If you put in a good bit of effort you should be able to get to that by Aug easy. What is your routine? One of the ways I gained back in the pre 2 plate era was to establish my 3x7 max after warming up with the bar for one set of 20 then 135 for one set of 12 and one set of 10. I would then load the bar with my 3x7 max plus 10. I would then do 2 sets of 5 and then as many as I could for the 3rd set. When I could hit 7 I would then move to 6 for the first 2 sets. When I hit 3x7 I would add another 10 and repeat. Every workout would end with 3 sets of deloading by taking 30 pounds off and doing a set of 8, 10 pounds off and another set of 8, take another 10 off and do 8 more. That would put you in the 50-60 + rep range and finish the first exercise. Any pushing movement need to be counted by a pull so a crap ton of low cable rows, lat pulls, bent over dumbbell rows, landmine pulls all in the 3x6-8 range depending on weight. Then another group of pressing, with dumbell flat, incline, decline and finishers with cable crossovers or dumbbell flyes. Then depending on what you have in your gym some finishing back pulls with cables. Then eat a shit ton of food and sleep well. Do that every 3 days for 2 months and you will get to 8x225 in short order. One thing that helped me a ton was when I believed that a big back was necessary for a big bench. So work the back hard! On arm day a ton of focus on triceps will speed up the bench too.Right now I can bench 170 lbs for 8 reps and I hope to get to 225 lbs for 8 reps before next year.
Is it ok to add 5 lbs every workout instead of adding more reps with the same weight if I want to keep the reps in the 8-12 range?
About 5 weeks ago I was benching 165 lbs for 8 reps. I did get a little better at bench through the course of the month but I think I'm progressing too slowly. I'm 40 years old and weigh 160 lbs, so I'm not sure if my bodyweight or age are holding me back at 180 lbs for 7 reps for bench press.
Here's an update to my progress. Yesterday I benched 180 lbs for 7 reps, not 100% sure if I could do 8 reps but I did not attempt an 8th rep because I did not have a spotter. I seemed to have hit a wall on bench press at 180 lbs for 7 reps. About a 1.5 months ago I was benching 195 lbs for 3 reps but seem to have plateaued there as well so I decided to increase my rep range to between 8-12 (8 being the minimum reps I want to achieve in the set) and reduced the weight. About 5 weeks ago I was benching 165 lbs for 8 reps. I did get a little better at bench through the course of the month but I think I'm progressing too slowly. I'm 40 years old and weigh 160 lbs, so I'm not sure if my bodyweight or age are holding me back at 180 lbs for 7 reps for bench press.
http://www.smolovjr.com/smolov-squat-program/ I know it says squat in the URL but its a bench program. Do not take the light weight at the beginning and up it. You will need the ramp up to complete the last week. I just about died after the final 10 sets of 3.I've been stuck at benching 185 lbs for 7 reps for the past 2 weeks (4 workouts). About 3 months ago I could only do 195 lbs for 3 reps and could not get past that so I lowered the weight and upped the reps as I thought that maybe I didn't have enough volume in my bench presses, but I still feel I'm progressing too slowly on bench press despite. I'm wondering if I should start Strong Lifts 5x5 or should I replace barbell bench press with hammer strength bench press for 3 months and then return to barbell bench pressing? I don't know if I'm too advanced to make progress on the Strong Lifts 5x5 program as I've been training for around 16 years. I never tried an official workout program and always did it my way.
I've been stuck at benching 185 lbs for 7 reps for the past 2 weeks (4 workouts). About 3 months ago I could only do 195 lbs for 3 reps and could not get past that so I lowered the weight and upped the reps as I thought that maybe I didn't have enough volume in my bench presses, but I still feel I'm progressing too slowly on bench press despite. I'm wondering if I should start Strong Lifts 5x5 or should I replace barbell bench press with hammer strength bench press for 3 months and then return to barbell bench pressing? I don't know if I'm too advanced to make progress on the Strong Lifts 5x5 program as I've been training for around 16 years. I never tried an official workout program and always did it my way.
