My bench press still sucks ( 4 years workout )

[wufabufa]

-Benching more often with submax loads.
-do dips
-Find where your sticking points are. For me it was the lockout so more tricep work and floor presses helped a lot.
-Stretch your lats before benching
-Eat more

 

[smooth assassin]

Ill record it and post next chest day

I think that’s a good idea, if it is your form or even it its just some tips for the tempo, range of motion etc, than I think you should probably start at a lighter weight than what your currently at now to get your form right, and than start adding 5lbs a week or every other week

 

[Fahcough]

Also , the whole point of this thread has been lost. Im looking for tips to increase my bench from people who have struggled with this lift themselves

I struggle with bench. Hurts the left shoulder and affects other lifts. Only bench with flat bar once every 20 days.
Traded out for DBs, some multi grip bar work, and 10 variations of push ups including rings to maintain numbers.

 

[Stargazer Rex]

but im still stuck at 180lb 4 years in.

 

[NinjaSpider]

Hehe

I will say though that YouTube, Instagram combined with fake nattys or silent steroid users scews our view of what is a good lift/kg. At my rather large gym the biggest nattys 1RM about 280. I dont think ive ever seen a natty do over 300. Studys show that the average dude off the street can do one rep of 60kg .

Just for some perspective. Its easy to fall down the mindset of failure when you constantly surround youself with other lifters.
If you lift regurlarly for a year or so youre basically stronger and have a better physique than 90% of the general populasjon

 

[DEVILsSON]

Until you post a video of your heavy bench set we don't know what you need to work on. Most likely your form is lacking if you can incline press as much as you can flat press. Your flat bench should look more like a decline with good form. You should strive to make your form as optimal to your leverages as possible, even if it makes you weaker short term. If you have longer arms, you may need to use wider grip(even if you feel weaker with it). By reducing your range of motion, you'll be able to press more weight, grow stronger, and gain more muscle.

I have somewhat long arms and my bench has always been good/respectable for my size 5'11-6'0 & 220-225lb. My all time best 1RM was 425. 405x2x2.

I have had good results simply doing a couple heavy sets and a couple higher rep sets for maxes. For a time I did heavy weighted dips instead of bench press. If you have a workout buddy then weighted push ups are also an option.

You need to have a mindset of improving every workout. Pick any aspect to improve in. More weight. More reps. More sets. More control. More speed. More volume. Etc. Over time this will result in a higher bench press. The number one king of all is total weight lifted(load) so that should be your ultimate goal. However workout to workout I'd simply try to progress in some/any meaningful way.

 

[aus101]

From the looks i dont think you look like you can bench 225. Ive seen bigger guys then you fail. Im not saying you look weak, you look good and fit, but youre pretty short and dont weigh much. If I saw that guy on the pic benching 225 for reps id be impressed.
You also sayd you have long range of motion but youre 5 8. Do you have hands to your knees?

But this is all irrelevent. If you wanna build strength then you have to work with heavy weights, that will give your body the stimulus to grow stronger. The looks mean nothing

Ive seen smaller guy than you bench 130 kg also. But he was a powerlifter

Don't get caught up in how strong someone looks, it's highly misleading because

(and this is my recommendations for TS)

Strength is activity/movement specific so technique plays a large part. Think of the Olympic lifts, the lower weight class woman do not look stronger than even the average man but their performance in the snatch and clean and jerk would be vastly superior.
I am 5'10, 74 kilos (even lighter than TS) and max bench is 152.5 kilos.

How?
The bench is highly technical. You can do things the hard way or the optimal way. Google JM Blakley. My bench was stalled at 120 kilos for years. Saw some of his bench press technique videos on elitefts and I changed my shit all up. Widened out to maximum legal, focused on my set up and leg brace/drive positioning, lowered rom via scap retraction and thoracic bridging, angling the toros to maximise mass under the bar, generating tension from the hands gripping the bar, to the forearms, triceps, shoulders, chest and lats and rhomboids across the back and legs pushing away the floor. Bench started rising and didn't stop till just above a double body weight bench (touch and go, 3 plates with a pause).

