I have made no progress on Bench Press in a year on 5/3/1. In search of advice

Training 5/3/1
21

My effort with diet and sleep and overall programming definitely needed work. On the other hand. My squat and deadlift made progress. It’s not me blaming the program. I just have no idea what to expect moving forward. Guess it’s just a control the controllable and trust the work type of thing

22

I lift at home and don’t have a dip bar. I have a couple 45 bumper plates I use to do push ups with a vest on. Im looking into a dip bar though

23

Bodyweight tends to have a very significant impact when it comes to pressing (bench and otherwise). Same with hypertrophy in smaller muscles like the triceps and deltoids. Eating and training in a manner that supports those two things goes pretty far for the bench. Meanwhile, the squat and deadlift, relying on more/larger muscles, can often grow in spite of these things. Hell, my deadlift frequently goes UP when I lose weight, because I can get in a better position for conventional pulls compared to when my stomach circumference is up.

Ultimately, 5/3/1 ISN’T about making your bench better. It’s not a powerlifting program. There are programs designed specifically for that. 5/3/1 is about making you a better athlete in general, and the bench is used as part of that program. HOWEVER, people HAVE used 5/3/1 to bench more, with the primary example being Vincent Dizenzo. It might be worth lookign him up and how he approached things.

1 Like
24

Well 5/3/1 is really the only program/method with enough flexibility for my schedule. So I’ll have to make it work. Thank you for your time and feedback!

25

I imagine Tactical Barbell would work as well then.

26

Is there a book for that?

27

Several

28

Hold it hold it…

I have questions .

  1. so at 6 even you started the program at 159 lbs.?

2 . What was your starting max and training max?

  1. How long has you bench bèen stuck?
29

I love his take on using 5/3/1 in his training. Unfortunately they stopped with the coaches logs on Elitefts.

1 Like
30

No. I left out some context. I was 180 pounds when starting back in 2023. Shit I guess I ended up gaining 35 lbs up to 215. Anyways I’ve been less focused on strength training and have done more boxing stuff these past 9 months and got back down to 184. My bench was stuck from August 2023 to August 2024. I haven’t tried to increase my numbers as much these past nine months. These are results from that August to August time frame.

31

My first tip for improvement that comes to mind is definitely to get more protein. More protein is almost never a bad idea as a lifter

1 Like
32

Nah I’m just getting my wires crossed a bit here mate, but I was thinking of using unilateral exercises to eliminate weaknesses and help core stability. In the past I have used dumbbells and kettlebells with bench-press & overhead press and both higher rep and lower rep one-arm pushups (against a raised bench or bar often) for some ideas. OP may not need to do these assistance exercises but one area that let me down badly on numbers was uneven strength between my arms and to a slightly lesser extent, core strength.