Bench bloody press!

Degsy

I'm absolutley flummoxed,basicly my bench has remained the same for months(3+) and i cant seemto make any progress either in weight shifted or amount of reps i can squeeze out.Actually,when i got back to the gym after christmas i managed 4 extra reps @100 k but since then it hasnt moved at all.I train chest once a week,eat like a horse and sleep very well,every other part of me is progressing apace but this is bugging me!Any ideas?

Arsenal1986

try find your weak point in the lift whether its lockout or driving off the chest or midway up then change ur exercise to hit this eg maybe do floor pressing or board presiing for a month then go back benching....the break should do u good also

Jimmy Bottlehead

Think someone said on here lately that to make it more challenging, pause at the bottom.

Degsy

Jimmy Bottlehead wrote: »

Think someone said on here lately that to make it more challenging, pause at the bottom.

I do that awready..

justsomebloke

well what are you current set and rep ranges, how long have you being using that rep range and what supplemental work are you doing

the drifter

Arsenal1986 wrote: »

try find your weak point in the lift whether its lockout or driving off the chest or midway up then change ur exercise to hit this eg maybe do floor pressing or board presiing for a month then go back benching....the break should do u good also

excellent advice...break the bench down into sections as said above... its rare that i actually do normal flat raw bench... i always vary from floor presses to board pressed etc etc

Degsy

jsb wrote: »

well what are you current set and rep ranges, how long have you being using that rep range and what supplemental work are you doing

I do drop sets usually.Start off heavy,usually 5 reps,drop the weight for 6-8 reps,same again,drop weight again for 8-12 reps and drop the weight again and go to failure.I do dumbell presses and machine flyes on this day also.I've been at this particular programme for 6 months or so.

amazingemmet

Degsy wrote: »

I do drop sets usually.Start off heavy,usually 5 reps,drop the weight for 6-8 reps,same again,drop weight again for 8-12 reps and drop the weight again and go to failure.I do dumbell presses and machine flyes on this day also.I've been at this particular programme for 6 months or so.

Theer's your problems, Drop sets are very cns intensive, move to a different rep scheme try hitting lower reps higher weights with some supplementary work for your weak points and it should start moving again

HammerHeadGym

I had this trouble myself. It's very hard to break the ton. Anyway as was said above, drop sets may not be the way. Try and change it up a bit. Come at it with 5x5 or 3x8 or 8x3 or whatever. Personally I recommend 5x5 which is what I always use to get past a plateau but whatever works man.

Let us know which method you use and how soon you get off the plateau.

crotalus667

HammerHeadGym wrote: »

Personally I recommend 5x5 which is what I always use to get past a plateau

that's arnolds fav for chest

Degsy

crotalus667 wrote: »

HammerHeadGym wrote: »

Personally I recommend 5x5 which is what I always use to get past a plateau

that's arnolds fav for chest

Its sure is,Willis!

Shane190

I used to use 5X5 but switched to 3X8 a few weeks ago.

Degsy

Shane190 wrote: »

I used to use 5X5 but switched to 3X8 a few weeks ago.

is that 3 sets of 8 reps or 8 sets of three reps?To do 3 sets of 8 reps i'm gonna have to lower the weight a bit..

Shane190

Its 3 sets of 8 reps. When I switched from 5X5 i had to lower the weight a bit for the first few sessions but it soon got back to normal.

Hanley

You'll never get far if you just reach a set weight and keep hammering your head against in the hopes of moving it. You really need to take a step back to take 2 forward.

Maybe drop to 75 or 80kg and do 3x8 for 3 weeks trying to up the weight a bit (2.5-5kg) every week.

Start working 3x6 for 3 weeks afterwards, starting with your last 3x8 weight, and again trying to increase a small bit each week.

