My bench press sucks - but it might be related to my physiology.

[Slufa111]

what a lot of people dont understand is you need to train the rest of your body with the same intensity.

For example if you lift and gain good gains for a year or so on your bench then hit a rut.....i would suggest training tris and shoulder with 110% intensity and heavy ass weight.....also eat more.....your body works together. Thats something I see day in and day out... ppl going to the gym and banging out bench press after bench press with no cardio or other excerises....

it might help you too if you shock your muscle by doing a different routine.......Try a 5x5

 

[maluckey]

what a lot of people dont understand is you need to train the rest of your body with the same intensity.

For example if you lift and gain good gains for a year or so on your bench then hit a rut.....i would suggest training tris and shoulder with 110% intensity and heavy ass weight.....also eat more.....your body works together. Thats something I see day in and day out... ppl going to the gym and banging out bench press after bench press with no cardio or other excerises....

So true.

I'd add that the Pros actually do "shock" sets at times. Back in the Early 90's, I saw a former Mr. Michigan go through six, 25-rep sets with less than a minute in-between sets. he explained that the body is naturally lazy and will only build to the level that it needs to. If you always do the same workout, then you only get the same body.

I also went to a lecture on bodybuilding that In 1996, the speaker (I can't rememember his name) said that progressive overload is the only way to grow. You need more weight and reps than you did at your last workout for that same excercise. Doing the same amount of reps and weight, means your body is doing the same thing....which means it's not changing or gettting stronger.

I myself say that if the weight bar, or the number of reps isn't changing, then neither are you.

Here's a common sense approach to volume training (nitice the changeup in the routine on page 2)

10 x 10

 

[newmachineoverlord]

There are anatomical differences that make some people more likely to injure themselves during a bench press and less likely to be good at the bench press.

 

[Koing]

You do very little volume and the fly machine is pretty sh!t for improving your bench press.

Weighted dips are great for tricep work, with some pec work.

I hurt my shoulder last year and haven't been able to bench press in about 9months. I have been hammering weighted dips and pull ups for the past 2months 2x a week.

A few weeks ago I bashed out 100kg x 3reps x 6sets. Every session since I have gained about a kg. On Saturday I did 108kg x 3reps x 5sets then 108kg x 5reps for the 6th set. My 1RM when I was BP was 112Kg paused.

I only stick with the flat bench press. I haven't done declien or incline in ages.

If you want a stronger flat barbell bench press you need to do that more. The rule of specificity. You will want to do the flat bench press 2x a week. Do some weighted dips on your off days.

You haven't done any volume.

I'd recommend 12reps x 3sets of volume for 6 weeks then take an easy week and start drilling down the reps and upping the sets:

8reps x 4sets; 1 week recovery
6reps x 5sets; 1 week recovery
3reps x 6sets; 1 week recovery

do each rep and set scheme for 4-6 weeks. There is a MULTITUDE of different schemes and such to improve your flat bench press.

You should getting results every year on all of your exercises barring any injuires.

Do you brace the floor with your feet? Are your abs really tight? Are you holding your breath on the eccentric phase of the bench press? The eccentric phase of the bench press is when your lowering the bar down to touch your chest. Once touch push the bar backtowards your face AND UP AT THE SAME TIME. The bar doesn't just go up and down. it moves in a 'reverse' J if you were to watch the path of the barbell. Breath out as your pressing the bar up. Abs TIGHT ALL THE TIME. Push hard on the floor with your feet.

Koing

 

[DanInPhilly]

Most of the advice appears to be: Do More. And it's certainly true that 10x10 (100 reps) will probably build more muscle than 15-20 reps. But for those of us who don't want to spend half our lives lifting weights, it's better to focus on (e.g.) how best to spend five hours per week at the gym.

In high school we were taught to do 10 reps x 3 sets x 3 times per week. That's 90 reps per week. In retrospect that was over-training for me -- I was sore all the time -- but that was before creatine and (good tasting) protein supplements. Now that I'm twice as old, I do 15 reps x 3 sets x 2 times per week. That's also 90 reps per week, but I don't have to spend as much time at the gym (though admittedly I have to use a lighter weight).

Still, after reading the other posts, maybe I'll try 9 reps x 5 sets x 2 days per week; maybe the lactic acid is holding me back.

 

[dloehr22]

hey i am looking for help:
I weigh 165 170 and i can benchy 200 to 205 max...i havent improved for about a month or two now and i dont know what the problem is. i work out about 5 days a week and i have workouts just for chest, shoulders, tri's, bi's and back and legs....and i do it all and i still cant gain wight for my bench press and i was just looking fo rsome suggestions. i cant gain wight either, so that could be the problem but i eat alot!
any help would be good

thanks.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: dloehr22
hey i am looking for help:
I weigh 165 170 and i can benchy 200 to 205 max...i havent improved for about a month or two now and i dont know what the problem is. i work out about 5 days a week and i have workouts just for chest, shoulders, tri's, bi's and back and legs....and i do it all and i still cant gain wight for my bench press and i was just looking fo rsome suggestions. i cant gain wight either, so that could be the problem but i eat alot!
any help would be good

thanks.

How often do you work chest in a week? You're doing a bodybuilding split so I'm going to assume looks are your primary goal and strength is secondary? Also, you say you eat a lot, but apparently it isn't enough. If you track the calories online, you can see how much you need and how much you're eating. I can guarantee if you eat more, you'll gain weight unless you have a thyroid disorder or something.

 

[dloehr22]

this is what i do
day 1 is chest
day 2 is biceps and triceps
day 3 is off
day 4 is shoulders and back and i (max bench )only 1 or 2 trys at a certain weight.
(so that is #2if you count that)
day 5 is legs, calves, etc.
day 6 is off and
day 7 is repeat day one and so on and so forth

as far as looks 1st and strength 2nd, its the oppisite. i have always been really cut up or ripped as they say but i would rather look big than really ripped. so i guess strenth before looks to be honest. i just want to get stronger and gain wight. and i checked out that calorie thing and i am going to eat even more now and see what happens. any suggestions on the workout though?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: dloehr22
this is what i do
day 1 is chest
day 2 is biceps and triceps
day 3 is off
day 4 is shoulders and back and i (max bench )only 1 or 2 trys at a certain weight.
(so that is #2if you count that)
day 5 is legs, calves, etc.
day 6 is off and
day 7 is repeat day one and so on and so forth

as far as looks 1st and strength 2nd, its the oppisite. i have always been really cut up or ripped as they say but i would rather look big than really ripped. so i guess strenth before looks to be honest. i just want to get stronger and gain wight. and i checked out that calorie thing and i am going to eat even more now and see what happens. any suggestions on the workout though?

You're doing a split program which really revolves around isolation and therefore aesthetics. A program involving mostly compound lifts will be more beneficial for raw strength training. A program such as Starting Strength or Stronglift's Beginner 5x5 would be beneficial to you because it has the whole plan outlined. If you buy the Starting Strength book, it goes over methodology, form, explanations, etc. It's much easier than me trying to explain everything to you. As is suggested by the author of Starting Strength, Mark Rippetoe, an easy way to gain weight is to drink a gallon of milk a day. That adds a ton of calories to your day and is easy to stomach.

 

[dloehr22]

thanks for the help. i started a new topic with the same questions to get alot of suggestions i appriciate it. im in iraq right now so the milk thing is probably not available to me for a while but i will try that when im home. thanks again for the help.