[Lothario]

Need Some Help Guys......

I am stuck at Lifting 155 Pounds and can't go any higher, MY stats 5 feet 10 inch tall and weigh 160 Pounds. I can do a one rep max of 175 #.

hear me out , I started going to Gym 3 yrs ago and I started with the just the bar and Incrementally went upto 160 # , I guess it's decent to be able to lift your own bodyweight but I want to do atleast 1.5 times my body weight.

Things I have tried

1. Stronglifts 5 X 5 program

2. Isolated Pecs , Triceps and Deltois Excercises.

3. Using Creatine 2500 mg a day, Fish Oil, Pre work out supplement and Protein (Atleast 150 grams a day) which is a mix of Shakes, Greek yogurt, tuna , shrimp, chicken etc.

I personally think I need to take more protein atleast 225 grams a day.....

Any humbling suggestions from the RVF members are welcome and Thanks in Advance

[hunter7]

edit

[dk902]

Lothario do you Squat and Deadlift?

If not start at those two and your bench should go up incrementally once you start doing those.

Also a poor bench doesn't always mean weak shoulders. If you have weak lats your bench isn't going anywhere.

Whilst I don't proclaim to be an expert, I don't believe more protein is always the answer.

You sound like you could do with gaining some weight. Once you gain more weight your lifts should go up as well.

Aim for more calories overall including carbs. If you don't eat enough to allow your body to accomodate more muscle, all the creatine and supplements in the world ain't gonna help you.

[theoak]

i think this is the first routine i ever used, it definitely will help you add weight to the bar

http://www.weightrainer.net/spreadsheets/mm2kadd50.html

that being said the poundage is pretty irrelevant imo. good form, strong contraction, and time under tension are more important.

also keep in mind that you will grow from changing other variables, not just weight. the variables to muscle growth are:

weight, volume (sets, reps), time under tension, and rest between sets.

if you keep the weight the same, but add 1 rep per set and not resting longer, etc you will get stronger. keep playing around with it.

also, you say you started going to the gym 3 years ago, but how consistent have you been going? you need to train consistently to see a difference. lifting 5-10x a month isnt going to do it.

in my experience form, consistency (training and eating), and/or intensity are the 3 main things lacking when people can't make changes.

btw, drink less shakes and eat real food, at least 3500 calories per day.

[OGNorCal707]

From reading your posts, I believe you are over 35 years old, chances are you have lower testosterone levels, I'd recommend taking a natural t-boosting supplement, two that I have found are: "ultra t-male" by "nature plus", as well as "testro max", by "life force".

Are you like me by chance? My chest get's huge, but comparative to other guys my height/size I can't push as much weight, by looking at me you'd think that I could easily lift 20-40 lbs heavier. I don't know why my chest get's big, but I can't max out that much weight. Anyways, I'm content with how I look, so the sheer amount of weight I can lift isn't too much of an issue.

Also, are you using just flat bench, incline, or decline? There's a lot of debate about how much of each bench you should do, a personal trainer I worked out with recommended that I just do flat bench, and ignore the other two. However, some guys swear by the incline bench press, and focus on that, while still other guys say you need to do all three (flat, incline, decline).

I remember watching a "Hodge Twins" (twinsmuscleworkout channel) video on youtube, where they claimed that putting more work on incline, helped out there flat bench weight total.

When you bench you are mostly working chest, but also triceps and shoulders, maybe you need to put a little bit more work on your shoulders and triceps, that might help you with your bench total.

If any more knowledgable guys want to chime in on the flat bench vs. incline vs. decline debate, please let me know. I think I'm going to switch my benching to do 1 set of decline, 2 sets of incline, and 2 sets or flat bench. Previously I was typically doing 1 set incline, 1 set decline, and 3 sets on the flat.

[velkrum]

Post a video of yourself benching and let's see if it's a technique issue first.

[kosko]

I would sometimes I dupe my body by adding a extra 25 plate or doing my one rep max right at the start of my lift while 100% fresh. Your brain will tricked to thinking your lifting your max when you go back down to 155.

But as others have posted check if your over training or if your technique is off. When I plateaued on my Bench it was due to me lifting to much. When I took a week off I was fine.

[Lothario]

Thanks Guys for taking the time ....... I will answer the questions asked .

@ dk902: Yes I do Squat and deadlift twice a week

Squat 185 # (5X5)
Deadlift 225 # (5 x 2)
Benchpress 155 #( 5 x 3), 165 # (1-3 reps), 175 # (1 Rep Max) and shit I am stuck here for like 3 months , I have tried takin almost 2-3 weeks off, come back and I had to start at 135 got back to my max and am stuck again.