Then start working towards top sets of 5 for 3 or 4 weeks (ie start with maybe 60, 70, 80, 90, 95...) until the next weight increase would mean you would miss 5 reps on the next set (then go for 60, 70, 80, 90, 97.5 or 100 the next week... you get the idea for subsequent weeks, 102.5 to 107.5 the next etc) It might take 10-12 weeks but I wouldn't be surprised if you were up over 110x5 before you stalled again.

Transform

I would get you to do all of the above - work different rep ranges and sets, varying bench exercises but also put in regular (every session) rotator cuff work. Most people are quite week in these muscles and i have found once its been worked on there are less shoulder problems and increased bench.

Oh and finally try to creep the weight up in 1-2kg increments - small and steady

Degsy

Transform wrote: »

I would get you to do all of the above - work different rep ranges and sets, varying bench exercises but also put in regular (every session) rotator cuff work. Most people are quite week in these muscles and i have found once its been worked on there are less shoulder problems and increased bench.

Oh and finally try to creep the weight up in 1-2kg increments - small and steady

Whats good rotator cuff excercises?

g'em

Internal/ external rotations with a light DB are usually the most commonly used, and band pull-aparts and scap push-ups are brilliant.

I'll try to find pictures....

g'em

Even better, here's some articles (all t-nation)

• Rotator Cuff Health
• Shoulder Savers: Part I
• Shoulder Savers: Part II
• Shoulder Savers: Part III
• Push-ups, Face-Pulls and Shrugs

Dragan

You still benching in a smith?

Transform

Good all i use the smith machine for is hanging my towel on.

Beelzebub

Transform wrote: »

Good all i use the smith machine for is hanging my towel on.

I find it useful, though I'd rather have a power rack.

Running Bing

Degsy wrote: »

I'm absolutley flummoxed,basicly my bench has remained the same for months(3+) and i cant seemto make any progress either in weight shifted or amount of reps i can squeeze out.Actually,when i got back to the gym after christmas i managed 4 extra reps @100 k but since then it hasnt moved at all.I train chest once a week,eat like a horse and sleep very well,every other part of me is progressing apace but this is bugging me!Any ideas?

Congrats on even being able to bench that much though:) How long did it take you to get to pressing that much?



Also rather than start a new thread over something niggly....We all know that a very well established goal of fitness is to be able to bench your bodyweight(for example Arnie had an interview in GQ a few months back and he was saying how it is such a great goal to aim for). My question is when people talk about "being able to bench your bodyweight" do they just mean getting to the stage where you can actually lift your bodyweight over your head i.e. 1 rep max or is it more about getting to the stage where your multi-repping your bodyweight? Bit of an ambiguos one and there's probably no answer but I just thought id shoot it out there.:)

Degsy

Dragan wrote: »

You still benching in a smith?

Nah.

Arsenal1986

when they say bench ur bodyweight they mean your 1rm..... its a relativly attainable goal something like 2 x bw benching now would be unreal

Degsy

Arsenal1986 wrote: »

when they say bench ur bodyweight they mean your 1rm..... its a relativly attainable goal something like 2 x bw benching now would be unreal

It depends really.Some people can bang out multiple reps of twice thier bodyweight,others will never get 1 rep of thier bodyweight.Hard work is the best way to achieve it although a lot of the bigger benchers(and lifters generally) would be "assisted",er chemically.You never know what you can achieve till you try.

Hanley

Degsy wrote: »

It depends really.Some people can bang out multiple reps of twice thier bodyweight,others will never get 1 rep of thier bodyweight.Hard work is the best way to achieve it although a lot of the bigger benchers(and lifters generally) would be "assisted",er chemically.You never know what you can achieve till you try.

The amount of people I know that can do reps with 2x bodyweight is limited to to well under the fingers that I have on one hand. A double bodyweight bench is one of the hardest things anyone who lifts weights can set out to achieve. It could quite easily take 10-15 years of training (maybe less with certain supplement).

I've yet to come across anyone who absolutely can never hope to achieve a rep with bodyweight. I'm pretty confident that within one or two years of training most people should be able to do it. But again, the big question is whether they actually want to or not, because well if they don't want to there's no point in even trying!!!

