I am a male 6’5 , 230 pounds. 58 years old. I have ALWAYS struggled with the bench press. I have been lifting off and on for 30 plus years but just can’t get the push. I know my long arms don;t help but it’s frustrating after all these years a can only do 135 and it’s a struggle.
I have finally joined another gym, since mine closed during Covid, and would like to concentrate on getting better on the bench press (pushing strength)
SUGGESTIONS ??
What have you tried thus far? Lets say that 135 is your max. I recommend stepping back in weight for a time, focusing on form, and then adding 5lbs to the bar each week. So lets say you go back to 95lbs. Grind out 95lb for reps week one and focus on good controlled reps with a full range of motion. Next week add the 2.5lb boogers to each side and do it again. Same for the week after. It will take you 8 weeks to get back to 135 but hopefully you will be repping it with proper form and can march past that plateu and keep going.
What is the number of reps that you can bench press 135lbs?
Do you have any shoulder injuries?
What can you press overhead? How many reps?
How many dips can you do?
Is there any exercise that you feel strong doing? What is it?
Off the chest… Have NO push strength. Do your typical tricep and shoulder exercises. If that’s the assistance exercises you are referring to.
If not what exercises are reccommended?
This is your main issue. It takes time. If you care about bench press, do it a lot, and do it for a few years.
Lots of guys “stall” on bench, but are doing 3 sets a week of it. They don’t vary reps, sets, frequency much.
Benching a lot works for most people if they do it long enough. My strongest points with the bench press were when I was pressing twice a week (different presses like bench, incline, OHP, narrow grip, etc), and doing like 20 sets per week. If I did that for long enough, I was almost guaranteed PRs.
This is what I came here to say. Most people that are “weak” with the barbell need to get strong, or at least competent, at the basics: push ups, dips, pull ups. IMO, someone that is not strong at all should not worry about advanced techniques and exercises that “attack the weak points” when, really, everything is a weak point.