I’ve been lifting off an on for a while. However, nver been as dedicated as I should have been. I traded in my bench press for db press on my most recent work outs. Long story short, I’ve seen incredible gains in strength from DB press. Has anyone else had this experience?
Two weeks ago on DB press, I did.
3 sets of 70 lbs.
set 1= 10
set 2= 10
set 3= 8 (+2 assisted)
the same was true for the next week, I found 80lbs was my max.
This week however, I went and the weight was LIGHT. I mean LIGHT.
I ended up doing 3 sets of 90 lbs on dumb bell press, starting off with 7 reps, then 5, and failing at about 3.
Can anyone explain how the hell this happens? I’ve been eating like shit as usual, but I have been taking basically daily multivitamisn plus vitabuild a day.
Aside from that, I have been doing about 2 sets of 20 pushups 2x a day in addition to my chest work.
when starting out, most of the initial gains are a results of changes in the CNS, basically the ability to recruit more motor units and fibers. gains in muscle occur later on.
how do you make that rationale? moving up 20lb DB and losing only 3 reps? thats a big gain… dont take it away, but i would attribute it to newbie gains based on CNS recruitment and all that jazz.
as an aside tho. do not let that make you think your the shit. there is always going to be someone better than you, and you still have a long ass way to go. dave tate says your shit.
Sorry there is no strength gain (no CNS adaption either) there just more weight and less reps, that is what happens. Say I can press 90lb Db for 15, then i try with 110 and I only rep 8 times, that’s called normal. One weight is heavier so you can do less reps.
granted, all i read was the comment about 70 for 10, 90 for 7. and im saying, on db, that that is true progression. if you can only do 70 for 10 where that last rep is true failure, no chance you could do 90 for 7.
while i dont have much faith in a 1rep max calc thingy, 70 for 10=93lb 1rm
90x7=110. i dont know if i even want to say i used that, but i think it is progression.
i dont even want to attribute it to strength gains, i will say its better muscle recruitment and possibly better technique.
I think part of it may be form as well. On standard bench, I can do substantially more than DB press.
When I go to do DB press, I can do far less than on bench press. Like 2x90=180 vs 250 lbs on bench, a substantial difference. The biggest problem, I encountered db was that, to stabilize an extreme amount of weight. The first time I went to DB press from standard bench, I found, simply stabilizing the db and turning it inwards was a challenge. It played greatly on my forearms and wrists in a way the bench press did not, because of this, I think some of my gains, might be an adjudjst meant of grip strength, as i felt that my forearms were crapping out before my chest was in some ways.
First entered my current gym over a year ago and I put 10kg on my bench in less than 1 second.
Trainer: “How much can you bench?”
Me: “The bar + 1 plate each side, so 50kg.”
Trainer: “Dude, the bar weighs 20kg.”
Me: “Well then I guess I can bench 60kg!”