A good one actually to challenge yourself is that after your press your bodyweight with a barbell, try it with dumbbells. And they have to be picked up from the ground and kicked into position on your own. No help!!

TerrorFirmer

Transform wrote: »

Good all i use the smith machine for is hanging my towel on.

Does anyone use the smith at all? I have to use it in my new gym because there's no free weights. I use it for military press as well...and shrugs...in fact pretty much everything.

Patto

Hanley wrote: »

A good one actually to challenge yourself is that after your press your bodyweight with a barbell, try it with dumbbells. And they have to be picked up from the ground and kicked into position on your own. No help!!

That's a good one, its not possible though, I reckon. I nearly always bench with dumbells.

I have a conversion equation: combined DB weight x 7/6 = BB weight. Or if you like you can generally lift 16% more with a barbell.

I have nothing to back this up other than my own observations, I'm sure it varies for others but I doubt anyone can DB press the same weight as they can barbell press.

Hanley

Patto wrote: »

That's a good one, its not possible though, I reckon. I nearly always bench with dumbells.

I have a conversion equation: combined DB weight x 7/6 = BB weight. Or if you like you can generally lift 16% more with a barbell.

I have nothing to back this up other than my own observations, I'm sure it varies for others but I doubt anyone can DB press the same weight as they can barbell press.

I mean combined dumbbell weight incase that's casuing confusion! Say you wegh 80kg, 2 40kg 'bells.

Patto

Hanley wrote: »

I mean combined dumbbell weight incase that's casuing confusion! Say you wegh 80kg, 2 40kg 'bells.

Exactly, so did I.

"I have a conversion equation: combined DB weight x 7/6 = BB weight. Or if you like you can generally lift 16% more with a barbell"

Hanley

Patto wrote: »

Exactly, so did I.

"I have a conversion equation: combined DB weight x 7/6 = BB weight. Or if you like you can generally lift 16% more with a barbell"

And you still think it's not possible to bench your bodyweight in dumbbells?

joker77

Hanley wrote: »

I mean combined dumbbell weight incase that's casuing confusion! Say you wegh 80kg, 2 40kg 'bells.

I'm going to try to work to that challenge Hanley!

At the moment I work up to 5 reps of 25Kgs. I'm only really back training after a couple of months off, I think before that I was up nearer 30Kgs, so shouldn't take too long to get back to that. I'm about 83Kgs at the moment

How long do you think it would take to get up to 1 rep of 40Kgs?

TerrorFirmer

In my experience, I'd find it easy to bench 80kg on bench but I can definitely not do an 80kg dumbbell press. Just out of curiosity, to those that dumbbell press, what weight can you lift into position unassisted om comparison to the weight you can actually press?

Patto

g'em wrote: »

Even better, here's some articles (all t-nation)

[*]Rotator Cuff Health ...

Good atricle G'em, I was looking for that last week when rubished for saying rotator cuff work was relavant to building a bench press. All I can say is, whatever the theory behind it, it has worked for me.

Hanley

HavoK wrote: »

In my experience, I'd find it easy to bench 80kg on bench but I can definitely not do an 80kg dumbbell press. Just out of curiosity, to those that dumbbell press, what weight can you lift into position unassisted om comparison to the weight you can actually press?

I've pressed 50kg 'bells for 6, lifted from the ground on my own. That was probably at the time when I could press around 135-140kg with a straight bar. My max dumbbell press picking them up from the floor on my own is probably somewhere around 60-65kg, but it's notsomething I've tried.

WHIP IT!

HavoK wrote: »

In my experience, I'd find it easy to bench 80kg on bench but I can definitely not do an 80kg dumbbell press. Just out of curiosity, to those that dumbbell press, what weight can you lift into position unassisted om comparison to the weight you can actually press?

I can do 5/6 reps of my BW (90kg) but I doubt I could get the two 45kg DBs into position even to get started, nevermind press em a few times!

