I have been working out for ~3 years and I did mostly bench the first 2 years. I went from doing the bar to 225 in a year and now the last 2 years after I am stuck at 290 I have tried changing the weight and reps and my diet and the last 6 months I realised I need to work out everything else upper and lower body so Ive done that and that is developing. My goal is to be able to rep 315 about 5 times. Im very frustrated but I wont give up. Also my arms are as big as a normal person but my chest is huge. What am I doing wrong to have such normal arms when I am very strong. I am 20 years old 5 10 and 172 pounds.
Thanks for any advise!!
Here is some advice. Read.
Ok I’m reading ^_~
your chest is huge and your arms small because all you have primarily trained is your chest man. You have started training the rest of your body which is good you must train it jsut as has as your chest not on the side. (yes that involves legs!!!) Once you develope your back and put some time into gaining general strength your bench will go up. Try spending some time on your triceps ie close grip bench, dips, dumbell extensions, skull crushers and you will get strong at the bench too. Like the previous poster said, READ!!
Focus on your triceps and back.
what the other dudes said. you have to work on the other body parts so that everything can work together and be better. i had the same problem when i started out, huge chest, no arms, but after changing my workout to fit almost every body part, my arms have grown, my bench when up and i gained 25 pounds in 3 months. testosterone is full of good things man just read!
You need to work on your weaknesses. A 290lb bench is pretty good at 172lb but if your chest is big then you might be pressing with too much involvement of your pecs and not enough triceps. You probably need a technique adjustment to involve your triceps more.
Describe where you’re sticking points are and what your bench style is and someone can give you more help.
At a guess work on your back (horizontal pulls) and definitely triceps (board presses)like greekdawg and twisted recommend.
All the advice you have received so far is great. By far the best and my personal favorite was Goldbergs straight forward comment of READ. That is the best advice you could have received after reading your post. You are by far lacking the most in the area of general education on the subject of training.
My suggestion would be the same as others have posted. You need to concentrate just as much if not more on the other areas of your body. I would say you will get the most advancement toward your goals if you put your chest on the back burner for a while, and spend enough time on it to maintain what you have. You need to build your back, trunk, legs, shoulders, arms, legs and trunk again, along with some more back work.
This, while not directly focusing on your bench press will lead to progression in your bench press, and it will help you not look like an inverted light bulb.
Phill
well thanks guys. I did finally realize that I need to work on everything else so I started that about 6 months ago. Its working out really well. I have a seperate day for legs, biceps, trieps, chest, back-shoulders in one day. Ive noticed that Im much stronger in these areas now. My sticking point on the bench is near the bottom Id say about 5 inches from my chest. I do bounce the heavy weight off of my chest. Ive been doing that a lot lately trying to get 315 but I can hardly do 290. Is that a bad idea to bounce it? probably…
Can you guys give me specific threads to read? I dont want to get huge I just want to look really good. My goal is to get my arms much much bigger and then get totally cut everywhere else. How can I do this? Especially my arms bigger very fast. Should I train biceps and triceps in the same day? I have a feeling to get cut im gonna have to run and hit the punching bag until I cant move any more for a few months.
Also my bench style is both feet planted on the ground I dont arch my back and I put m pinky fingers on the line on the bar. I thought that is the standard grip. Should I move in an inch or so to involve my triceps more because obviously they arent feeling it as much as my chest because they are hardly sore after I work out and my chest feels broken.
I forgot to ask what is good for back? try not to use crazy terms Im not new at this but I dont know much sadly. And again what do I do to get my arms big very fast??
HAHA peaked at 20!! right
You’ve bee n working out for 3 years and you don’t know any back excercises??!!
READ!!!
FAQ
Anti Body Building Hypertrophy
Try these articles.
Besides reading (yes that means looking through the magazine not having us post links for you. You wanna get big? You gotta do the work.) you say you have a seperate day for bi’s and tri’s yet 1 single day for Back AND Shoulders?!?! How about trying to combine Bi’s and Tri’s and leaving Back and Shoulders to their own days? Your back is incredibly important for benching. If you can’t go above 290 I’d lay money not training your back hard enough is what’s holding you back.
Maybe many of us have interpreted you wrong but you seem to be one of those “I wanna bench alot and look good but only what I can see in the mirror” type of lifters. That’s why your getting short, curt replys. If that’s not the case then I’m sorry but if it is, I really have to say I hope your goals remain unattainable until you’re willing to put forth the commitment it takes to truly be a strong son-of-a-bitch.
REad 8 keys parts 1-4 and periodization bible 1 and 2, finally finish off with bustin ass.
You need more strength, dave tate will get you there. Don’t bounce the barr off your chest. If you do you are not lifting the weight. If you get stuck 5" up it could be cuz you bounced off your chest and the momentum is running out (try bouncing harder haha) or your triceps are weak. Start with the basic WSB split and work from there.
You say your chest is HUGE and yet at 5’10, you only weigh about 170. How huge can you be? You must be lacking size in other places as well, not just your arms. You might need to add some weight to your back and legs as well! Something to consider.
haha keep bouncing the weight, it really works the sternum nicely.
oh whoops, did i say works? i meant breaks
LJ quit laughin,
You should see my sternum it is huge
loopfit you hit it right on my legs and back are WEAK. Basically every muscle I have is from running and benching. Benching does work the rest of your upperbody too because I notice I have big traps and Ive never worked those out before and also some back muscle shows.
Ill make a seperate day for back and shoulders and triceps if thats what you think is needed? can you tell me what to do for back and shoulders? I get it for triceps I think. For back all I do is put one knee on the bench and one foot down and pull about 60 pounds from the ground with one arm till it hits my chest. Shoulders I sit straight up on the adjustable bench and press up one arm at a time. I did chest 4 days ago and im still sore as hell. I couldnt even get 275 so after bench I did incline and freeweights with heavy weight low reps to tear everything up and it worked!!
Thanks everyone
Have you read the articles I suggested. Dave Tate benches 600lbs, I’m sure his stuff could help
if you max every time you bench you’ll be burning your CNS out. do some speed work here and there and some structural training. look at CT’s powerlifting pendulum