T Nation

Bench Decrease and Creatine

Beginners
#1

short and sweet

roommate’s bench keeps going down instead of up. incline bench is going up, decline, db bench, and all other lifts, like rows and such. bench keeps going down, even after warming up. usual routine begins with bench, then incline, so I thought warmup might be the answer, but no.

any ideas as to why? and how to reverse it? (by going down, I mean 2 weeks ago it was 5 reps, last week was 4, yesterday was 3, all same weight)

now my problem, or question, rather:

creatine. we all know it’s amazing and stuff, now the thing I don’t know is since I lift at night, I take creatine afterwards. this is just before bed, so I don’t drink too much water with it.

the following day I do, but is it “too late” for my liver, kidneys, whatever people say it’ll damage without liters of water? it’s about 9 hours between taking creatine and drinking 3 cups of water.

thanks
Epps

#2

You should constantly drink water throughout the day.

Are you, at any time, thirsty? If not then you’re sweet!

Also, if your urine is dark you need more water!

I’m currently lifting my heaviest ever and some weeks I get a rep or two lower or higher different from the previous week. It happens. If your friend gets to zero then I’d be very curious.

Seems he’s packing every pressing movement into the one workout. Maybe he’s just spread himself too thin and something has to give?

#3

thanks for the info

sorry, should have mentioned that “rows and such” are on other days than the bench. but the other stuff you said is helpful.

#4

How much sleep is he getting? Muscles need to recover, BCAA’s? Protein?

#5

about 7 hours (I know, not enough, we keep trying to get to bed earlier, but espn always keeps us up).

not much bcaa’s, only what’s in whey protein and everyday food. If it gets to 2 reps next week, I’m gonna need more info from you guys, cuz something’s not right.

it’s just wierd, though, because everything else is going up, like squats, incline bench, curls, tri workouts, even DB bench is going up.

#6

You’re gonna need more sleep and more water. If I don’t get adequate sleep, I’m weak as hell…NOTICABLEY weak.

#7

ya, but squats going up while bench is going down? shouldn’t they both decrease? or am I just that dumb as to the behavior of muscles?

#8

I don’t train my lower body as hard as my upper body.

You COULD be overtaining, almost sounds like your muscles are not recovering.

#9

i had the same problem, except i started to go down in weight, about 20lbs in my bench over a 3 month period. then i just gave it up alltogether, started doing dumbbel presses instead, trained with them for about 3 months got real strong with them, went back to flatbench and my gains went through the roof, now i switch back and foreth every few weeks from barbell to dumbbell. 6 months ago i was repping 265 now im tossing around 315 like its nothing.
just take break from flatbench

#10

1.) Progressive overload fails at a certain point. Meaning if you do the same program over and over and over, eventually you’re going to hit a point where you stall and possibly even start to go backwards. Otherwise we’d all increase our bench by 52 reps or 250 pounds per year. Logical, right? So he might need a change in the program, try a different set/rep combo or take a break from barbell bench altogether for a couple weeks.

2.) Technique. He seems to be getting stronger at everything but bench. Well how is he benching? Technique is a big factor here as benching is a skill like any other sport.

3.) Why don’t you just drink more water with it or take it earlier in the day if you are worried about it? This doesn’t really make sense to me. It is like saying, “I’m really worried about getting sunburned but only where spf 5. What should I do?” Not trying to be an ass but if you are worried about it, just drink more water.

#11

  1. true, I agree, it’s why I change my workout every couple months. but his workout is only a month old, slightly older. It’s not new enough to be “getting into it still” and it’s not old enough to be “time to change it up.”

  2. he seems to be benching correctly. his grip is a little wide, but he’s always benched like that, so would his muscles adapt to that grip? I don’t know, it’s why I’m asking.

  3. I drink the recommended amount, I was just wondering how sleep effected it, because I know if you eat TOO MUCH before bed it’ll be stored calories, or am I wrong? if I’m right, is it somewhat the same for creatine, I’m asking.

I’m not a beginner in the weight room, but his progress stumps me. I’m going to take dylan’s advice, maybe it’ll work. I am, however, a beginner when it comes to the body and how supp’s effect it.

thanks for all of your help.