Alright, I’m gonna get the preliminaries out of the way: yes, this is my first post; no, I don’t have a shoe available to ask my b.f.% (I tend to trust my calipers more than the shoe calculations); I’ve been checking this site out for months now from Lurkersville–I was usually on another website but I’m loving everything about T-Nation–and I think I’ve been lifting long enough to know the difference between cleans and curls.
Anyway, here’s the question: I’ve become frustrated with my BP which has only been compounded by my incline…in the last month+ I’ve gone from 85’s (5 sets of 5) to 100’s for 5x5 but in the same time I’ve been stuck on the flat bench with a pathetic 205 for 5x5. Are there any thoughts on this…any supplemental exercises you can think of, any changes to my BP routine that might help, etc? I do both of these exercises first–BP on Monday’s, incline on Thursdays–so it’s not a matter of fatigue on BP day. Thanks for the help and I’m psyched to enter T-Nation!
Awesome guys, just read the article and it has some awesome advice…I can’t wait to get to the gym on Monday and start working toward 600:)
Anyway, thanks…and in case you were wondering I can’t figure out how to delete one of these threads (I definately got a bit impatient when my post didn’t load after a few minutes).
Again, thanks for the help and that article could have some answers I need.
How about you try switching to DB bench and incline BB. I usually find that if im doing a sebsible program but struggling to shift my weights up on an exercise, ditching it for something similar usually helps me overcome the plateau.
Also, have you read that Poliquin article on “achieving Structural Balance”. Its very intersting. You could be weak in areas other than your chest and it could be that thats holding you back eg rotator cuff, triceps or delts??
However, seen as though your making progress on the inc DB’s maybe you should just switch your exercises around. Check that Poliquin article anyway, its pretty interesting
First time poster here as well!
Wow, when I use 100lb DB’s for 5x5, my 5x5 bench is usually about 275-300. Seems to me your stabilizers are strong, just need to practice benching at various grips. Also try benching with a decent pause at the chest. Might even try 1 and 1/2 reps. As you can tell I’m also a delt/tri bencher. Good luck.
I just wanted to thank everyone on here for their responses, they really helped (especially the link to the ‘600 LB bench’ article. Just this week I integrated some rotator cuff work and added flyes to my routine. Also, I benched for the first time since reading that article today and I’m not sure if it was just pure emotion (just so pissed off about this whole thing) or reading that article and modifying my technique but I put up 5x5 at 225 and was feeling so good I actually put up 245x4 on the 3rd set. Keeping the shoulder blades on the bench, the elbows in, arching the back more, and focusing on ‘breaking the bar’ (as was suggested in the article, trying to split the bar in half) I could really feel the flex and explosion from the bottom up. Awesome, I can’t wait till next week!