I'm 11 Months into training now surely I can't be at my plateau haha!, here we will just talk about barbell bench press, I'm stuck at benching 100kg for 8 reps and have been so for nearly 6 weeks! Should i just carry on training? Should I change my routine? Do heavier sets like 4-6 reps for 3-4 sets? I know gains are slowing down the further you get but 8 reps for 100kg every Monday for the past 6 weeks is annoying me now haha, I can't hit the 9th rep! Can someone give me some ideas on how to work out of this and get some more gains! without steroids!
Bench press plateau
- Thread starter mozzwigan
- Start date
dj2dirk41
New member
yea i would say switch it up do like incline first one week and then dumbell the next. the other thing and i dont really think its that important but i heard if you put your feet up on the bench you isolate it a lot more. the other thing i would say is up your calories and you should put on some more muscle
couch
New member
Your gains get slower the longer you train. You can expect really quick gains when you're a newb, but once you start getting that "natural base" taken care of, the gains are slower, and you have to train harder. Make a program that's 4-6 months. Work with a goal, and work towards that goal. It sounds like you just need to fix you're programming. You're too new to have plateaued.
Teutonic
New member
Train like a powerlifter if you want to go heavier..if you want to see how mkany times you can do 100kg s your stamina needs work.
What else do you do for chest ? How many overall sets do you do ?
Tri s and shoulders are integral to this as well...do not overtrain....i like you only train bench once a week..may want to see how many weighted dip s you can do...IF reps is your goal...
What else do you do for chest ? How many overall sets do you do ?
Tri s and shoulders are integral to this as well...do not overtrain....i like you only train bench once a week..may want to see how many weighted dip s you can do...IF reps is your goal...
solid advice above. if you want to increase bench then you need to focus on bench, put squats and deads on the backburner but maintain those lifts. too hard to increase strength everywhere once you get along in your training. i'd also suggest looking into fractional plates, or just buy big washers from homedepot so you can increase weight by 1 or 2 pounds cheaply. also you say you've been stuck at this weight for 6 weeks, probably means you've been doing the same weight with the same reps and same sets for 6 weeks. the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. i'd look ito smolov junior and apply it to your benching, or wendler's 5/3/1 and apply to everything. before stating either of these i would take a deload week as a precautionary measure, then make sure you follow the program to a t and for the prescribed amount of time. dont get bored one month in and switch it up.
ava350
New member
You have to remember this will not be easy, your intensity should be break neck. you should not only focus on your bench training. In order to increase your bench, make gains in the tricept, shoulder, and upper back exercises. after your bar exercises burn out with dumbbells to learn what real pain and work is. For the next month train lighter weights and reps i the range of 15 to 20 again to learn,what burn and pain really feel like.
Youngblood43
New member
IMO the key to keep making mains is proper diet of course and muscle confusion. Also taking time off and taking rest days when needed. If u have been working out for 11 months straight the. Take a week off from the gym. Id take a week off every 3-4 months if u just keep going its going to take a tole on ur central nervous sytem and gains will stop. Either that or going to over train the muscles.
Now, back to the muscle confusion part, don't ever keep doing the same thing over and over. Ur body will adapt to it. Switch up the ammount of reps, sets, and switch out exercise to constantly shock ur body.
Now, back to the muscle confusion part, don't ever keep doing the same thing over and over. Ur body will adapt to it. Switch up the ammount of reps, sets, and switch out exercise to constantly shock ur body.
use lighter weights with a high rep range? we're trying to increase strength here, not that pretty boy shit. no offense but 20 rep sets with 30% ain't gonna do shit for his 10rm, hs 5rm, and especially not for any doubles or a true 1rm. it's like telling him to just do pushups if he wants to push past his 220 pound for 8 rep max. not gonna work.
kfairhurst
New member
I'd look into sheiko 29, it's a powerlifting program that did wonders for my max bench. It's a pain following something so pre-determined, but it works. I put 50lbs on my max bench the first time around, got up to 295 for sets of 3. Second time gains obviously weren't as good, alot of the gains the first time come purely from tweaking your form.
how long had you been training before doing sheiko? i wouldn't do sheiko unless you were an elite level lifter or damn close to it.
negatives are a great way to increase strength assuming you have a spotter, which you should whe benching anyways. my damn 1rm dropped 25 pounds over a period of 3 months because i didn' have a spotter and couldn't go heavy. 80% 1rm was the highest i could go on heavy days. the main thing for the op to take away from this is, no matter what he picks to do for assistance work he needs to only pick one thing at a time. so if negatives is what he chooses, he doesn't need to be doing cluster sets, or adding 2 or 3 assistance exercises as well. that's a great way to over reach or even overtrain and get negative results. i would go with the negatives imo and add those in with his regular training for a month or two before adding in anything else such as close grip bench or reverse grip bench.
lakers0812
New member
Whenever i hit a plateau in my training, I do a few things that help me break it: I either increase my caloric intake and protein intake or I add some creatine for a month or so. Whenever you hit a plateau always work with your nutrition.
Also like everyone else is saying switch up the routine. I usually switch us my routine every 6 weeks.
Also like everyone else is saying switch up the routine. I usually switch us my routine every 6 weeks.
6 weeks isn't enough time to make gains off the first routine. 2-3 months atleast.
Deffo
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or just juice! haha
