I have been stuck at the same weight for 5 maybe 6 months now. I just can’t seem to get past 225! I would work on my sticking point but it seems to change each workout. The two main areas that it sticks are about 2 inches off my chest or around the lockout area.
I have been following Westside barbell training for about 2 months now and all of my other lifts have gone up: squat 330 for 3reps, deadlift 350 now.
Any ideas on how to break through this? I even tried going the prohormone route, sacrificing my liver to try and break and I got nowhere.
I’ve decided to say screw it to Westside training for now and came up with this workout plan to try to break through this plateau.
Day 1:
Palms facing DB bench: work up to 3 rep max
Weighted pull-ups: 3rep max
Incline DB bench: 4x6
Close grip pulldowns: 4x6
Bench: 5x5
Day 2:
Leg press: 5x5
Barbell Good mornings: 5x5
Leg Ext. 3x10
Leg curl: 3x10
calf work
Day 3:
Barbell curls: 5x5
Close-grip decline bench: 5x5
Hammer curls: 3x10
Rope pressdowns: 3x10
DB shoulder press: 5x5
Side raises: 4x10
Day 4:
Off
Day 5:
Incline DB bench: 3x10
Seated rows 3x10
Decline bench 3x8
1-arm rows 3x10
DB flyes 3x10
Rear delt work
Day 6:
Low box squat 5x5
Side bends 3x10
deadlift: 3 rep max
lunges 3x8
calf work
shrugs 3x10
Day 7:
Off
I tried to go for one heavy day and one high rep day for each muscle group. Any thoughts?
You’re doing bench at the end of the first workout, also close grip, decline and incline bench in the week. Thats a lot of volume without much intensity. I’d go back to the westside beginners template and look at the different ME exercises and try to identify what you need to improve, do you need to gain muscle, get stronger, get faster etc.
I find that triceps extensions and ME work help. Having said all that if your squat and dl are moving and your bench is the same you are doing something right
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
What exercises are you using for ME, what kind of max are you working up to, and how are you doing your DE work?[/quote]
I had purchased the Westside for Beginners from elitefts.com and had been doing 3 board press and floor press for ME. My DE lifts were bench using 3 different grips (Narrow, shoulder and wide) for 8 sets of 3 reps. The weight I was using for DE was wave training ranging from 50-60% of my 1RM.
[quote]Brutus35 wrote:
Are you eating enough?[/quote]
I have been bulking and made good weight gains. I am eating about 5000 cals a day from whole foods. The only weight gainer shake I use is PW which is:
2 cups water
2 scoops Surge
1 packet of weight control oatmeal
1 banana
If you’re benching raw you might want to have a look at “benching like a stripper” by Jim Wendler. It in the articles at elitefitnesssystems.com.
It sounds like you might need more shoulder strength and triceps strength, although if you’re pressing raw lockout shouldn’t really be a problem.
Also consider the width of your grip when “competition” pressing. I used a grip about thumbs distance from the smooth part of the bar because it really lets you use your lats and “flex” out of the bottom of the lift. The distance you have to press is much larger but you get more power off the chest and can out run sticking points.
[quote]andy bumphren wrote:
If you’re benching raw you might want to have a look at “benching like a stripper” by Jim Wendler. It in the articles at elitefitnesssystems.com.
It sounds like you might need more shoulder strength and triceps strength, although if you’re pressing raw lockout shouldn’t really be a problem.
Also consider the width of your grip when “competition” pressing. I used a grip about thumbs distance from the smooth part of the bar because it really lets you use your lats and “flex” out of the bottom of the lift. The distance you have to press is much larger but you get more power off the chest and can out run sticking points.[/quote]
That sounds like good advice thanks! I’ve been benching with my pinky on the power ring, and I know I need to bring up my shoulders.
Hmmm I’m starting to think about keeping with the westside training but adding in a shoulder/Tricep day.