Degsy

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I can do 5/6 reps of my BW (90kg) but I doubt I could get the two 45kg DBs into position even to get started, nevermind press em a few times!

Me neither,i can barely do seated presses with 32k bells.

Patto

Hanley wrote: »

And you still think it's not possible to bench your bodyweight in dumbbells?

Sorry James, we have got our wires crossed. I meant you cannot dumbell press combining the weight of the two dumbells the same as you can barbell press. In other words if you can bench press 80Kg with a barbell you will most likely not be able to dumb bell press more than 35Kg per hand.

It is of course posible to bench press your bodyweight in combined dumbbells.

Patto

HavoK wrote: »

What weight can you lift into position unassisted in comparison to the weight you can actually press?

I'm not sure I know exactly what you mean but I have no problem getting dump bells into position for any weight that I can press.

There is a trick, to getting them into position: You need to start from the fully pressed locked out position. So as you lie back on the bench you need to be pushing up the dumb bells. When they are up, then set you shoulders and legs, then start pressing.

I have done so for DBs upto 35Kg and I've seen others lift heavier, without using this technique I strugggle with anything heavier than 25Kg.

Transform

I barbell press just over 100kg for reps and do 30-45degree incline dumbell press with up to 44kg dumbells for 4-5 reps. There is huge abdominal strength necessary to get them into position. All is done unassisted. My weight is 88kg atm

I really love a good hard set of dips with 30-40kg attached.

Cant stand cable cross overs as i find they contribute absolutely zero - most people who do them can't even bench their own body weight or do 30press ups.

Degsy

Transform wrote: »

I barbell press just over 100kg for reps and do 30-45degree incline dumbell press with up to 44kg dumbells for 4-5 reps. There is huge abdominal strength necessary to get them into position. All is done unassisted. My weight is 88kg atm

I really love a good hard set of dips with 30-40kg attached.

Cant stand cable cross overs as i find they contribute absolutely zero - most people who do them can't even bench their own body weight or do 30press ups.

That sounds suspiciously like bragging for bragging's sake.

TerrorFirmer

Degsy wrote: »

That sounds suspiciously like bragging for bragging's sake.

Sometimes it's OK to brag when you're really earned the right to do it.

Plus, it motivates the rest of us!

Hanley

Yeah, but is he functional????

TerrorFirmer

I don't want to start my own thread so why not ask it here - the bench press maxes out at 85kg in my gym. I usually do sets of 10 reps but I'd prefer to keep it at 5's with heavier weight....is close gripping working you in the same way i.e if I was close gripping 60kg would it work me out in the same way as normal benching 90-100?

Also, do smith machines always count as the bar being 0kg? Because in my old gym, it was assisted and on runners/cable, but in my new one it's literally a bar with locks to rest it down attached to the sides by plastic moulding, but not on cables etc...the guy that works in there told me its 15kg? Obviously not being sure I wouldn't count it in my bench

Hanley

I assume you mean the machine maxes out at 85kg?? If it was a freebar you could just load more plates on surely?

If you're trying to make it harder do pause benches, close grip benches, and paused close grip presses.

TerrorFirmer

See that's the problem, there are no more plates. That's what I meant to say. There's also a ****ty little machine bench which maxes out at 100kg but it doesn't really feel like its actually 100kg so i dont use it. I have to get them to get more in. At the moment there's only 2x20, 2x15, 2x2.5, and 8x1.25. All of which I have to throw on. So with the close grip, if I switch to that in between sets of 85, will i progress in my normal bench as well once I get more plates to use?

edit: Yeah, I was trying the pause bench today but still not challenging enough at that weight to only have small sets. I'll give paused close grips a try.

Transform

Jesus i only bench over 100kg so bloody what!

I have great admiration for guys and ladies in the gym that lift really well for their weight.

For example, 11stone guy deadlifting over 140kg, saw lady the other day doing full chins for 8 reps in the gym (arms fully extended at the bottom). Now thats impressive.

A good spotter will really help with increasing your bench also.