No strength improvement in chest

SuprSi

I've been working out solidly for about 8 weeks now, but as yet have only managed to increase the weight in my bench press from 30kg to 35kg. As for the incline press, I haven't managed to increase that beyond 30kg at all.

I do 4 sets, as many reps as I can manage (usually 6 or 7 in the first and 3 in the last) and although I feel I'm increasing the weight in every other body part, my chest doesn't seem to be progessing. I think I'm seeing an increase in size, though it doesn't seem to be reflecting in what I can lift.

My chest workout is as follows;

Barbell Chest Press
Barbell Incline Press
Flys
Gallileo Press (incline on a machine)

Depending on the time I have left I might do another exercise like the above but that's about it. Could it be because I'm not doing 8 - 10 reps?

justsomebloke

firstly how often are you training bench

pwd

You're doing that once a week?
I'd leave out the galileo press myself. Machines are only useful in my opinion for isolating muscles and for doing dropsets. Replace it with military press.
Do you do any other exercises with your triceps?
Technique is a large component of bench press. Read up on it.

How much of a difference are you noticing with other exercises? My chest gets stronger far more slowly than my back and legs anyway.

SuprSi

I work chest + triceps once a week. Along with those exercies I do dips, tricep extensions, cable pushdown, and lying tricep extensions.

I do the military press when working my shoulders. All other aspects are increasing - squats from 30 - 50, bent over rows from 14 - 30, etc. If it's common for the chest to not increase as quickly as other body parts I'm not bothered but I read another thread here where someone went from 20kg's to nearly 60 in 12 weeks, which I'm a long way from!!

Vegeta

This may go against advice given here but cable flys and dumbell benching improved my chest strength a nice bit

My shoulder strength on the other hand is oh so crap

Degsy

I allways found bench improvement to be a long-term thing.I more than doubled my bench in a year and a half but i found the increments by which i managed it to be very small.Some days it would feel like i couldnt even move what i'd been benching the week before.Stick with it and you'll see results,they just wont happen overnight.

pwd

Well different people improve at different speeds. Also nutrition and rest are as important components of training as exercise is - so if you are falling down on one it will really effect your progress even if the other two are ideal.
Dips should help your bench. Including three different triceps isolation exercises is unnecessary and possibly too much.
How long do you spend in a typical session?
How long do you leave between chest session and other sessions, especially shoulder session?
You might find that you'll get better results if you don't train every set to failure.
Six reps per set is good for strength generally. 8-12 for size.

SuprSi

I think my diet is good - lots of good foods and a few supplements on top. My workout plan is;

Monday - Legs
Tuesday - Chest/Triceps
Wednesday - 15 mins abs and relax in jacuzzi
Thursday - Shoulders
Friday - Back and biceps

My regular session would take 40 - 50 minutes. I sometimes rotate Thursday and Friday (depending on how sore my chest is) and I don't do any weights over the weekend or on Wednesday. Like I said I feel I'm getting stronger and I can see the results, it's just that my chest is taking that much longer to get stronger than anything else. Thanks for all the help.

justsomebloke

truthfully I would drop the split routine and go with 3 full body workouts per week instead. Also drop the rep range for a while but as you are training 3 times per week try not to go to failure.

#Smokey#

well ive tried a regime of lets say 10x10 of 30kgs incline and 30kgs flatbench aslo now that was 6 weeks ago and now im benching 55kgs its not alot more but it takes time to do and as pwd said technique is very important

JM MARCONI

Hi SuperSi, have you got anyone to spot you when your benching?

If you dont, you should add a bit of weight to the bar and ask someone to spot you. Then you can give it your best and if cant lift the weight you will be safe.

SuprSi

I don't unfortunately, as I'd like to see what I can manage. That would only be one rep though, which isn't really indicative of what I'm aiming for. I know I could lift more than I'm working now but wouldn't get able to get any reps from it.

It must be my technique so I think I'll do a little research on it. Thanks for all the help again!!

JM MARCONI

What gym are you in? Someone here might be able to help you.

