right now my bench is quite low my 1RM is 270 and i am trying to get it over 300. i have not made any progress in about 5 weeks on my bench while my DL and squat have increased. any suggestions for making better gains on my bench.
my chest work out consists of
BB bench 135x12 185x10 215x8 235x6 245x4 and 250x4
DB bench 55x12 65x12 70x12 75x12
decline BB 135x12 185x10 225x8
decline DB 55x12 60x12 65x12 70x12
incline DB 50x12 55x12 60x12 65x12
cable crossovers 4 sets of 12-8
clean and jerk 1 set of 135 of 20,15,10,and 5 reps
Instead of doing BB bench and working up to a 4 rep max for your first set, do either board press, or floor press, building up in fives or triples into a max triple.
E.g.
Floor Press 135x5 155x5 185x5 215x3 225x3 235x3 245x3 and (max weight)x3 (2nd attempt at max weight or higher)x3
This will probably mean you should do less sets on one of your other excercises, or probably even drop DB Bench.
In fact, I don’t know why you would be doing decline BB after DB bench. Do all your BB before your DB.
Also because the Clean and Jerk is so technical, I would suggest against doing it as your last excercise, so you might as well change it to a less technical movement like Pullovers or something.
I don’t know when you train your triceps, but a bigger bench can always be accounted to more intensive triceps work (if you are benching with proper technique).
Otherwise there are many Articles like “Big Bad Bench” and “Bench Press 600 Pounds
A 12 Step Program” that cover both technical information and how to structure a routine geared toward strength.
[quote]forevernade wrote:
Instead of doing BB bench and working up to a 4 rep max for your first set, do either board press, or floor press, building up in fives or triples into a max triple.
E.g.
Floor Press 135x5 155x5 185x5 215x3 225x3 235x3 245x3 and (max weight)x3 (2nd attempt at max weight or higher)x3
This will probably mean you should do less sets on one of your other excercises, or probably even drop DB Bench.
In fact, I don’t know why you would be doing decline BB after DB bench. Do all your BB before your DB.
Also because the Clean and Jerk is so technical, I would suggest against doing it as your last excercise, so you might as well change it to a less technical movement like Pullovers or something.
I don’t know when you train your triceps, but a bigger bench can always be accounted to more intensive triceps work (if you are benching with proper technique).
Otherwise there are many Articles like “Big Bad Bench” and “Bench Press 600 Pounds
A 12 Step Program” that cover both technical information and how to structure a routine geared toward strength.[/quote]
i never train my tris on my chest day i work them hard on my arms day which is sat and i also throw some in on my DL day tues and shoulder day which is thurs. thanks for the advise
Otherwise there are many Articles like “Big Bad Bench” and “Bench Press 600 Pounds
A 12 Step Program” that cover both technical information and how to structure a routine geared toward strength.[/quote]
My first thought was a restructure in your program - essentially what you’re doing has stopped working. Wendler 5/3/1 has been growing in popularity and results. Slow, steady progress. There are some heavy lifters making continuous gains.
[quote]sailortom wrote:
i never train my tris on my chest day i work them hard on my arms day which is sat and i also throw some in on my DL day tues and shoulder day which is thurs. thanks for the advise
[/quote]
What does your back workout look like? Your chest is getting a hell of a lot of volume. For progress, and structural safety, your back should be getting just as much.
I definitely second what Nade and TheDude are saying, and suggest you switch to a specific program for a while. There are [i]plenty[/] and any one of them will do fine for 4-8 weeks.
try one of the programs listed or just don’t wear yourself out before you get to the heavy weight. you’ve already done 40 reps before you get to your 250x4 set. Go up more in weight for your warm-ups and only do about 6 reps, just to get a hang of the weight increase. then try doing 250x6 or 2 sets 250x4.
also, don’t do so many excersizes. maybe an all BB day one week and an all DB day the next.
Do you do
"BB bench 135x12 185x10 215x8 235x6 245x4 and 250x4 "
before you attempt your max? Seems like a whole lot of work before attempting a max.
Whats helped me is trying to move the weights faster on the lighter lifts and weighted dips for low reps.
[quote]sam_sneed wrote:
Do you do
"BB bench 135x12 185x10 215x8 235x6 245x4 and 250x4 "
before you attempt your max? Seems like a whole lot of work before attempting a max.
Whats helped me is trying to move the weights faster on the lighter lifts and weighted dips for low reps.[/quote]
no i never attempt 270 on a workout i ma out every 6 weeks but i will add weight to lifts whenever i feel it is needed. i never get 250 4 times usually only 2 or 3 should i lower the weight a little to get those reps in
Know wonder your stuck on 250 how long have you been doing this workout? You have to realize your doing 44 reps on that workout. And your trying to increase your max?
i have been doing this workout for about 3-3 1/2 months now. i made big gains from it but now i have pretty much topped off and i dont really know what to do. should i do heavy weight with low reps?