Hey guys, it’s been a couple weeks or so since I’ve posted here, I’ve been working hard on my MA thesis, so I’ve had little time to train. However, I think I may have hit a plateau in terms of my flat bench work. For the past couple of push days, I haven’t been able to reach my rep goal (I’ve only been able to get 3 reps in with 130 lbs, which is my current weight goal). What should I do?
Just drop the weight to about 115 and just get some confidence boosting explosive reps in a higher rep range then you can slowly work your way back up. Should be good for confidence and muscle building.
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Ok.
So is your performance approximately tracking with your effort?
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This is always a “does not compute” statement for me. It’s like saying “Life got busy, so I stopped showering and brushing my teeth.” I don’t really understand the causal connection.
When I was working on my MS thesis for theoretical physics, I was also in the middle of my first contest prep on top of interviewing for jobs. And that’s just kind of how it goes if you just accept it as part of your daily health routine. It just speaks volumes to your mindset, and that is probably the best first step. You didn’t hit a plateau, you just haven’t chosen to make training a priority yet. And there’s nothing wrong with that if it’s not that important to you. You just have to figure that out.
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Upon reflection, your post makes a lot of sense, and gives me a new perspective on things, so I’d like to thank you right off the bat; sometimes, constructive criticism is the best. Now, for some clarification. At the time of my initial post, I had chosen to put my education above my training, and really had not been working as hard as I probably could have been in the gym as a result, since I always had school on the brain, along with the stress that comes with it. I now realize that I should have been seeing my training as a blessing the entire time.
This has also effected me spiritually speaking, as in the past, I have prayed in the morning and asked God to help me during my various training sessions, and to give me both the strength and confidence to get through each session without getting injured. However, with my education needing to take priority, it actually clouded my judgement, to the point where I stopped saying that prayer each morning, leading to the mix up of priorities, as well as the possible plateau I mentioned. What I think I need to do now is reevaluate my priorities, which is what I am going to be using this upcoming week for.
I think going forward what I can do is use my training to push myself as always, but use it as an outlet for the aforementioned stress caused by the degree program I’m in. For context, my degree is in Christian Apologetics, with the end goal being to assist youth in my local church. I want to do well in my education, but not at the cost of falling off my routine, so a balance of some sort needs to be established.
To conclude, your post gave me a new perspective as I mentioned earlier, but it’s really a perspective that I should have had from the beginning. Sometimes life gets in the way and we just need to push through as best we can. Hopefully this post made at least a little sense and served as a good clarification on the issue.
Max reps with heavy, heavy, weights for multiple consecutive workouts is a sure-fire way to hit a plateau.
Training so heavy, you’re getting enough reps/set to grow bigger, so you can’t improve through muscle mass. And with 1 junk set to failure you’re not getting enough total reps/workout, so you can’t improve by getting stronger.
Nothing can happen but a plateau.
I agree with Dave. Drop the weights down, and get some quality work in. Get enough good reps in to stimulate gains.
Still pray about it though.
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I don’t think I’ve ever said this (I’m the one person)… but “you should probably just do 5/3/1”.
In all seriousness, a simple program that tells you exactly what to do, and is probably on the lower end of recovery demand, is perfect for your situation. Take the thinking out of it (you’re doing that in school), let training be an outlet, and have some built-in governors so you don’t burn yourself out immediately.
5/3/1 is just an example - it doesn’t have to be that program. There’s tons on this site, for free. My main point is just to save your brain for school and your discretionary effort for the actual execution.
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