 

[mr.sandman]

Don't get caught up in how strong someone looks, it's highly misleading because

(and this is my recommendations for TS)

Strength is activity/movement specific so technique plays a large part. Think of the Olympic lifts, the lower weight class woman do not look stronger than even the average man but their performance in the snatch and clean and jerk would be vastly superior.
I am 5'10, 74 kilos (even lighter than TS) and max bench is 152.5 kilos.

How?
The bench is highly technical. You can do things the hard way or the optimal way. Google JM Blakley. My bench was stalled at 120 kilos for years. Saw some of his bench press technique videos on elitefts and I changed my shit all up. Widened out to maximum legal, focused on my set up and leg brace/drive positioning, lowered rom via scap retraction and thoracic bridging, angling the toros to maximise mass under the bar, generating tension from the hands gripping the bar, to the forearms, triceps, shoulders, chest and lats and rhomboids across the back and legs pushing away the floor. Bench started rising and didn't stop till just above a double body weight bench (touch and go, 3 plates with a pause).

Impressive. I bet you dont "look" like you could bench 150 kilos also hehe.
I just sayd what i sayd because the op wrote in the original post that he thinks looks like he could bench 225 but that he cant. When i looked att the pictures i didnt see mass or chesticles that would indicate that this guy can bench 225 for sure. As i sayd , i seen 80 kg+ guys with about same leanness faiil 225 in the gym

Ofcourse looks doesnt mean anything, specially if youre not a bodybuilder. Im tall and lanky frame, im natural and dont train like bodybuilder, so to the average eye i look like I dont even lift probably.
even though i have changed my proportions notably by lifting. So im probably stronger thrn i look also

 

[NinjaSpider]

Impressive. I bet you dont "look" like you could bench 150 kilos also hehe.
I just sayd what i sayd because the op wrote in the original post that he thinks looks like he could bench 225 but that he cant. When i looked att the pictures i didnt see mass or chesticles that would indicate that this guy can bench 225 for sure. As i sayd , i seen 80 kg+ guys with about same leanness faiil 225 in the gym

Ofcourse looks doesnt mean anything, specially if youre not a bodybuilder. Im tall and lanky frame, im natural and dont train like bodybuilder, so to the average eye i look like I dont even lift probably.
even though i have changed my proportions notably by lifting. So im probably stronger thrn i look also

To clear this up. I ment that I see guys with similar physique as mine 1RM about 220

Don't get caught up in how strong someone looks, it's highly misleading because

(and this is my recommendations for TS)

Strength is activity/movement specific so technique plays a large part. Think of the Olympic lifts, the lower weight class woman do not look stronger than even the average man but their performance in the snatch and clean and jerk would be vastly superior.
I am 5'10, 74 kilos (even lighter than TS) and max bench is 152.5 kilos.

How?
The bench is highly technical. You can do things the hard way or the optimal way. Google JM Blakley. My bench was stalled at 120 kilos for years. Saw some of his bench press technique videos on elitefts and I changed my shit all up. Widened out to maximum legal, focused on my set up and leg brace/drive positioning, lowered rom via scap retraction and thoracic bridging, angling the toros to maximise mass under the bar, generating tension from the hands gripping the bar, to the forearms, triceps, shoulders, chest and lats and rhomboids across the back and legs pushing away the floor. Bench started rising and didn't stop till just above a double body weight bench (touch and go, 3 plates with a pause).

