Stab in the dark - you are doing the incline dumbell press using your delts a LOT, when you go flat bench you are also using your delts mostly and not your pecs, and hence you are stalling. Coz delts don’t want to grow much more.
This accounts for the big dumbell press and terrible bench press.
This is just my guess though. But, do you have underdeveloped pecs? and relatively bigger shoulders? does this sound right to you?
Tyrant seriuosly just put more weight on the bar. Unless you weigh under a hundred pounds it’s mostly physchological for you right now. You set your limit to 155 and 6 reps. put another 10lbs do sets of 3 reps for few weeks then go for 6 reps with the new weight. Matter of fact if all your sets haven’t gone up move them all up 10lbs.
Thanks for the responses guys, margarhe, your pretty much right, my pecs are a little smaller and my shoulders are a little bigger, not overdeveloped though. My partner says is all in my head as well, so I’ll swap over to lower reps per set and start at 135 for a couple reps than move up to 155, then see what I can do. If after a few weeks nothing happens I’ll bring a video camera and show you guys how weaksauce I am.
We definitely need video
The bench is by far the most bodyweight dependant of the big 3 lifts. Try putting on a pound a week for the next 10 weeks and see what happens.
[quote]schultzie wrote:
Island Strength wrote:
95lb Dumbell bench pressing, much less incline pressing, equates to a 275-300lb bench press. The numbers can’t be right. I’m with Gone Heavy on this. BS Flag.
that’s a bit overboard. i can throw up the 100s for 5 tough deep reps and my bench is barely 250lbs[/quote]
Admitedly this stuff varies greatly. My best DB work is 90x10 and I can bench 290-300. Tyrant claims to use 90’s for 6 reps and barely bench 135. Just seems out of bounds to me. No disrespect to anyone, but these are weird numbers.
The numbers sound weird. But he fact of the matter is that soemtimes people are stronger on DBs than with a barbell. Personally, I was hitting sets of 5 with 100s before I ever could bench 225.
To the OP, I would recommend:
Train bench variations hard; find and beat your PRs on wide-grip incline press, close grip press, floor press, DB press. I’m not saying to totally ditch regular flat bench pressing. But, if you stuck in rut, you may need to shift gears a bit. This also keeps training fun/challenging- an often overlooked training issue. I recommned keeping the focus on 3 rep sets or maybe 5s- find your PR weights in this rep range. This rep-range will improve strength and make you grow.
Pound heavy upper back work. Make a whole training day out of heavy back work. Forget dumbell cleans, reverse flies, face pulls- do little shit like that on you bench days. Think barbell rows from the floor and shrugs up to a max sets of 3 to 5. Put some straps on after the weight gets too heavy to hang onto. This is about putting meat on your back not building a grip. If you can do pull ups, do them. A strong back is importatn for a strong bench. I think this is especially true for those lifters with bad leverages/long limbs. As an added benefit of all this upper back work, your bench, deadlift, and everything else will benefit.
Work on technique. There are some great articles on the web about setting up to bench. Look on TNation; EliteFTS has some; Sebastian Burn’s site; Westside Barbells’s site has some. Some of these tricks are very powerlifting specific and/or geared lifting specific. But much of it is relevant to general gym lifting as well- traps down on the bench, tight arch, feet/toes pushed into the floor, big breath of air. This shit can change everything. I have seen guys change a few things about their technique and put 40-50 lbs on bench right off. That may be you.
I could never bench more than 245 before I started doing pre-hab rotator cuff work, and now I’m at 325 or so.
I do light face pulls, cuban presses, and internal rotations before every workout, and I think it’s really helped.
[quote]Tyrant wrote:
So I’ve used the search and read all the articles about defective benchers and what to do. I drive with my feet, have a slight arch in my back, and can bench all of 135lbs for 12 reps. and 155 for around 6 reps. But I’m not adding any weight for the last few, well months. I’d hardly consider myself strong on other lifts but I know my bench is a joke, but I cannot seem to put any weight on it.
Any advice?[/quote]
Im not sure what its called. But something that has never failed me. I have used this on alot of my many training partners. This can be applied to any lift.
Note: It does not work very well as a long term plan but it does work for a quick fix…provided you stay with it and push hard.
Its a 10.8.6.4.2.1. rep scheme. Every week you will add 5 lbs to the bar. By that I mean 2 1/2 lbs on each side.
It will take time to find the weights you can do for those reps. Keep in mind that you DO NOT want to reach failure…you want to stop short of failure.
Example: if you are gunning for 8 reps you want that 8th rep to be a grinder. Even if that rep takes 30 mins so be it. Just make sure once the bar is handed off to you that you dont get any further assistance from that point on.
Take a note pad to the gym and write down the weights used and how easy they felt that day etc etc so you dont forget.
As far as how long to use this. Honestly I would use it until you cant get anymore out of it.
The assistance work I would do following benching would be
1.Floor presses
2.Heavy pushdowns
You can add the same rep scheme to these movements if you like. If not my guess would be to keep the reps at the 4-8 range.
Hope this helps. I know that is has never failed for me…even if I dont focus on my assistance work.
well, went to the gym this morning with every intention of doing legs, and the second set of squats I was in way too much pain from sprinting 3 days ago.
So me and my partner started doing chest and I warmed up with 135 for 3 reps, then did 155 for 3, then just said fuck it and put 185 up for 3 reps, I couldn’t fucking beleive it. Tried and failed with 195, but did a few assisted reps and a couple negatives.
Anyway, you guys were right, thanks for the help, I’m keep at doing 185 until I can hit a few more than 3 reps then go up in weight.
start benching triples,doubles and singles benching 12 reps at a time is not going to improve your limit strength. That is the answer.
You need to warm up lighter. I bench 365x2 and I still warm up with the bar. It is not where you start, but where you finish that matters.
if you are hitting 185x3, I would recommend something like this.
barx10
95x10
115x6
135x5
165x2
185x2
then drop to 135 and rep out.
the following week use the same warm ups and then do 165x4 and then shoot for 2 sets of 185x2, drop to 135 and try to beat last weeks number.
next week work up to 165 for 3 sets of 5 and then drop to 115 and rep it out.
after that work up and shoot for a new max…use same warm ups to 135x5 and then 165x1, 190x1, then take a stab at 200-205, then drop to 135 and set a new PR for reps.
Video of your technique would help a lot too. What kind of grip are you using?