bench press plateau

[Brandon]

What are some tips on getting past a plateau on bench press? I bust my ass in the gym every day, but still seem to be stuck. All of my other lifts continue to rise, but bench has just stagnated. Here's what my monday chest workout has looked like for the past 5 weeks or so:

bench press...3 sets of 4-6 reps
incline bench...3 sets of 4-6 reps (normally with dumbells)
decline bench...3 sets of 8-10reps
flies...3 sets of 10-12 reps
bench machine or dumbells...3 sets of 8-10 reps

I weigh about 150....and have been stuck at a one rep max of 230 for god knows how long....it's driving me insane!!! :evil: :evil:

[ghostwheel]

Please refer to the "Chains" thread here and the articles posted here in the training secvtion . These have been useful to me to help bust through plateau's.

[Brandon]

cool ghost, i'll go check that out.

[ghostwheel]

Good luck friend. Aloha !

[EDAWG146]

no offense, but that's too much, cut the last one at least. I cut back my sets on bench and went up on incline. Try switching for few week s your order. Also, what helps me is this: what ever your lifting before you do 230, drop that and do 230 on that set, your energy should be higher at that set, in turn helping you achieve more reps at that weight. Once I get 6 to 8 reps on a set I go up. Example I could only do 245 seven time at one point and instead of staying there until I got to ten I went up to 275 which at one time I could only do four. When I got to six I went up again... Now I can bench 275 10 times and 315 four to six. same thing happenened with incline, of course supplements helped me a lot.
Peace.

[max von]

no offense, but that's too much, cut the last one at least. I cut back my sets on bench and went up on incline. Try switching for few week s your order. Also, what helps me is this: what ever your lifting before you do 230, drop that and do 230 on that set, your energy should be higher at that set, in turn helping you achieve more reps at that weight. Once I get 6 to 8 reps on a set I go up. Example I could only do 245 seven time at one point and instead of staying there until I got to ten I went up to 275 which at one time I could only do four. When I got to six I went up again... Now I can bench 275 10 times and 315 four to six. same thing happenened with incline, of course supplements helped me a lot.
Peace.

excellent post very good advice you hit it right on the head, glad to see that worked for you

max von

[Brandon]

Cool dude, thanks for the advice. The past few weeks i've been doing a pyramid, and that has really been helping out. I've went up at least 5 lbs at each step every week so far!

[max von]

good job Brandon keep up the hard work

max von

[BFirkin]

take a break you prob overtrained it or it needs some rest. breaks are one of the best things for plataeus and make sure your eating right. some other things for plataeus are negatives and forced reps. also keep your muscles guessing that how you grow dont go in the gym and do the same thing over and over again.

[H8duke]

Try partial reps on a smith machine. adjust the machine so the bar will only come down to half way. (this is known as the "sticking point" if you are stuck at say 200lbs.,put 225 on the bar....go to work!!!