I thoroughly followed the Stronglift 5 X 5 Program for 3-4 months and I did gain about 10 # of muscle mass and decreased the fat percentage.

I really like I look now compared to 3 yrs ago and get compliments from my Social Circle but would like to gain 15- 20 more pounds, Tell you guys the Truth I am a CalorieCounter and probably burn all my calories working out and watching my diet and hence the reason for not gaining muscle mass.

I do not have a sweet tooth and watch my carbs, I used to run , not anymore , may be 1 mile twice a week, mostly lift weights and little to no cardio.

Problem is also when I eat a lot , I develop a little Belly which I hate , One solution can be get Big first and then shred ?????????? say what .....

@the Oak: Thanks for all the advice , I will play with the Variables, I am disciplined and am at the Gym atleast 4-5 day a week.

@ OGnorcal: You guessed it right buddy, I am over 35 and Testosterone Levels are fine but I will give the Testosterone boosters a chance , nothing to lose there right....., I do Incline press as well may be twice a week but never done decline , will give it a try

@ Velkrum: Identity Issues but may be I will send you a Video via PM or post one with out face, I have tried wide and narrow grips, In between works better.

@ Kosko: I have tried started frsh in the Gym with 165 # and that actually makes things worse and I can not even complete 2 sets of 5.

Keep the advice coming guys and mucho Gracias one more time.......

[ElJefe]

Well, here's the obvious.

Change up the program: consider going with something called EDT. Make sure your nutrition is in order. Remember fish-oil (supplements).

Especially important in regards to nutrition: make sure you eat some fastcarbs with your protein post workout (or even while working out) - the insulin spike fast-tracks the protein to the muscles. I'm trying to cut, but I eat fruit with my PWO prot shake

[Moma]

Lothario, do you bench with a buddy? Or do you go solo?

If you work out with someone, you will up your numbers. When you bench with a buddy, you can go heavy and he can help you out if you are struggling. It's through struggling that you improve. Also, men can be competitive. If you go with a buddy who is about your strength, you will compete to get stronger.

I am almost willing to bet you work out solo.

Go with a buddy (a serious cat who is around your strength and you will notice great improvements).

Hard to get as strong as working out solo. Working out solo is more of a maintenance thing than a gain exercise.

[OGNorCal707]

Am I the only one who thinks maxing out on bench press is overrated? I don't even know how much my 1 rep max is, because I seriously haven't tried in probably like 8 years. I think as long as you're going up in either weight or reps, you're doing good, obviously if you get to a point where you can do a bunch more reps on the same amount of weight, then it's time to increase the total.

Also, I agree that it might be a good move to switch up your program, your body gets used to doing the same standard work out, week in and week out. Some guys go overboard with muscle confusion, but I think it can be a good tactic to employ from time to time.

I hear what you're saying about having a belly, I'm the same way, pretty much all my body's fat goes to my gut, and I'm pretty sure I'll never have a six pack. My solution is moderate or cut out foods with bad fats: half and half, sour cream, whipped cream, cream cheese, cakes and sweets, bacon, etc. It's good to watch your carb intake and try not to go too heavy on white bread, pasta, white rice, etc. To gain muscle you really got to eat a lot of food, esp. protein, but don't neglect good fats from stuff like avocado, nuts, olive oil, and fish.

Doing too much cardio can be counterproductive, I just do a light 10 min. warm up on the eliptical machine before I lift.

Also, if you're over 35 your body is naturally going to decrease testosterone production, so even if they are healthy for your age, they are still going to be lower then a guy in his mid-twenties. Testosterone plays a big part on muscle production, so I'm sure you will get good results with a supplement.

[kosko]

(06-05-2012 06:03 PM)ElJefe Wrote:  

Well, here's the obvious.

Change up the program: consider going with something called EDT. Make sure your nutrition is in order. Remember fish-oil (supplements).

Especially important in regards to nutrition: make sure you eat some fastcarbs with your protein post workout (or even while working out) - the insulin spike fast-tracks the protein to the muscles. I'm trying to cut, but I eat fruit with my PWO prot shake

Yea I was gonna ask bout what he does Pre-Workout. Maybe a pre-workout blend is order or switch up to something new if you are using one.

Also try to eat some dense whole carbs prior like a small bowl of oatmeal and/or try some caffeine pre-work out to give your energy levels a kick in the head.

[UgSlayer]

You might be over-training if you squat and deadlift twice a week. Give your body an opportunity to heal. Try a 3 day split chest and shoulders, day off, back and biceps, day off, legs and abs, day off, then repeat the cycle over again.

