Why Can I Bench 265x5 but Fail at 275x1 ?

[quote]ALX wrote:

[quote]synergy93 wrote:
Where in the ROM are you hitting a stick point…where would you say you’re weakest…bottom (bottom 1/3 off chest), mid (typical stick point for most), top 1/3 ROM lockout???

[quote]ALX wrote:
What can explain I can I bench press 265 x 5 but fail to bench press 275 once?

This pattern apply to almost all of my lifts. Is that common? Seems strange to me.[/quote]
[/quote]

bottom 1/3 off chest[/quote]

Are you bouncing (even if only slightly) the bar off your chest when doing you set of 5. I’m asking because you might be able to generate enough momentum with the slight bouncing to overcome your weak point with 265lbs but you cannot do that when you use 275.

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]hungry4more wrote:
Did you try benching 275 AFTER doing 265x5?

Also, get us vids, they always reveal more than words. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a video is worth 1,000,000[/quote]

You dont even know 1,000,000 words crazy guy[/quote]

Yes I do, but half of them are only 4 letters long tough guy <3

in my opinion, if you’re 5 repping something, add ten pounds, and you can’t do a single, I’d call that a mental barrier. Your body is totally capable of hitting 275 for at least 1.

use this as a learning experience. being able to break mental barriers is a huge key to success in lifting.

It has to be mental. I bet if your workout partner loaded 275 instead of 265 without telling you, you’d get that single.

You said your weaker on the bottom half of the lift. Can you do a paused 265 bench aka PL contest rules? I would assume you can if you’re hitting 5 reps on it.

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
Im going with the mental hang up too. get a good spotter to help you get past it.

Try this too. Load up the bar with 300 lbs. get in proper bench press postion and all that. Have a spotter give you a handoff. Just hold the bar. Get used to having heavy weight in your hands. Dont try to rep it, just hold it for a bit then rack it. Then go do your work
[/quote]

Very good advice!

Supramaximal holds are an excellent way to ramp up the nervous system, especially so when there is a mental barrier preventing you from executing a lift.

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]ALX wrote:

[quote]synergy93 wrote:
Where in the ROM are you hitting a stick point…where would you say you’re weakest…bottom (bottom 1/3 off chest), mid (typical stick point for most), top 1/3 ROM lockout???

[quote]ALX wrote:
What can explain I can I bench press 265 x 5 but fail to bench press 275 once?

This pattern apply to almost all of my lifts. Is that common? Seems strange to me.[/quote]
[/quote]

bottom 1/3 off chest[/quote]

Are you bouncing (even if only slightly) the bar off your chest when doing you set of 5. I’m asking because you might be able to generate enough momentum with the slight bouncing to overcome your weak point with 265lbs but you cannot do that when you use 275.[/quote]

If I had to stabilize the weight at my chest even for 1/4 sec before pushing it back I would fail to press 265 for sure, so I think yes, it have some bouncing and momentum.

What would you recommend for best growth? using less weight with no momentum at all or just continue like that for my heaviest set?

Thank CT for your time

As for the mental thing, I appreciate you feed back guy, but I don’t think it’s the case here.

I’m lifting in a power rack with safety pin and I’m not afraid at all of trying it or failing a lift. I was sure I could rep it for at least 2-3 rep the first time I tried 275, but fail miserably.

But thanks, I appreciate every feedbacks anyway!

[quote]ALX wrote:

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]ALX wrote:

[quote]synergy93 wrote:
Where in the ROM are you hitting a stick point…where would you say you’re weakest…bottom (bottom 1/3 off chest), mid (typical stick point for most), top 1/3 ROM lockout???

[quote]ALX wrote:
What can explain I can I bench press 265 x 5 but fail to bench press 275 once?

This pattern apply to almost all of my lifts. Is that common? Seems strange to me.[/quote]
[/quote]

bottom 1/3 off chest[/quote]

Are you bouncing (even if only slightly) the bar off your chest when doing you set of 5. I’m asking because you might be able to generate enough momentum with the slight bouncing to overcome your weak point with 265lbs but you cannot do that when you use 275.[/quote]

If I had to stabilize the weight at my chest even for 1/4 sec before pushing it back I would fail to press 265 for sure, so I think yes, it have some bouncing and momentum.

What would you recommend for best growth? using less weight with no momentum at all or just continue like that for my heaviest set?

