My bench has been stuck at 225 for 6 months, i wanna do powerlifting for my chest to get it up a bit, 250 is my goal by august, im sure i can do it with a good routine, anyone have any suggestions, for JUST chest, possibly back too, im going to do jm's for tri's

for pure strength... use progressive resistance. using 2.5 lb plates lets you step up in 5 lb increments which may not be a small enough increment for continual progression. consider picking up some 'plate-mates' which go down to < 1 lb I believe

if you've been training full bore for 6 months, you may need to take a week off, drop your weight on bench by 10% or more when you return and build back up. That may let you blow past your plateau.

consider cutting your workload way back in other areas if you're truly only concerned with bench. this will help with recovery.

g'luck

What about floor presses, speed presses, pause presses, and all that shit?

don't over complicate the process with add'l exercises that will tax your CNS too much. just stick to the basics.

what's your overall program going to look like? to hit 250 by august, you need to make sure your workload isn't too high

... and eat

Big Bad Bench by Dave Tate

im cutting, and im doing HST, not working legs to hard, im gonna hit them when i bulk up, 6 sets a week for bi's and tri's, 6 for shoulders, i cut back from 9, chest im bumping up to around 12-14, back 12

If you are using correct bench form for strength and powerlifting, your chest has a greatly reduced role. You say you want to bring up your chest strength, but then list a few movements that are designed for powerlifters.

well help me out here im not good with this, i havent tried it before

What's your current routine look like? DAys of the week, exercisees, sets/reps, etc.

Lyle

Are you actually planning on powerlifting or just getting a big bench with a bodybuilding bench form?

Since you're cutting, stick with lower reps for pure strength. Also switch to DB presses to change things up. Maybe even weighted dips if you aren't already.

Although recent studies have shown that pre-exaughst is not the way to go, last year i did 2 sets of tripple drop set pec dec flies before i benched and my bench max went from 225 to 260.

In the fall/winter i switched to tripple drop set on the bench starting with 275x3/245x6/225x6

Now I do incline presses with DBs. Haven't benched since january.

First you need to recognize your sticking point. When you try and get a new max, where does the bar stop at?

I was stuck on the same bench for about 6 months.

Basically I dropped the bench intensity really low, low volume, low frequency and started periodizing. But what really needs to be built to get a running start at your bench is just about every single other muscle group in your upper body, so I maintained bench at low to moderate while I strength trained squat, dead, military, rows, etc (u know.. the works). Then, I worked bench intensity up while keeping volume low. It got my 10 rep from 285 to 325 in about 3 months which is as much as I could ask for.

I cant get it off my chest, lockouts are no problem

40 lbs in 3 months damn .. and im guessing its around 50 lbs if you consider the one rep maxes .. damn!

My thoughts are that your lats are weak. If starting point is the problem that is often the culprit.

Thats what i had thought, i dont really work my lats i dont have proper equipment, im just starting to do bb rows, heavy!

rows are more focused on back thickness. what about pullups, chinups, lat pulls etc.

i really cant do many, what is a lat pull?

lat pull down...a cable-machine pull-up basically. Seated and knees/legs anchored, with a bar overhead. I'm sure u've seen the machine.

oh duh, i dont like those much

until you can do a decent (at least 5 or so) good pullups, Id suggest hitting the lat pulldown machine hard. Its your best bet to increase your lat strength quick. Also, deadlifts will indirectly hit it, as will rows (somewhat) but you can't really neglet to do some sort of back width excercise.


power cleans will work the lats as well.

thanks man, yeha i can do 10 or so for pullups, but only for one set, i might be able to manage 3 sets of 5

make sure the form is good....ie not rushing the eccentric and using momentum to fire you back up. Once you can do 3 sets of 6-8, start adding the weight. Start small but you'll get up there. Always fun when you got a nice little stack hanging from your belt and tiny people ask you if your doing dips....sorry buddy, this is for pullups.

well i assume starting this would help my bench pretty quickly no?

thanks bro ill start the pullups tomorrow

Yeah.. but I was (to be fair) switching from the worlds longest cutting cycle to a 3 month fattening up at the same time.