Yup, shoulder/tricep strength. These areas need to be up to par for a bigger bench, so make sure to work on these areas as well. I have made the best progress I ever had on bench in the last nine months and two other areas we extensively worked on were back strength. Many lat pulls and rows and getting stronger in these areas definitely helped my bench.
The other area was form and technique. Setting at the top and coming down with enough speed to tap the chest and explode back up. I used to get stuck in the same are you are and the main reason is, I wouldn’t set at the top and start the move too quickly then if it was a very heavy load midway, I would slow down to a crawl afraid of the weight and burn myself out on the negative.
You can’t let the weight come crashing down, but neither can you bring it down at a snails pace because you will burn out on the negative. A good spotter is essential to help overcome this.
[quote]Dedicated wrote:
Yup, shoulder/tricep strength. These areas need to be up to par for a bigger bench, so make sure to work on these areas as well. I have made the best progress I ever had on bench in the last nine months and two other areas we extensively worked on were back strength. Many lat pulls and rows and getting stronger in these areas definitely helped my bench.
The other area was form and technique. Setting at the top and coming down with enough speed to tap the chest and explode back up. I used to get stuck in the same are you are and the main reason is, I wouldn’t set at the top and start the move too quickly then if it was a very heavy load midway, I would slow down to a crawl afraid of the weight and burn myself out on the negative.
You can’t let the weight come crashing down, but neither can you bring it down at a snails pace because you will burn out on the negative. A good spotter is essential to help overcome this.
D[/quote]
Most of the power lifting articles I have read said that the negative should be slow and controlled but now that you bring it up I think I took that to the extreme and was burning myself out on the negative. Thanks for the advice!
[quote]dlp wrote:
You’re doing bench at the end of the first workout, also close grip, decline and incline bench in the week. Thats a lot of volume without much intensity. I’d go back to the westside beginners template and look at the different ME exercises and try to identify what you need to improve, do you need to gain muscle, get stronger, get faster etc.
I find that triceps extensions and ME work help. Having said all that if your squat and dl are moving and your bench is the same you are doing something right[/quote]
Like he said. You have bench at the end of the workout. Move it to the first and then do your closegrip, dummbells, dips and tri exts. And yes I already know that you didn’t have dips in there. But you should. Dips will help your bench more than any excercise other than actually benching. Another thing that you could try is benching with a pause after you get done with regular BB bench.
[quote]dlp wrote:
You’re doing bench at the end of the first workout, also close grip, decline and incline bench in the week. Thats a lot of volume without much intensity. I’d go back to the westside beginners template and look at the different ME exercises and try to identify what you need to improve, do you need to gain muscle, get stronger, get faster etc.
I find that triceps extensions and ME work help. Having said all that if your squat and dl are moving and your bench is the same you are doing something right[/quote]
Like he said. You have bench at the end of the workout. Move it to the first and then do your closegrip, dummbells, dips and tri exts. And yes I already know that you didn’t have dips in there. But you should. Dips will help your bench more than any excercise other than actually benching. Another thing that you could try is benching with a pause after you get done with regular BB bench.
[quote]tveddy wrote:
dlp wrote:
You’re doing bench at the end of the first workout, also close grip, decline and incline bench in the week. Thats a lot of volume without much intensity. I’d go back to the westside beginners template and look at the different ME exercises and try to identify what you need to improve, do you need to gain muscle, get stronger, get faster etc.
I find that triceps extensions and ME work help. Having said all that if your squat and dl are moving and your bench is the same you are doing something right
Like he said. You have bench at the end of the workout. Move it to the first and then do your closegrip, dummbells, dips and tri exts. And yes I already know that you didn’t have dips in there. But you should. Dips will help your bench more than any excercise other than actually benching. Another thing that you could try is benching with a pause after you get done with regular BB bench.
[/quote]
I didn’t include dips because I have already been doing them with a weight belt. I wanted to try to switch to something very different from what I have been doing to keep my body guessing and hopefully get some new muscle growth as a result.