Also, the fact that you calorie count can be a huge factor as well. Around the 3 year mark is where most people plateau. If you really want to get bigger and stronger after plateauing, you're going to have to have a calorie surplus. Yes, that means getting a little fatter. Do that for as long as you can handle being fat. For me it's usually about 6 months of eating whatever the fuck I want. I'll gain something like 20-30 pounds (from 175-180 to about 200 lbs), but only 5-10 pounds of that is muscle, if I'm lucky. Then go on a cutting phase to get shredded again.

[UgSlayer]

double post

[OGNorCal707]

(06-05-2012 06:32 PM)UgSlayer Wrote:  

You might be over-training if you squat and deadlift twice a week. Give your body an opportunity to heal. Try a 3 day split chest and shoulders, day off, back and biceps, day off, legs and abs, day off, then repeat the cycle over again.

Also, the fact that you calorie count can be a huge factor as well. Around the 3 year mark is where most people plateau. If you really want to get bigger and stronger after plateauing, you're going to have to have a calorie surplus. Yes, that means getting a little fatter. Do that for as long as you can handle being fat. For me it's usually about 6 months of eating whatever the fuck I want. I'll gain something like 30 pounds, but only 5-8 pounds of that is muscle, if I'm lucky. Then go on a cutting phase to get shredded again.

Yeah I kind of wondered if he might be over-training as well, how many times a week do you bench press Lothario?

You might want to switch between barbells and dumbells, I've heard that can make a huge difference.

As far as pre-work out supplements go, I think I found the perfect thing, since I'm on an all natural lifestyle, I take an organic green tea tablet with the equivelent of about 1 cups' worth of caffeine, then I drink a can on organic yurba mate tea, which packs another cups' worth of caffeine, defintely gets me pumped, especially since I start my work out with squats.

[velkrum]

1

2

The coaching is not perfect (since its on video) and I don't recommend the foot placement (driving with the front of the foot) but the fundamental concepts are explained.


The ABSOLUTE best setup for a bench is 4:41 in the 1st video.

[Giovonny]

So, you are stuck at 155 pounds...

Here is what has worked for me in the past..

Put 160 pounds on the bar and lift it up. Just hold it up above your face for as long as you can. Do a few "mini-reps", which means only bringing the bar down a few inches, maybe halfway to your chest or even less. You basically just getting your body comfortable with this heavier weight.

Go up to 165 and repeat the process. Use a spotter if you need to.

Little by little, try to control 160 pounds as much as possible, bring it down a little further to your chest one week at a time. Don't rush it, allow your chest to rest for a day or 2 sometimes.

Again, you don't need to do a full bench press, just hold the bar above your chest and move it up and down only a few inches.

Also, you might try to strengthen your chest from other angles. Things like the incline bench press, dumbbell press, and elevated push ups can also help your bench press. Don't forget to work your triceps which are also a big part of the bench.

Chage up your routine with some stuff like this:

Elevated push-ups:

Incline Dumbbell press:

Dumb bell Chest press
Prison pushups

[Snowman]

Quote:

Benchpress 155 #( 5 x 3), 165 # (1-3 reps), 175 # (1 Rep Max) and shit I am stuck here for like 3 months , I have tried takin almost 2-3 weeks off, come back and I had to start at 135 got back to my max and am stuck again.

Don't take 2-3 weeks off completely. Muscles only grow if they are being used. Period. The most of a break I would suggest is one week, which isn't much of a break, simply because you don't want to over work you're muscles, then you start to have problems. After about one week every week you don't lift your muscles lose 5-10 pounds of your bench max. Which as you have already explained makes you start back at 135. The trick is to balance rest with work and find that happy medium of effective growth. I believe that a person's growth is unique. Obviously when you look at children it's not hard to see. So its best that you do what's in your body's best intrest to grow. So, instead of taking extended periods off. Switch up you're routine. Everyone who's lifted a dumbell knows what P90X is and they're selling pitch, muscle confusion. So switch up you're routine a bit and keep you're muscles growing. Do some other lifts to grow your chest other than bench. Try dumbell bench, or jammer press, mix your routine up every time you start to slow down and see what happens.

However you're already plateaued. So I strongly suggest to do what my coach once told me. Pushups. Easy up on the bench, and focus on pushups. They increase you're core, which alone can increase your max by 20 pounds. They build muscles that are crucial for bench such as tris, delts, and pecs. And if you haven't already been doing so I'd pause the benching, and find a complete 30-45 min pushup workout. Preferably something that incorporates various types like wide, diamond, ect. At the very least 100 a day, but try to raise that number up by 25-50 every week. Then by the 3 weeks that you normally would've taken off to let you're muscles build, your upper body would have started transforming to the new routine (#muscle confusion). And in three week of doing this every day I guarentee those muscles would've have more endurance, more explosion, and be overall more attractive.
I also recommend pullups and chinups, they're a pain in the ass but they're amazing at building you're body.
I think that a serious problem most lifters have today is that they completely underestimate the gains you get from lifting your body weight. I don't know what it is about it. But it works. The strongest upper body lifter I know built his strength on pushups. He got to a point where he does 1000 a day. He weighs 163 pounds and benches 385.