Thx, ill check it out

 

[mr.sandman]

If youre looking into routines, stronglifts 5x5 is a good one also. You can run it not 3 times week but every other day if you want more volume. That will make you either overhead press or bench press every other day. Ohp compliments benching pretty good also.
The stronglifts website is awesome also it has very good articles that teach how to do the lifts,one of the best ones imo

 

[aus101]

Impressive. I bet you dont "look" like you could bench 150 kilos also hehe.
I just sayd what i sayd because the op wrote in the original post that he thinks looks like he could bench 225 but that he cant. When i looked att the pictures i didnt see mass or chesticles that would indicate that this guy can bench 225 for sure. As i sayd , i seen 80 kg+ guys with about same leanness faiil 225 in the gym

Ofcourse looks doesnt mean anything, specially if youre not a bodybuilder. Im tall and lanky frame, im natural and dont train like bodybuilder, so to the average eye i look like I dont even lift probably.
even though i have changed my proportions notably by lifting. So im probably stronger thrn i look also

Haha no I def don't. I think the average 75 kilo guy is lucky to bench above bw quite frankly so would assume as much from seeing someone like me. Tall and lanky can be very deceptively strong.

With a flat back against the bench, protracted scapula, narrow grip, only tensing the arms shoulders and chest, using muscle not bone structure and bench to support the bar etc people who could bench way more braced and positioned properly will fail on anything. I see people every day benching and I just think you are leaving plates off the bar, which translates into inferior performance.

For example using JM Blakey's methods to progress to benching three plates for reps using maximum poundage form carried over into a 275 pound Larson bench with a pause (where the legs are pointed straight out, reducing leg drive and arch to a minimum). So "keeping the focus on the chest and not cheating with an arch or legs" bro bench is inefficient (isolate the chest or shoulders with isolation methods and use barbell compounds to build strength).

 

[BjPenn2017]

What worked for me is just benching twice a week, you have to do it lots to improve it. I didn’t do a lot of strength days, but more just a rep range where I’d start to struggle around 6-7 and finish with something I could do 3-5 times. I would also do about 5 sets per session, I went from benching Jack shit, like 125 pound max to 215 at 5’10 170 pounds in just under a year and a half.

 

[DoctorWashington]

Whats up dude.

Are you trying not to gain weight? If so that's another story, but if you are ok with getting bigger and can afford more food first thing Id say is eat a lot more. Good foods are oats, beef, eggs, rice, potatoes, whole milk, fish and chicken, veggies like salads and smoothies. Really up those calories on a daily basis.

As for training, what works for me is classic 5x5 based barbell training, 3 times a week. This is the base. If you do 6 reps its ok, if you do 3 or 4 reps its ok, but the goal is to lift, in your case you want to build your bench press, 3 days a week with 5 heavy sets of 5 reps. You want to try to improve those numbers. So try to add a few pounds to the bar each workout or each week in at least one of your sets. You can use those tiny 2.5 lb plates to go up in small increments. This is the main place to put effort.

After that, I advise you to do weighted dips. 5 sets of 5 again. A little variation is ok but you want to be working with heavier weights for this. After 5 weighted sets, feel free to do a few extra high rep sets if you feel like it.

After the dips, do some flys. You can do 8-12 reps here. Do several sets, slowly and carefully, for a good stretch and pump in your chest.

As you do this workout, i advise you do pullups between most sets. Dont go crazy but a few reps between each lift helps me out and I think its good.

Do this workout 3 days a week and increase your calories and I would be surprised if you dont make progress!

Good luck!

 

[mr.sandman]

Whats up dude.

Are you trying not to gain weight? If so that's another story, but if you are ok with getting bigger and can afford more food first thing Id say is eat a lot more. Good foods are oats, beef, eggs, rice, potatoes, whole milk, fish and chicken, veggies like salads and smoothies. Really up those calories on a daily basis.

As for training, what works for me is classic 5x5 based barbell training, 3 times a week. This is the base. If you do 6 reps its ok, if you do 3 or 4 reps its ok, but the goal is to lift, in your case you want to build your bench press, 3 days a week with 5 heavy sets of 5 reps. You want to try to improve those numbers. So try to add a few pounds to the bar each workout or each week in at least one of your sets. You can use those tiny 2.5 lb plates to go up in small increments. This is the main place to put effort.

