Bust My Plateau

[evilution79]

I'm 21 at 185 lbs. My bench has been stuck at a plateau. My other body parts are getting stronger each week, but my bench has stayed the same for about 2 months now. Any suggestions on busting my platau?


I usually do

Flat DB - 3x 6-8
In DB - 3x 6-8
Cross Over - 3x 12-10
Dips 3x to failure

 

[SSAlexSS]

I'm 21 at 185 lbs. My bench has been stuck at a plateau. My other body parts are getting stronger each week, but my bench has stayed the same for about 2 months now. Any suggestions on busting my platau?


I usually do

Flat DB - 3x 6-8
In DB - 3x 6-8
Cross Over - 3x 12-10
Dips 3x to failure

What DB stands for? Dumbell?


In order to increase your bench increase your poundages, even if that means doing singles. Dumbells rock! Use them...
And then EAT SOME MORE PROTEIN! Eat it every meal until you want to puke.


Hambugers are more anabolic than steroids! Without big fat cheesy hamburgers you might not get enough calories for growth!


How big is your bench? And DO NOT TO DIPS to failure!

 

[The Dude]

Go either way, heavier or lighter (less reps/more reps) for a month. Just change what you're doing and see how you react to it.

 

[bignate73]

go heavier go heavier......is that all the creativity you guys can come up with?

do dbell presses with a stability ball. alternate arms. make it so your body HAS to build more neuralmuscular connections, so that when you come back to your old standard exercise, you recruit more fibers. an unstable platform requires more concentration and thus you build coordination. what determines how much weight you lift? the muscle? no....the nervous system. train your nervous system for a while, when you come back to pure stable lifting, your nervous system is more efficient and you can exert more force.

also,try slowing your rep speed down. especially the negative.

hit a light weight 10 second rep (5 sec each way).
do 3 sets of 10 and see how you feel after that exercise.

 

[Cackerot69]

OK, try this...

On monday you do 3 sets of 3 on bench press, not to failure but very "hard" sets. Rest 3-5 minutes between sets. For assistance work do 3 sets of shoulder press (of your choice) using 8-10 reps, and 3 sets of skull crushers using 8-10 reps. Take the assistance work to failure or maybe one rep short of failure (whichever you feel best with). Also do 2 sets of forearm curls for 8-10 reps.

Now, on thursday you do bench press 8 sets of 2-3 reps (50% of you max should work well) concentrating on accelerating the bar as fast as possible, don't worry about anything else - as long as the bar goes fast your good. Rest 45-60 seconds between each set and for assistance work do 3 sets of shoulder press at 3-5 reps and 3 sets of skull crushers at 3-5 reps. Take assistance work one rep short of failure or to failure (whichever you feel best with). Also do two sets of forearm extensions for 8-10 reps.

Your warm-up should be progressive, I recommend this:

Set 1 - 50% working weight, 10 reps, 60 sec rest
Set 2 - 60% working weight, 8 reps, 60 sec rest
Set 3 - 75% working weight, 4 reps, 2 min rest
Set 4 - 85% working weight, 2 reps, 3 min rest
Set 5 - 90% working weight, 1 rep, 3 min rest

Continue training all of your other parts as you are now (assuming they are progressing nicely), and eat a lot of food. Make sure to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night, too.

 

[Mr Scrum]

A little Westside speed work as Cackerot69 will help. Strengthen your tris - Close grip benches, California presses. Skip the cable crossovers. Do deads and squat. They will pack size on you. When I drop deads from my workouts, my bench typically goes down

 

[evilution79]

Hey thanks Alex, Dude, Big Nate, Cackerot and Scrum for the help and info. I will incorporate the techniques outlined to see what works for me.

 

[ThickLEE]

MAKE SURE AND HIT YOURE SQUATS!!!! STRONGER SQUATS=STRONGER BENCH

ATLEAST FOR ME

 

[George Spellwin]

<a title="Workout Plateaus Top Tips for Beating a Weightlifting or Bodybuilding Plateau" href="http://bodybuilding.elitefitness.com/bodybuilding-workout-weightlifting-plateau" added="null">Workout Plateaus Top Tips for Beating a Weightlifting or Bodybuilding Plateau</a> <img src="http://www.elitefitness.com/images/workout/workout-plateau.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="142" hspace="10" align="right" added="null" /> <p>Nothing in bodybuilding is more defeating than hitting a bodybuilding workout plateau. In fact, weightlifting plateaus can stifle your muscle gains for weeks, or even months at a time! Fortunately, some very dedicated EliteFitness.com Forums members have come together to reveal the best ways to blast through your bodybuilding workout plateaus, and on to incredible muscle gains! </p> <p><a title="Workout Plateaus Top Tips for Beating a Weightlifting or Bodybuilding Plateau" href="http://bodybuilding.elitefitness.com/bodybuilding-workout-weightlifting-plateau" added="null">Read the full story here...</a></p>