[that guy]

Heres how I've increased my bench from 185 to 300 lbs. It took me about 3 years.

On bench day, do flat bench with a barbell, flat bench with dumbbells, incline bench with a barbell, and incline bench with dumbbells. Usually with something in between, like light biceps exercises, or pullups, nothing chest related though.

Always be increasing at least 1 of the 4 chest exercises. You might plateau on flat bench with a barbell, but maybe incline bench with dumbbells will be increasing. Once that plateaus, go back to flat bench and try to increase that by 5 lbs or so. Soon all 4 of your lifts will be increasing steadily. You don't need to increase anything by alot, for example, maybe I moved up from 75lb dumbells to 80 lb dumbells for flat bench, and the next week I move up flat bench with a barbell 225 lbs to 230 lbs.

I'm sure there are other ways and better ways, but this is how I did it.

And I never had more than a 40 gram protein shake, but I was taking creatine.

[Seduction Sutra]

I had the same problem as yours. I fixed it by focusing on my rotator cuff.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/criticalbench24.htm

[Lothario]

Shit guys you see right through me, Moma yes I do work out solo about 80 % of the time and also yes I do notice when someone helps me lift the bar I can lift better and more weight.

Velkrum: I was hoping you would come through and you did, I can already see after watching the video that my technique has some mistakes, I can't wait to do get back to the Gym to Bench press with correct technique (this will have to wait till tomorrow, I already did bench press yesterday)

I do give a muscle group atleast 48 hr rest before working it again....., I alternate my push ( Pecs, Deltoid and Triceps) and pull (Biceps, Lats, Trapezius) work out that is 4-5 days during weekdays with sat and sun off. Squats and Deadlift on pull days and Abs on Push days.

Giovanny: I am going to use your recommendations as well, Thanks

Things I will do differently that I learned from this thread

1. Atleast 3500 Calories a day.

2. My Pre work out supplement is Superpump Max or NO Explode and I will include a protein shake and or a Carb supplement an hr before work out.

3.Use testosterone Supplements.

4. Use proper Technique for Bech Press and have a spotter all the time.

5. Invest time in Push Ups and Elevated Push ups.

4. Incline, Flat and decline Bench press with both barbells and dumbells.

Forgot to mention I do Inject myself with Vit B12 every 4-6 weeks anf also take 600 mg of Fish oil everyday.

Will report back hopefully will be lifting more then 200 # and with more muscle mass .......

[ElJefe]

When I was eating like a mofo, I added 2.5-3lbs to my bench each chest workout. Following a progression overload program with good complementary exercises, creatine, loads of water, carbs and protein, I went from 5x5 @ 225lbs to 5x5 at 270bs in 8 weeks. I also put on 10lbs (probably at least half of that was fat).

Some of that was muscle memory (I did 5x240lbs two months prior), but it was also due to good planning and an all-round approach.

I got strong. But I also got a wee bit chubby.

[Moma]

velkrum - What's your take on the thumbless grip for the bench press? I used to work out with this South Afrikaan guy and he said biomechanics are at the greatest for this.
I noticed that the big boy in the video you posted, grabs the bar thumbless also.

[Jesse33]

Some decent advice given here. I LOVE training, have been an athlete my entire life. Don't have time to answer too much, but I'd advise against decline presses of any variation and try dips instead (weighted if necessary). Also, try push ups on blast straps (TRX, jungle Gym XT, rings, etc) **** NO need to use testosterone supps.

BEST ADVICE for you or anyone on this thread. Can't stress this enough.... PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE visit http://www.jasonferruggia.com and spend some time reading his stuff. Nobody knows packing on mass, and incrreasing your lifts like Jason. He has tons of free content, but you can also purchase his programs if you choose to. Have purchased many, and love them all. He's insanely knowledgable, and has the best content - period.

Good luck to you!

[Jesse33]

(06-06-2012 07:47 AM)Moma Wrote:  

velkrum - What's your take on the thumbless grip for the bench press? I used to work out with this South Afrikaan guy and he said biomechanics are at the greatest for this.
I noticed that the big boy in the video you posted, grabs the bar thumbless also.

No need to mess with the thumbless grip. More of a power lifters move, and they always have two spotters. Not necessary, nor worth it for a recreational lifter.