Getting stronger while cutting is the holy gaile of lifting. The body needs fuel to grow, if you take away that fuel it has a much harder time growing, not to say it can't, it's just harder. I was eating around 8k calories a day for 3 months last bulk cycle. Bench went up just about every week. Lay out your workout and your nutrients, some nice folks will be around to give you some ideas of what to change and where. It really sounds to me like your at a calorie deficit and the body is munching away at the muscle you do have to feed itself. I guessed at your age and used 32, your BMR is 1721.26 if you are of average build. What that means is if you do nothing but lay in bed you will need 1721 calories to maintain your weight. Throw in 4 days of workouts and that number is easily over 2k. Now dont confuse 1000k of chips, cookies, surag and crap as the same thing as 1000k of lean meat, veggies and fruit. Do you have a coach to instruct you on form?I'm doing Stronglifts 5x5 right now with a few modifications. I'm doing 5x5 on bench press, military press, and squats. I'm doing 3x8 for barbell rows (My grip is not comfortable for heavier weights). Right now I'm having a tough time building up my bench. I changed to Stronglifts about 2 weeks ago so I could try to break my bench press plateau specifically. Yesterday I could only do 4 reps with 185 lbs on bench press. 3 weeks ago I could do 7 reps with the same weight with the same intensity. I'm also noticed that I'm starting to get a double chin and it's very visible when I tilt my head down. I also have love handles and a bit of pudginess in m belly area, however I still had that issue even when I was 10 lbs lighter, but I just looked skinnier. However, I still have skinny arms and skinny legs and narrow shoulders and narrow chest. My goals are to get stronger in my squats and bench presses and I'm having a hard time doing that but at the same time I want to get more lean. Also it's very hard for me to gain weight but easy for me to lose weight and strength to go along with it. I'm 5' 8", 162 lbs, and have a 31 inch waist. I still want to get stronger in the gym as I lean out.
If you put in a good bit of effort you should be able to get to that by Aug easy. What is your routine? One of the ways I gained back in the pre 2 plate era was to establish my 3x7 max after warming up with the bar for one set of 20 then 135 for one set of 12 and one set of 10. I would then load the bar with my 3x7 max plus 10. I would then do 2 sets of 5 and then as many as I could for the 3rd set. When I could hit 7 I would then move to 6 for the first 2 sets. When I hit 3x7 I would add another 10 and repeat. Every workout would end with 3 sets of deloading by taking 30 pounds off and doing a set of 8, 10 pounds off and another set of 8, take another 10 off and do 8 more. That would put you in the 50-60 + rep range and finish the first exercise. Any pushing movement need to be counted by a pull so a crap ton of low cable rows, lat pulls, bent over dumbbell rows, landmine pulls all in the 3x6-8 range depending on weight. Then another group of pressing, with dumbell flat, incline, decline and finishers with cable crossovers or dumbbell flyes. Then depending on what you have in your gym some finishing back pulls with cables. Then eat a shit ton of food and sleep well. Do that every 3 days for 2 months and you will get to 8x225 in short order. One thing that helped me a ton was when I believed that a big back was necessary for a big bench. So work the back hard! On arm day a ton of focus on triceps will speed up the bench too.
A pre-workout is usually a stimulant and some BCAA, creatine, NOx and "other" things. Most people never get to a point were a pre actually helps them. You best bet is to try a few really good ones and see what it does for your workout. A lot of time a reduction is strength is a result of worrying and stress about losing strength especially after only a week or so. Remember stress = cortisol production, cortisol is a compound released by the body to help calm it, its a large contributor to that belly fat you're trying to lose. The diet portion is one I struggle with most, try a few things and keep track of what you do and how you react. After awhile you will find what works for you. You might want to try more small meals throughout the day and not focus so much on the big three.I don't expect to get there by August of this year. I've been on a cutting diet for 3 weeks so far as I'm trying to lose the love handles and belly fat but I'm lean and skinny everywhere else. My strength has dropped between 5-10% in the gym after 2 weeks on the cut. I'm doing 5x5 right now but next workout I might lower the volume to 3x5 and lower the weight my 10 lbs on my overhead press. I'm also not going to the extremes with my cutting diet but did reduce carbs significantly. Also that the end of my bulk, I was not much stronger than before, so maybe that 5-10% strength I lost during the cut was the strength I gained from when I was on the bulk. I'm currently eating around 2000 calories a day. Also I'm wondering if I should take a pre-workout supplement since I'm on a cut and not eating as much carbs as before? Does a pre-workout supplement help with progress in the gym or does it just add a rep or two to your current strength but does nothing for continual progress?
A pre-workout is usually a stimulant and some BCAA, creatine, NOx and "other" things. Most people never get to a point were a pre actually helps them. You best bet is to try a few really good ones and see what it does for your workout. A lot of time a reduction is strength is a result of worrying and stress about losing strength especially after only a week or so. Remember stress = cortisol production, cortisol is a compound released by the body to help calm it, its a large contributor to that belly fat you're trying to lose. The diet portion is one I struggle with most, try a few things and keep track of what you do and how you react. After awhile you will find what works for you. You might want to try more small meals throughout the day and not focus so much on the big three.
I eat 4 meals a day right now. I average about 500 calories for each meal. Today for breakfast I had a whey protein shake mixed with 8 oz of 2% milk and 2 Hawaiian buns. For lunch I had a bowl of rice mixed with 2 scrambled eggs. For supper I'm going to have 3 chicken fingers with french fries, and tonight a few hours before bed I don't know what I'm going to eat. I also bought a sample of ON Amino Essential Energy for my pre-workout drink tomorrow.
Some light reading: http://dishlab.org/pubs/Tomiyama et al 2010 Low Calorie Dieting Increases Cortisol.pdfCan cortisol promote belly fat/love handle fat even on a well below maintenance calorie diet?
woot time for a double cheese burger.