I good goal for september is 205 6x, I can probably manage that by then, currently im at 200 x3

Here is a piece of advice I'm sure no one else will probably agree with but if you are using 200 for 3 reps stick with 200lbs. and keep building up until you can use 200 for say 12 or 15 reps. Don't even worry about trying to use a heavier weight until you can do 200 for 12 reps. When you can do 12 reps with 200 then go for 205 or should I say go for 225. I've seen many people trying to add weight to there bench and constantly try to place more weight on the bench and not get anywhere. I was into strength training and all the advice you got is great but you should also think outside of the box. I added 75lbs. to my bench with concentrating on movement like jm presses, close grips, heavy dips, lockouts, floor presses, military, etc. but this may higher rep method should really work too. I got amazing strength gains when I went to a 20 rep squat routine when I was stuck on my squat weights following powerlifting routines of squats, box squats, etc. at lower reps.

Stop benching; it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Switch to weighted wide-grip dips for a while, or better yet, the hammer decline press (if you have access). Do some incline work maybe.

Return to flat benching in a month at 185 or so, and ramp up over the course of a few weeks--that is, if you are into powerlifting/strength. If not, and you just want size, you dont need to flat bb bench at all.

Yeah strength for now, how many reps at 185?

Is it okay to do dips with a backpack on instead of a dip belt, because i dont have one

With a backpack, your center of gravity will move towards your back, making leaning forward to emphasize chest harder. You could wear the backpack facing forward, and I think you would be fine. You could always use a lifting belt and hang dumbells off it.

Thanks man I lean forward as much as I can for chest right and straight up for tri's

Hey Beast1226. My suggestion to you would be to take a week off and give your body a break. Once it is rested it should be much easier to get closer to your ultimate goal. This and a good routine, and im sure you will be able to reach 250.

Good luck,

Packer33

Im cutting so 10lbs a month is as much as i can ask for right now, that would put me around 240 by sept

did it for months. But just like Bass mentioned, you just have to work harder on center of gravity. Damn school gym lost their chain belt, and the damn "weight vest" only went up to 30 lbs. I did find out however that a good eastpack can hold at least 100lbs.

So everyone has had input, any final recommenedation on what i should actually do?!

Everyone has given an opinion--YOU have to decide how to utilize this advice:)

Thanks Tkarrde, I really appreciate you posting in my thread too

dips don't do much for your bench press

Guess who Ceaze

I do chest dips when I bulk for the pectoralis minor, hits it good for me

Your wrong. Dips involve the triceps, and once you get the bar off of your chest, guess what pushes it up? The triceps.

at WSB they've found that dips didn't have much carryover to the bench press and the other exercises they do to be much more effective

My strength is going up a lot so far just from doing JM Presses, pullups, and flat bench at the same weight for 6 reps, 4 sets @ 175. Hopefully by Sept I can push the reps to 185 for 4 sets of 6, and have my 10rm at 185, which would most likely have me benching 245-250, currently I can squeeze out just about 5 reps with 185 for 1 set.

How can anyone argue that dips will not--to some degree--help strengthen the muscles involved in benching???

I dont care if it's WSB.

i personally think for only $23 + shipping a dip belt is a good investment ... i have used up to 170 lbs of additional weight, something i would not want to put in a backpack =)

but be careful with dips, it gives your chest/front delt quite a good stretch its easy to get hurt ... as i did many times, i dont know if i will do dips again, but if i will ... it will be a limited range of motion and will need to exercise great caution.

Hey beast what is ur rep range? I too was stuck at 200 some time back...could do 10 reps..in strict form..but never got the weight up on m bench. That is until a fellow at the gym told me to change my routine..and systematically lower my reps. I started with 210 for 8 reps...kept it for a while...about 3 weeks....then 220...with the help of a friend....Now i wasn't doing these all on my own. The first rep was the only one i did on my own...The next 5 reps were 80 % me..and 20 percent..my spotter. Well this went on for a month. Then i dropped to just 2-3 reps. I could finally do 220 on my own. Finally it went to 230 for 2 reps...and well now..i can bench 235 for 4.

It took 5-6 months getting from 200 to 235.

So wht i suggest is to decrease your reps gradually..so u can put more weight on ur bench.

For eg's if u r benching 225 for let's say 8 reps....then u should decrease it to 4 reps.....and well increse the weight to 230 or 235.
If u can't do it easily have a spotter..to help you....Keep this for sometime.

Then try getting 240..or 245 for 1-2 reps....If u can't do it on ur own....Keep to 230--235 as before.....an start increasing reps on those..until ..u can do it for 5-8 reps...now agian try for 240-245.

Ciao...try this method..and tell me if it works. It sure did for me.