If you do 6 - 7 reps of 35kg in your first set im sure you could up it to 40kg and get more than 1 rep.

SuprSi

I'm in Westwood Leopardstown. I was under the impression that I should be getting at least 6 reps for any noticeable gain?

wingnut32

Suprsi, I thought id make a comment since im only started 12 weeks ago, if i could offer any advice id say take the advice of the guys on this forum dont get to discouraged and most importantly stick with it.

Although i have made good gains with weight on the bench but yet i am struggling with other areas as much as you are..

Vegeta

SuprSi wrote: »

I'm in Westwood Leopardstown. I was under the impression that I should be getting at least 6 reps for any noticeable gain?

Well you can mix the weight/reps up a bit

If its purely strength a heavier weight with 3-5 reps is accepted as the norm

I know this is going to sound stupid but the only way you will lift heavier weights is by actually trying to lift heavier weights.

Get a spotter (just ask another lone lifter of similar skill) and try a weight you have never lifted before which is slightly above your current 6 rep record. Last year I could not bench 60 kg, now i do 3 sets of it for 8 reps.

One day in the gym I just felt good and tried to bench 60 kg. I did 1 rep. A few weeks later I tried again and I did 3 reps. Maybe a month later I did 7 reps and just kept trying to beat my personal best.

I benched 78kg for 2 reps about a month ago. I have not tried since but this weekend I may see can i beat that record.

It is slow. It took me 1 year to gain a 23kg improvement. I'd be delighted if this time next year I was strong enough to gain half that.

If you warm up, try 40kg and only manage half a rep then so what you can still do a couple of sets of 35kg afterwards. If you do lift 40kg though, suddenly you will be thinking could I have got 42.5

Yesterday I saw on here that rubadub could military press 47 kg for a nice few reps. My military press is very week so I went home and tried it and was crushed completely by it. I then threw on 37kg (yes i am a bitch) and realised I had never even tried that weight before and I could do a nice few reps of it.

gabgab

hey suprsi,

I'm up in Westwood and only too happy to offer someone a spot, did it the other night for a lad, bar in mind that I am a weener, but still I'l do enough to get the bar off onto the rack,

PM me if you want, I am up there a few times a week,

Cheers,

Canis Lupus

Not that it's in anyway recommended but 40 kgs will just harmlessly roll down along your body anyway if you fail. You'll look a little silly tho (I'm in no way saying you shoud bench without a spotter)

Patto

I'm fairly new to lifting weights but here are my opservations on my bench press progress for what its worth:

My bench had been progressing nicely between March and May, then I injured by shoulder, two weeks out nothing serious, it took 4-6 weeks to get my bench back to where it was! After that my gains were very slow, I spent 8-12 weeks on the same 25Kg dumpbells (per hand). In the last 8 weeks I have gone straight through the 27.5s, and the 30s and I knocked out a 5x5 on the 32.5s last night.

I think there are a number of factors at play when you make your big gains. In my experience:

1. Creatine, I went back on creatine back in September, it seems to have a pronounced affect on me, I also added 1/2 stone of weight within 10 days (its all water of course). Others have a more pronounced responce with Glutamine, I don't for some reason.

2. Practice, I think for me I need to be bench pressing more than once a week or at least doing a variation like the close grip bench or Dips to make decent gains.

3. Overtraining, if I run more than 20 miles a week or play a couple of football matches or do sprint sessions it affects my gains in the gym. My optimium for max gains is doing 3 heavy lifting sessions a week and 2-3 days of gentle cardio.

4. Diet, generally my diet is pretty good so its rarely a limiting factor. Alcohol can be a factor on occasion perhaps. I've never not had a post workout shake so I don't know what effect that would have, I wouldn't dare try.

5. Reps, Sets, Supersets, drop sets, for me I don't think it makes much odds as long as you mix it up every now and again.

6. No need to train to failure, I don't think you need to, I would normally go to within a rep or two of failure on all sets. I mostly use dumpbells and rarely use a spotter.

SuprSi

Some good advice again guys, thanks. I think I'll try a 40kg press next week just for the sake of it.