why is my flat bench stuck in a rut, yet my inclines/p-dips increase

[danielson]

basically my flat bench shows no significant increase but my incline bench and parallel dips have increased as i would expect them to normaly. i know people here say start with inclines (i start flat bench ), would this change anything. its kinda odd because id ecpext all the pectroal to adapt, not just the upper part. all my other lifts have increased normally apart from my flat bench (either in reps or weight) and it is BUGGING me as i take tat as a sign of no growth. any thoughs or comments on this, they'd be much appreciated

i couldn't find diddly on search. but then since the change of board format i find very little

 

[HeavyDutyGuy]

I went through the same thing years ago. Its isn't your upper pecs adapting and your lowers not. adaptation is a whole body process. What is far more likely, is that like others and mnyself, you may not be suited to benching. This is not always a bad thing because your PB dips are going up and so are your inclines. Some of the best looking chests have been built with these two exercises. If you are a powerlifter, then a big bench press meanomething, if you are a bodybuilder it really has no meaning as long as your chest is growng from other exercises. I almost never bench press and my chest is 50". I do heavy Incline presses and this week repped out with 225 for the first time. When I get 315 or so for reps, my chest will be even better. I hope this helps you.

 

[danielson]

well the odd thing is my flat bench has always kept track with my incline (i.e. when i was ready to increase weight on my flat i was also ready on incline). i know its not the end of the world as my pectoral will still develop but its just annoying.

if i started with inclines, then went to flat would it make any difference? ive kept this routine for like 5 months with hardly any change so maybe thats why. oh thanx for the reply too, much appreciated

 

[theoak01]

i would change it up,i always change ym routine after 3 months and i progress decent i figure

 

[bignate73]

a simple thing such as starting with another angle, ie incline, vs the monotonous flat first , then incline then decline. put those three exercises in a hat, and pull them out...do them in the order you pull them. keeps your body guessing. you may be able to hit it heavier on incline since you arent tired from flat.
just a thought.

maybe warm up with some heavy flyes.......

something new will break a plateau.

 

[b fold the truth]

OK man...give us some numbers here. Are you flat benching 175, 250, 300, 400, etc....

What are you inclining?

Look at how close these two numbers are. They should actually be somewhat close (probably 10-15% off).

You can't progress all the time. If that was the case...there would be people benching 1k right now.

Give me some more info man...and I will do my best to help.

B True

 

[Warik]

You might want to try working on your shoulders. My bench was stuck a few months ago. I worked my shoulders doing nothing but heavy standing barbell overhead presses (front of neck, not behind) once a week. My bench 4RM was up 15lbs after 6 weeks.

-Warik

 

[danielson]

lol 175.....

i wish....at the moment i flat bench 5kg heavier than my inclines.

flat bench is 60kg, incline 55.... and both are dumbell press - even sadder, i bench more than most at my gym (but there only 5-6 regular lifters there). im not too concerned with the weight at the moment, my increases in strength are 2nd to me wanting to get bigger, im only 5"7 and 175lbs and i used to be under 140lbs (very skinny, still think i am even though i'm not!

thing is, for the last 5 months (lifted for that long), ive ALWAYS started on a weight for 1 week at 5 reps, 2nd week 7 reps and the third/fourth week was 8-9 or over, then i'd up the weight 5 kg. i only ever got stuck on 55kg once,but at that time my weight was stuck at 165lbs too. thing is this is still happening with my inclines but not my flats. and since ive had the same routine for 5 months, i dont know what weight i should start off at i changed to inclines first.

and the rest of my lifts are increasing roughly at the same rate tey used to (apart from shoulder presses )



oh and thnks for all the replies

 

[wynnyelle]

i hear you, i have always had similar problem. my pullovers going up right now (started doing them again to bring up my chins) but my chins staying the same--8 or 9 chins like they have been for over 2 years. And this despite changing up the routine and shit.