Incline bench becoming stagnant. Help me out homies.

[from zero]

As you may or may not know, I am that dude "gettinlarger." Prolly not gonna use that handle anymore, so remember me by this one.

Also, as you may or may not know, I'm on a DC-type program. However, my incline has been stagnating for a few weeks now. Been stuck at 225 for 8-9 reps.

I think I'm gonna take a different approach next bench session. I'm thinking of either (1) lowering the weight and go back to performing the long negatives, or (2) Doing a heavy set, 5 or so, and stripping some weight off and doing another set to failure. I did this a few sessions back on flat bench, and it felt pretty good on my chest.

Anybody got any ideas to break through this plateau? Maybe switch to a different exercise (I alternate flat and incline bench)? Dumbbells? Dips?

Or one of my aforementioned ideas?

Maybe I should just experiment with different things ... ?

 

[guldukat]

As you may or may not know, I am that dude "gettinlarger." Prolly not gonna use that handle anymore, so remember me by this one.

*New identity acknowledged and saved to files*

Also, as you may or may not know, I'm on a DC-type program. However, my incline has been stagnating for a few weeks now. Been stuck at 225 for 8-9 reps.

I think I'm gonna take a different approach next bench session. I'm thinking of either (1) lowering the weight and go back to performing the long negatives, or (2) Doing a heavy set, 5 or so, and stripping some weight off and doing another set to failure. I did this a few sessions back on flat bench, and it felt pretty good on my chest.

Hmm...okay. Honestly, I'm not sure that slower negatives or a kind of breakdown/drop set is necessarily what you need.

You're reasoning that the plateau is due to a lack of intensity, which might be true but I kinda doubt it. What does the rest of your program look like? You don't have to list exercises, but it would help to know how long your most recent DC cycle has lasted and maybe what all you're doing for pecs.

It might be that you simply need to take a break from heavy pressing. When I start to reach a sticking point, it always helps for me to just back off for a bit and train light. It might also be the case that you need a somewhat greater variety of exercises to keep going.

What's this? Ah-ha!

Anybody got any ideas to break through this plateau? Maybe switch to a different exercise (I alternate flat and incline bench)? Dumbbells? Dips?

Or one of my aforementioned ideas?

Maybe I should just experiment with different things ... ?

You're just alternating between flat and incline bench press?

BINGO.

That's at least part of the problem. You need to do a third movement. Say, bench, incline, and dips. But first, I would also back off the weight and not train to failure for a couple of weeks.

 

[from zero]

Re: Re: Incline bench becoming stagnant. Help me out homies.

*New identity acknowledged and saved to files*



Hmm...okay. Honestly, I'm not sure that slower negatives or a kind of breakdown/drop set is necessarily what you need.

You're reasoning that the plateau is due to a lack of intensity, which might be true but I kinda doubt it. What does the rest of your program look like? You don't have to list exercises, but it would help to know how long your most recent DC cycle has lasted and maybe what all you're doing for pecs.

It might be that you simply need to take a break from heavy pressing. When I start to reach a sticking point, it always helps for me to just back off for a bit and train light. It might also be the case that you need a somewhat greater variety of exercises to keep going.

What's this? Ah-ha!



You're just alternating between flat and incline bench press?

BINGO.

That's at least part of the problem. You need to do a third movement. Say, bench, incline, and dips. But first, I would also back off the weight and not train to failure for a couple of weeks.

Stop writing so much. Haha. JK.

Thanks for the input man. I was thinking of taking a break from heavy pressing. Seems every week I'm pushing myself harder and harder. I'll also add some dips for my chest, see how that works out.

 

[jerkbox]

my approach to bringing up my bench is gonna be pin presses and floor presses.....

you could do the same thing with inclines....lockouts with a heavier wieght....

i would also suggest throwing close grips in there too

if you have been hitting the weights heavy, perhaps backing off for a few weeks is a good idea

 

[IronLion]

my approach to bringing up my bench is gonna be pin presses and floor presses.....

you could do the same thing with inclines....lockouts with a heavier wieght....

i would also suggest throwing close grips in there too

if you have been hitting the weights heavy, perhaps backing off for a few weeks is a good idea

I agree obviously.....I am not sure if you mean your strength is slowing or your bodybuilding progress, if it is your strength I can't empasize technique and partials enough.

Are you following the DC program strictly? If you aren't then it seems like you are ready for that week or two where you rest and don't do much...

btw what happended to gettinlarger???

 

[from zero]

Are you following the DC program strictly? If you aren't then it seems like you are ready for that week or two where you rest and don't do much...

I'm not following it exactly. I'm doing a variation of it. Like swain's kinda.

My strength is what's staying steady. On every other lift, I get at least one more rep out than the previous session, or I up the weight. Just hasn't happened with my incline.

btw what happended to gettinlarger???

He's napping. He'll be back when he's large.

 

[FatRat]

Lol, you better post what your variation looks like before getting any more advice...

 

[from zero]

Lol, you better post what your variation looks like before getting any more advice...

I've done this numerous times, but okay. I guess I should have clarified that it's basically the DC routine, sans long negatives. I replaced that with heavier weight. I dropped the negatives after about 4 weeks.

chest, tris, shoulders, back.
bis, forearms, quads, hams, calves.

 

[Liftbig]

in my training, if something is stagnant, i would switch to some other similar exercise.

 

[guldukat]

Re: Re: Re: Incline bench becoming stagnant. Help me out homies.

Stop writing so much. Haha. JK.

Thanks for the input man. I was thinking of taking a break from heavy pressing. Seems every week I'm pushing myself harder and harder. I'll also add some dips for my chest, see how that works out.

That alone should help. I would make it maybe two weeks of lighter stuff, myself.

But definitely, you'll want to do that third movement. It's ____integral____ to DC training.

I have observed this first-hand. When I was only doing two calf exercises, I hit a plateau after a few weeks. And the thing is, I'd just started hitting calves hard again!

When I threw that third movement in the mix, that gave me enough variety such that my system wouldn't get burned out. My calves started growing rapidly again.

Same thing happened with delts. At first I was doing three pressing exercises. It was working, but I wasn't progressing like I was in everything else. I cut out a pressing exercise, replaced it w/ upright rows, and added a fourth move to the rotation. My delts are now improving steadily. The strength gains are awesome. For example:

I'd been doing a machine overhead press that I liked. But I stacked it out, and I couldn't find a way to reliably add weight to it. The solution was just to go back to the barbell, which I hadn't done in over a year.

At first I was only at something like 165x7, but the next time I was to do seated BB press I hit 190x8. Some of that was getting reacquainted with free weight again, but this was an all-time PR, especially because I lowered the bar to my chest on each rep (I used to not go that low). I expect to do much better when I come back from this lighter training

If that variety helped me that much, I'm sure it will help you.