Thank CT for your time[/quote]

Both are good for growth. You should probably focus on using your muscle (pausing, pressing from a deadstop etc.) instead of your stretch reflex (bouncing) until you are equally good at both.

[quote]ALX wrote:

[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
Perhaps because performing a set of 5 reps is NOTHING like a single! Form changes quite a bit and it’s simply not the same feeling as having 100% or even 100+% (in cases where you’re really trying to see what you can and might do) in your hands.

Do you train in the 1-3 rep range? If you want to get good at singles, you have to train at 90+% of the max.

If you’re trying to be a bodybuilder, what’s the concern for?

If you’re trying to be a powerlifter, then get on a program specifically geared for improving the bench. There are quite a few: Metal Militia, Westside, linear periodization (a la Kirk Karwoski, Ed Coan), Smolov. Try one, see what works best, and then eventually over time come up with YOUR OWN shit. [/quote]

My rep scheme, here is my last bench press session:
bar x 25
135 X 6
175 x 3
195 x 3
215 x 1
235 x 1
265 x 5
245 x 6
235 x 6

I’m trying to be a bodybuilder.

No important concerns, I’m just trying to be better and improve and I found this strange, maybe people could give me a trick or something to fix that will make me progress quicker.[/quote]
http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/the_bodybuilding_bible_free_of_charge?id=563919&pageNo=0 Read this the first post should be sufficient, I recommend a 4-6 day split.

[quote]ALX wrote:

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]ALX wrote:

[quote]synergy93 wrote:
Where in the ROM are you hitting a stick point…where would you say you’re weakest…bottom (bottom 1/3 off chest), mid (typical stick point for most), top 1/3 ROM lockout???

[quote]ALX wrote:
What can explain I can I bench press 265 x 5 but fail to bench press 275 once?

This pattern apply to almost all of my lifts. Is that common? Seems strange to me.[/quote]
[/quote]

bottom 1/3 off chest[/quote]

Are you bouncing (even if only slightly) the bar off your chest when doing you set of 5. I’m asking because you might be able to generate enough momentum with the slight bouncing to overcome your weak point with 265lbs but you cannot do that when you use 275.[/quote]

If I had to stabilize the weight at my chest even for 1/4 sec before pushing it back I would fail to press 265 for sure, so I think yes, it have some bouncing and momentum.

What would you recommend for best growth? using less weight with no momentum at all or just continue like that for my heaviest set?

Thank CT for your time[/quote] If you just want to get a better 1 rep max ingore the bodybuilding reply and start over again pausing the reps for 1 or 2 seconds at your chest before pressing it back up or set the pins slightly above your chest and let the bar rest on the pins before pressing. You are going to have to drop the amount of weight you usually do but it will allow you to focus on your weak point by the chest.

[quote]ALX wrote:
As for the mental thing, I appreciate you feed back guy, but I don’t think it’s the case here.

I’m lifting in a power rack with safety pin and I’m not afraid at all of trying it or failing a lift. I was sure I could rep it for at least 2-3 rep the first time I tried 275, but fail miserably.

But thanks, I appreciate every feedbacks anyway![/quote]

By mental I don’t mean that you’re afraid you’ll get pinned. I mean you don’t think you can do the weight. I’ll speak for myself here, but any weight that I can get for 5 reps, I can do a paused bench. Your chest is probably your weak leak link and/or you’re bouncing the bar off your chest or you have one hell of a stretch reflex.

For comparisons sake, I do alot of low rep work and my 1rm is around 40 lbs heavier than my 5rm.

How many times have failed 275? Was it a one time thing or do you constantly get stuck on it?

Sam is correct. You might not have enough pec strength and size. Or shoulders or lats.

So if you’re not doing so now, include dumbbell bench presses, dips, overhead presses, chinups, pulldowns, lateral raises, and/or rows in your program.

Speed benches with a pause at the chest help too.

Video yourself benching. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it turns out you bounce it like a basketball off of your chest, with ass lifting 6" off the bench and everything, which is the problem…that your form sucks balls. No offense, but it’s probably true. Recognizing a problem is the first step to fixing it. Honestly, if you just throw up even a shitty cell phone video we’ll be able to help you a TON more.

