, protein shakes, chicken breast, lentil soup, salmon, tilapia, homemade protein bars (with oats), multigrain pasta (the kind I have actually has 10g of protein per serving also), canned tuna (usually eat this with toasted whole wheat bread), steak, cashews, cheeses (usually in a turkey sandwich or something), etc

One more question - I am kind of tall (6'3" ish) and I have long arms....I often feel that if I go down all the way with the bench press movement I have pain in my right shoulder, and once I get this pain I am unable to do flyes because I feel like it pushes in on my rotator cuff. If I do not go down all the way, I do not get this pain, and I do not experience this pain on any other workout day.

[Guardian]

Im a fan of full rom and good form but for someone of your height you may want to try partial reps and see if that helps. I pretty much never get joint pain so I tend to stick to full movements Bu tI have read taller guys may wish to use a more limited range of motion to help trigger growth.