Lagging Bench Press... Advice?

Training Powerlifting
1

I’ve been following the Starting Strength routine for a while now and have achieved/surpassed all my initial goals for all my lifts except bench press. Its been a continually lagging lift and my chest has always lacked relative size.

I’d like to stick to my original program and reach all my goals before swapping over to a volume phase for ~6 weeks and returning again to SS. (My lifts have all increased considerably, but I haven’t gained as much size as I’d like, so I’ll be using my newfound strength to pack on a few extra pounds).

As I’ve reached all other goals beside my bench press I’m looking for a quick fix to knock my bench up 15 or so pounds rather than struggling to reach that with SS. I’ve been failing on the lift as of late (I fail/stick in the middle of the motion, upper arms ~ parallel to the floor).

Any suggestions are welcome. I’m looking for a short bout of 1-2 weeks of increased chest specialization. I’d like to more or less keep to SS in that time but add in whatever is needed to give my bench a jump start.

Thanks for your help.

Stats:
5’10 160lbs
DB Bench*- 80lbs DB
Squat- 250lbs
Deadlift- 330lbs
Press- 135lbs
Power Clean- 180

*I use dumbbells for two reasons: I don’t always have a spotter and I like consistency, and I have a much more difficult time feeling the lift in my chest with a BB

2

I would:

  1. start benching with a bar
  2. stop doing DB presses for a while, do something different- incline or floor press maybe
  3. put some weight on, makes a big difference to pressing
3

When I switched to 10x3 for 2 weeks, my barbell bench press jumped by about 10 pounds when I went back to 5x5. I was very surprised and pleased. We’re at about the same level of development, strength-wise, but I’m like 25 lbs heavier though :slight_smile: I’m not all that lean but yeah, gaining weight might help…

4

[quote]Dave284 wrote:
I would:

  1. start benching with a bar
  2. stop doing DB presses for a while, do something different- incline or floor press maybe
  3. put some weight on, makes a big difference to pressing[/quote]

I agree with 2 & 3. I don’t see how going back to a bar will break any platuea’s but weight is probably your biggest problem at this point.

5

Seeing as this is posted in the strength sports forum you shouldn’t worry about feeling you chest when barbell benching. All you should be worrying about is moving the most weight.

6

Another consideration is that most people have consistently trained their Bench Press, and not necessarily their Squats or DL’s. So when starting a new program you are likely to make faster progress on your untrained lifts.

Since you prefer DB’s, are you saying that you want to increase your DB press by 15lbs in 1-2 weeks? Probably not going to happen. And if you are looking to increase you barbell Bench Press by 15lbs, then I would suggest you start using a barbell. If your weakpoint is upper arm parallel to the floor then I would think Floor Presses would suit you perfectly.

7

Buy Practical Programming. It is a companion to Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and goes into exact detail on what to do when you stop progressing.

8

I don’t even think your bench press is lagging. You squat 250… and dumbbell press 160 combined (which means you should be able to do a bit more with a barbell.) With a 250 squat, I think you would be squatting too little if you had much more than 180 bench.

Hell, you are powercleaning 180. Be one of the few, the proud, who cleans more than they bench! It sounds to me like starting strength actually gave you a very well-rounded, properly adjusted, strength base.