This is something that I do to help with Barbell Bench specifically. I do my normal work sets, but at the end of my sets. I do 3 - 4 sets of lighter weight, and I bring the bar to my chest and then lift it half way and stop. I do 10 reps with 225 like this. Yesterday I got 355 for 2 reps on two seprate sets. So gauge your strength from that. Good luck!

What work did you do prior to the fail?

Could try increasing sets of 265, week 1: 2 sets, week 2: 3 sets etc.

Thanks all for the support, here is an update.

I know what my problem is, CT almost point it out. I was trying to push or to force progress too far and begun to decrease range of motion to use more weight. At first, it did give some good result (probably psychological more than anything), but eventually, my actual working set was not performed with full range of motion no more.

In my last ‘problematic’ workout, my first set, up to 235lbs x 1 was done with full range of motion, but once I begun my working set with 265, 245 then 235, I did not use full range of motion (I have done it this way since some time now and this may explain why progress did get slower).

The result is that I became weaker in the bottom 1/3 of the lift.

With full range of motion, 265 is my 1 max rep. 1 inch and half make a difference. I can do 235 x 5 with full range of motion, pausing at the bottom to eliminate any momentum or stretch reflex. This is what I have done in my last workout.

This is why I can do 265x5 when reversing the lift around 1 inch and half from my chest and was failing to do 275.

I’ll put extra emphasis on the form, stopping at the bottom of the lift to eliminate any momentum (bench, shoulder press, squat, curl etc) and see how it goes.

Range of motion is something that has been talk a lot on this forum with mixed opinion about it, but I think than for me, I should stick to full and controlled range and wait to be more intermediate/advance before playing with this.

You can also try to press of the pins in a power rack. Set it up so the bar is on the pins as close to your chest as possible. Let the bar settle on the pins before pressing back up. Im a big fan of this sort of training for plateau busting.

[quote]ALX wrote:
My rep scheme, here is my last bench press session:
bar x 25
135 X 6
175 x 3
195 x 3
215 x 1
235 x 1
265 x 5
245 x 6
235 x 6 [/quote]

horrible progression to try to max out dude. probably would have done a lot better with something like…
bar x whatever
135 x 5
175 x 5
195 x 3
215 x 3
235 x 3
255 x 1
275 x 1
295 x 1

Also don’t think "man I gotta press 275#…think " I just presses 255, this set is only 20 more #,that’s 10# per arm. 10# aint nothing!! then rage on that shit man. Jedi Mind tricks work! Stupid? maybe, but effective.

[quote]ALX wrote:
I’m trying to be a bodybuilder.
[/quote]

If this is true stick to the 8-12 rep range and don’t worry so much about what your max is. If you decide to fool around and max out that’s cool but work up like I wrote above. Good luck next time!

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
You can also try to press of the pins in a power rack. Set it up so the bar is on the pins as close to your chest as possible. Let the bar settle on the pins before pressing back up. Im a big fan of this sort of training for plateau busting. [/quote]

This would help with the lower part of the lift for sure

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
You can also try to press of the pins in a power rack. Set it up so the bar is on the pins as close to your chest as possible. Let the bar settle on the pins before pressing back up. Im a big fan of this sort of training for plateau busting. [/quote]

[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:

[quote]ALX wrote:
I’m trying to be a bodybuilder.
[/quote]

If this is true stick to the 8-12 rep range and don’t worry so much about what your max is. If you decide to fool around and max out that’s cool but work up like I wrote above. Good luck next time![/quote]
Even though I said both these things before, listen to these two things.

[quote]JoabSonOfZeruiah wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
You can also try to press of the pins in a power rack. Set it up so the bar is on the pins as close to your chest as possible. Let the bar settle on the pins before pressing back up. Im a big fan of this sort of training for plateau busting. [/quote]

[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:

[quote]ALX wrote:
I’m trying to be a bodybuilder.
[/quote]

If this is true stick to the 8-12 rep range and don’t worry so much about what your max is. If you decide to fool around and max out that’s cool but work up like I wrote above. Good luck next time![/quote]
Even though I said both these things before, listen to these two things.[/quote]

This is a general good advice, but exclusive 8-12 rep range did not give me any goods results past my first year of training and I feel it harder on my joints.

The 5-6 reps range, heavy is the way to go for me personally to progress, especially om the big lift. I’m still including high rep range stuff at the end of my workout. But I would say, 2/3 is in the 5-6 rep range and 1/3 in the 8-10 rep range, sometime up to 15-20 for some very specific exercises.