[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
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.[/quote]
What was your rep range when you were doing weighted dips?
[quote]tveddy wrote:
CrewPierce wrote:
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.
What was your rep range when you were doing weighted dips?
[/quote]
8-10 rep range, usually 3 sets
[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
Brutus35 wrote:
Are you eating enough?
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[/quote]
Add another of these to your daily intake. See what happens.
[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
8-10 rep range, usually 3 sets
[/quote]
You might try it in the 5x5 range, but I usually get pretty good results from the 8-10 range too. have you tried the 10x3 workout on bench. It helped me out, but other than that I’m kinda out of advice. I haven’t plateaued in several years so I’m having trouble remembering anything else that I did.
[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
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?
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]
I would definetely suggest some heavy shoulder work. Incline presses have done a lot for my bench. I was stuck at 275 for awhile, then followed Wendler’s advice and did a lot of incline and overhead work. I came back after two months of not benching and crushed 315.
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
CrewPierce wrote:
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?
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.
I would definetely suggest some heavy shoulder work. Incline presses have done a lot for my bench. I was stuck at 275 for awhile, then followed Wendler’s advice and did a lot of incline and overhead work. I came back after two months of not benching and crushed 315.
[/quote]
So as far as incline and overhead work you would suggest incline bench and DB/BB military press? What rep range did you use?
[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
Donut62 wrote:
CrewPierce wrote:
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?
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.
I would definetely suggest some heavy shoulder work. Incline presses have done a lot for my bench. I was stuck at 275 for awhile, then followed Wendler’s advice and did a lot of incline and overhead work. I came back after two months of not benching and crushed 315.
So as far as incline and overhead work you would suggest incline bench and DB/BB military press? What rep range did you use?[/quote]
Heavy, four to six rep range for strength gains.
D
[quote]Dedicated wrote:
Heavy, four to six rep range for strength gains.
D[/quote]
What he said. I even use standing military press as an ME exercise.
Excellent thanks for the advice guys!
Tonight is my bench night and I am going to do some things differently:
Here’s the game plan for tonight:
Incline DB press
warm-up, then work my way up to a 3rep max
Seated DB Military Press
5 sets of 4-6 reps
Weighted Dips
5x5
Then some light Barbell bench so I can work on my form
Reverse tricep pushdowns
3x10
What do you guys think?
[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
Excellent thanks for the advice guys!
Tonight is my bench night and I am going to do some things differently:
Here’s the game plan for tonight:
Incline DB press
warm-up, then work my way up to a 3rep max
Seated DB Military Press
5 sets of 4-6 reps
Weighted Dips
5x5
Then some light Barbell bench so I can work on my form
Reverse tricep pushdowns
3x10
What do you guys think?[/quote]
I know it would work for me, so it sounds good.
[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
Reverse tricep pushdowns
3x10
What do you guys think?[/quote]
Replace these with jm presses. These will give you good volume and load on the triceps and front delts. Very important for a good bench.
[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
…on bench.
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?[/quote]
My advice to you is do a month dumbell pressing only. You should come back the same strength or stronger, then the gains to come when you use the bar for a month are amazing.
Worked for me and friends.
P.s 25lbs increase for me
[quote]superscience wrote:
CrewPierce wrote:
My advice to you is do a month dumbell pressing only. You should come back the same strength or stronger, then the gains to come when you use the bar for a month are amazing.
Worked for me and friends.
P.s 25lbs increase for me[/quote]
Agreed. When I did 5x5 for 6 weeks with flat dumbbell press, I tested my max barbell bench. It went up around 35 lbs. DB press feels much more natural and I feel I get more benefit than the barbell version.
You’ll have to fill us in on what you did and how you did with it. Personally, I would get away from benching altogether for a while and focus on the overhead stuff. There are plenty of programs around for that but what about 10x3? When you decide to get back to the flat press, start with DB’s and when that tops out, come back to Flat bench. How is your rowing strength? Is it at par with your current bench press?
[quote]jp_dubya wrote:
You’ll have to fill us in on what you did and how you did with it. Personally, I would get away from benching altogether for a while and focus on the overhead stuff. There are plenty of programs around for that but what about 10x3? When you decide to get back to the flat press, start with DB’s and when that tops out, come back to Flat bench. How is your rowing strength? Is it at par with your current bench press?[/quote]
My rows have always been better than my bench from crew. I have decided to do the above plan although this week I am switching the incline press to 5x5 instead of working up to a three rep max. I worked shoulders twice last week and already notice a difference, I had def. been neglecting them!