how do you guys work through a bench plateau?

[Spoon]

guys all my exercises are going up in weight. bench hasent been my forte. iclines and declines going up in weight. stuck in 1 rep max for 6 months what can i do? thanks. can heavy negatives help?

[Ermantroudt]

I find the muscle group or groups that are preventing my BP from going up and I train those areas harder.

Erm

[Spoon]

I find the muscle group or groups that are preventing my BP from going up and I train those areas harder.

Erm

i have been busting azz and training my chest harder than any other body part to no avail.

[bad_man]

I've used a few different methods to bust through a plateau (not just bench). Some, all, or none may work for you.

1) take a week or two off!!
2) Use a spotter to do some forced reps or heavy negatives
3) I can't remember where I read this but I tried it and it worked for getting through a plateau with my squat. I loaded up a bar with a weight heavier than my 2-rep max. Take it off the rack, step out and just stand there for a few seconds. Then put it back on the rack. Go get a drink of water and come back. I put my 2-rep max weight back on the bar and I went for 4 reps. Not sure if it's mental, if the heavier weight did something to my receptors or what - but it worked. Go figure.

[Spoon]

I've used a few different methods to bust through a plateau (not just bench). Some, all, or none may work for you.

1) take a week or two off!!
2) Use a spotter to do some forced reps or heavy negatives
3) I can't remember where I read this but I tried it and it worked for getting through a plateau with my squat. I loaded up a bar with a weight heavier than my 2-rep max. Take it off the rack, step out and just stand there for a few seconds. Then put it back on the rack. Go get a drink of water and come back. I put my 2-rep max weight back on the bar and I went for 4 reps. Not sure if it's mental, if the heavier weight did something to my receptors or what - but it worked. Go figure.

yeah im in need of a a week off. il have it on july. that thing in number 3 is very interesting about just standing there. i will try that out. i guess i just have to confuse my body into trying and adapting to something new

[Psychotron]

You meen literally stand with the weight? or lay down on bench and unrack the weight and hold it up?

[bad_man]

You meen literally stand with the weight? or lay down on bench and unrack the weight and hold it up?

I did it for squats so I stood there with it on my shoulders. If the same thing could work for bench then I'd suggest laying down on the bench and just take it off the rack with your arms locked out. Hold it for a couple seconds and re-rack it.

I'm not saying it absolutely WILL work, mostly because I have no idea WHY it worked for me. But it did.

[Ermantroudt]

i have been busting azz and training my chest harder than any other body part to no avail.

Hit the tri's and lats harder-those will hold your BP back too. Dynamic work does wonders as well. Also, if you can get a PLer to check your form-technique is worth many pounds.

Erm

[Spoon]

Hit the tri's and lats harder-those will hold your BP back too. Dynamic work does wonders as well. Also, if you can get a PLer to check your form-technique is worth many pounds.

Erm

yes i am concentrating on my lats and tri's as well. the poundages are slowly going up. bro whats a pler?

[Ermantroudt]

Powerlifter

Erm

[goodtobeapimp]

Boards....lockouts...floor presses...negatives. Train it heavy as hell or dont bother using this techniques. Sets of 3 usually do the trick. Any time anyone (even bodybuilders) want to gain more power I'd suggest the power work as the same as a trained powerlifter would use. After all, he wouldn't be using it,if it didnt make him stronger.

[itsallmental]

change your routine up. stop doing dumbell presses.increase protein calories. try pin presses/board presses/ using chains/etc. dont let the mental aspect of a plateu get to you. MOST, if not all the time, the problem lies in your head. sometimes plain and simple, your gonna think you CANT do it. your gonna try and keep trying for weeks maybe, but that 1 time you just say "**** it" and you realize you have nothing to lose, and you lay down on that bench and give it everything you got, thats when you will have surpassed your plateu.this aspect of this game helped me go past many many plateus. good luck

[Powrlftr]

Boards....lockouts...floor presses...negatives. Train it heavy as hell or dont bother using this techniques. Sets of 3 usually do the trick. Any time anyone (even bodybuilders) want to gain more power I'd suggest the power work as the same as a trained powerlifter would use. After all, he wouldn't be using it,if it didnt make him stronger.

LoL, I was going to tell him to do assistance work too.

[Spoon]

ive tried negatives as well, once a month, hasent helped

[drock41]

Here's a little tip on training, instead of going heavy and training heavy all the time with your bench, go at about 50-60% doing about 10-12 sets of 2 or 3 reps, every now and then. You wanna work on accelerating the bar as fast as you can. What you really need to to is shock the muscles to get outta a jam. You need to start working the faster twitch muscle fibers. Try that like every other week. you should definitely start to see differences.

[goodtobeapimp]

Let me ask you this... Where exactly are you sticking at on your lift?

[Jack87]

Take a week off, you sound overtrained...

Focus on your presses for delts and heavy tricep work...

And add in a few sets of triples to your flat bench routine...

I do 6 sets for flat bench with reps like this 12,8,5,3,3,8

then 3 sets of inclines and 3 of some kind of fly movement

And train delts/triceps on a separate day when they are fresh...

[AandF6969]

DEFINATELY try the heavier weight just unracking it and holding it out there for a few seconds... Kinda like a batter using a "donut" when he's in the hole warming up. Great warm up for a max.

[sepjuice]

best thing for plataeu's imo is "hitting the special sauce"

[dalcowbag]

i agree with the board press/towel bench or w/e you wanna call it. . .doin that with heavy weight for a couple weeks always gets through platues

[eacman65]

heavy weight for low reps worked for me

[phreezer]

Baahhhh... It's less about taking time off as it is an adaptation issue.. if you want to use PL methods to increase your bench..you're going to have to train like a PL... Focus on making your triceps Lats and rear delts stronger... We powerlifters use our triceps much more than we do our pecs while benching...

You need to look into a good Dual Factor program... Focus on what these guys above said..Floor presses.. Rack Lockouts..board presses..overhead tricep dumbbell extensions... there are a lot of exercises that can work..

But the thing you need to realize right now is this.. it is not easy..and it will take a commitment from you and it will require you to think outside of that Bodybuilders box that you've allowed yourself to become mired in...

Search for Metal Militia and West Side Training principles.....

[Casanova33]

something that will help your bench is as simple as how you grip the bar. like if your grips too wide, too narrow, do you have an open or closed grip(referring to thumb being wrapped around the bar or not). with the open grip you can duck the elbows in more and use a lot more triceps and the open grip is alot easier on the shoulders for those who might have shoulder problems.

while we are on the topic of bench what do u guys advise for someone who just pulled a pec and has a history of minor strains in both pecs. when the pec heals im thinking of just doing dumbells for about 1-2 months at least with no barbell bench except incline and decline.

[Quake]

Spoon, post #16 was on his way with a good one too. Finding out where it is you are sticking on the press then really concentrate on this area of your press with a decent weight.

Also try tensing your pecs and seeing if you can feel an area that is less developed than the rest of your pec. I've done this at the moment, and close grip presses are hitting my underdeveloped area of my pec so I'm gonna hit them hard and heavy for a few weeks.