After that, I advise you to do weighted dips. 5 sets of 5 again. A little variation is ok but you want to be working with heavier weights for this. After 5 weighted sets, feel free to do a few extra high rep sets if you feel like it.

After the dips, do some flys. You can do 8-12 reps here. Do several sets, slowly and carefully, for a good stretch and pump in your chest.

As you do this workout, i advise you do pullups between most sets. Dont go crazy but a few reps between each lift helps me out and I think its good.

Do this workout 3 days a week and increase your calories and I would be surprised if you dont make progress!

Good luck!

3 times a week 5x5 bench followed by 5x5 dips followed by flys? Only the 5x5 bench 3x week is hard to recover from, doable for some time maybe but with the dips and flys its just overtraining imo

 

[NinjaSpider]

so I'm doing the 5x5, 3 times a week. My form was terrible, basically no arch so the weight from the bar was distributed all over the place. Im using one of these foam rolls under my back when i bench to strech out my stiff back

I started out with one inch from ass to bench but im almost touching now. In other words , im making progress.

also, im doing this a couple of times a day :

 

[cincymma79]

Im 5'8 75kg and 39yo

So , most of my lifts are decent, that includes other chests exercises like dumbells and cables. My physique looks like i should bench about 220/230lb but im still stuck at 180lb 4 years in. I have a really long range of motion due to my "shape" but I dont think that explains all of it. I usually bench once a week but do other chest stuff other days.

Are there anyone on here that have similar experience that managed to figure it out ?

165 means 250 is going to be 1.5 bodyweight bench. I’d guess unless you’re super skinny that’s going to be hard to do. Not impossible just hard. So going for 225 will be hard as well. Don’t get too discouraged. Eat a lot, at least 120 grams of protein a day. Make sure your program includes some type of plan for increasing weight. I tell everyone this but I just did 5x5 for my bench. I got to just over 1.5 body weight that way. Take your 5 rep max and that’s your first weight. Subtract 40 (warm up first obviously) pounds and that’s your first set. Then add ten until you’re doing your 5 rep max for however many you can get. Next week add ten to each set if you can do 5 or more at the end add ten pounds next week. Repeat. Eventually this will be too much volume but it’ll take you a long way. Some free advice I didn’t know I needed until I got hurt is look up physical therapy for rear deltoids. You might be surprised how weak they are. I was and I had exercises just for rear delt.

 

[deadshot138]

-Benching more often with submax loads.
-do dips
-Find where your sticking points are. For me it was the lockout so more tricep work and floor presses helped a lot.
-Stretch your lats before benching
-Eat more

I find almost no transfer between dips and bench. Think it's a grip width thing because it's impossible for there to not be,

 

[AlanGregson]

Im 5'8 75kg and 39yo

So , most of my lifts are decent, that includes other chests exercises like dumbells and cables. My physique looks like i should bench about 220/230lb but im still stuck at 180lb 4 years in. I have a really long range of motion due to my "shape" but I dont think that explains all of it. I usually bench once a week but do other chest stuff other days.

Are there anyone on here that have similar experience that managed to figure it out ?

You might have other weak points you are not addressing, the bench is not only a pec movement, shoulders and triceps also play a massive role, i have seen a couple of guys that get stuck on bench because that's the only real movement they do for upper body thinking its the end all be all for bro science lift (you want to get better at bench press, do more bench press, duh) well, that's part of the puzzle but the body is a lot more complex than that... try focusing on getting stronger on the overhead press and add in some weighted pushups, pushups get a lot of flack but weighted pushups are amazing for chest and tricep hypertrophy and strength, especially when you're not at a high level yet, do that for a couple of months and then come back to your bench and i guarantee that your numbers are gonna go up

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

dude you need to do way more bench, way more volume, way more assistance lifts, eat more, everything more. you can't hit 225 benching once a week and dilly dallying with other chest stuff. it needs to be a main focus. something you do every time you lift. my two cents.

 

[deadshot138]

If you've been at 180lbs for 4 years, you have not done any meaningful programming for the bench press