Losing strength on bench press.. Please help

[Iron Warrior707]

Today was horrible, im completly overtrained , i lost strength on bench and tricep..
Im working really hard and tried alot of shit to increase strength but nothing works, i havent tried the popular 5x5 yet..
idont know what to do anymore, im sick of being weak and losing strength everytime..
Someone please help me, what should i do? Should i decrease weight on bench and do very high reps (30-40) or switch to flat dumbell and go back to bench after a month?? And what program should i follow that really does work for pure strength..
If someone can direct me in the right direction it would be much appreciated, a powerlifter who know what to do would be of a help..
Forgot to mention i also bodybuild and do some isolation exercise but i can work around that and im natural..
Thanks

 

[umirin]

how are you losing strength? are you cutting or bulking? if you are bulking are you eating enough for gains? if your cutting, you might be cutting cals to much.

30-40 reps is useless. maybe try 8-12 max. no higher than that imo.

eat and get enough sleep.

do bench at the start of your work out if you want so you can give it your all.

 

[Iron Warrior707]

It has nothing to do with eating, My diet stays the same year round 6 meals a day, i was improving but suddenly everything is going backwards, i did alot of bench and improved but after 7 weeks of lifting in the 8-10 rep range (was increasing weight every week) but strength is going backwards, im toasted right now..
Im looking for some help from any advanced powerlifter with extreme knowledge on bench press routine to help me, I might switch to dbells for 2 weeks then go back and see what happens..
Its got nothing to to do with diet its the bench routine, i also always start with flat bench, i sleep 8-10 hours every night, everything is improving except bench press..

 

[training700]

Sounds like just overtrained happens to me. take a couple weeks, maybe more off like cut back to 2 or 3 days a week or on bench day just hit a few sets and done (can go for a pump ) When my strength goes down from overtraining then take time off when come back am as strong or most likely stronger and make some good gains again. Can be overtrained in that lift or hitting a wall, Do negatives if get a spotter or board pressed and floor presses.

 

[training700]

Also post up your current routine that are doing

 

[crixus]

Just thought I would shoot this out there.. Man I trained 6 and 7 times a week for years bro and it worked great for a while man but eventually I was like damn I should be alot stronger by now.. What had happened was I was way overtrained and just completly exhausted.. I had became addicted to just being in the gym lifting and all the overtraining was just killing my gains.. So I did something that about killed me.. I cut back to just working out 3 days a week for several months.. man my strength sky rocketed and I broke that slump/plateau I was in... btw this was well before I ever started juicing.. So maybe you should just cut back man and maybe just workout a few days a week and see what happens?

 

[Iron Warrior707]

The thing is i also bodybuild so i do lots of iso exercise, i train 5 days a week..
On monday and friday i do bench press, when i got stuck 3 month ago i lowerd the weight and did more reps from 15 and down to 7 every two weeks i add 5lb on each side of the bar, i did this for 7 weeks i have recorded all the sets, rep and weight i did.. Heres it is..
These are all after warm ups...
Hope this is not confusing


FRIDAY MONDAY

======== S W R ====== S W R
W1 Dec 30 2 225 12-10 Jan 2 2 225 13-11
w2 Jan 9 2 225 14-10
w3 Jan 16 2 235 10-10
w4 Jan 20 2 235 12-9 jan 23 3 235 12-10-10
w5 Jan 27 3 235 11-12-8 Jan 30 3 245 8.75-9-8
w6 Feb 03 3 245 9.75-9-8.5 Feb 06 3 245 11-11-9
w7 Feb 10 3 245 12-10-9 Feb 13 3 255 8-7-7
w8 Feb 17 2 255 7-6 <======= HERES WHERE I FUCKED UP, I got very weak that day, every lift went down..

Now i dont know what to do at this point, should i switch to flat dumbells for a few weeks then go back or keep bench pressing, ireally dont want to take a week off, i have tried it but it didnt made me stronger...
Someone with powerlifting background or if you bust out the platue please help..
Thanks

 

[joeblow12345]

If you want to bench more you should not be doing more than 5 reps on bench. For pure strength 1-3 reps max. Drop the isolation work it does nothing for a big bench. Only use heavy compound movements. I know you bb and thats fine, but if you want to increase your bench significantly you have to train it like a pl. Your first priority is to find your weakness in the bench. Is it technique, speed, lockout, basically what part of your bench is holding you back. Once you locate this, then attack it and make it a strength. Look up (so you think you can bench) on elitefts by Dave Tate. Its a great tool for beginners to advanced lifters to learn or improve technique. The reality is the majority of people in the gym have no idea how to correctly bench and bad technique is a big reason why they dont progress. For a good basic all around program try Jim Wendlers 531. On the Elitefts website you can find alot of other programs for training as well. For a more elite/ advanced program look up the westside barbell conjugate system. If you have any other questions let me know.

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[Iron Warrior707]

If you want to bench more you should not be doing more than 5 reps on bench. For pure strength 1-3 reps max. Drop the isolation work it does nothing for a big bench. Only use heavy compound movements. I know you bb and thats fine, but if you want to increase your bench significantly you have to train it like a pl. Your first priority is to find your weakness in the bench. Is it technique, speed, lockout, basically what part of your bench is holding you back. Once you locate this, then attack it and make it a strength. Look up (so you think you can bench) on elitefts by Dave Tate. Its a great tool for beginners to advanced lifters to learn or improve technique. The reality is the majority of people in the gym have no idea how to correctly bench and bad technique is a big reason why they dont progress. For a good basic all around program try Jim Wendlers 531. On the Elitefts website you can find alot of other programs for training as well. For a more elite/ advanced program look up the westside barbell conjugate system. If you have any other questions let me know.

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I have actually read that article and saw his videos, technique is good, because i was improving but it stopped working now im going backwards in strength..
I know all about low rep (1-3) that builds strength im not a newb to this, But they make me overtrain rapidly when i train on 1-3 rep range.. I have done a 305 bench easy on Dec 05 trained heavy for while and on dec 26 i couldnt get 305 to lockout and the weight felt much heavier, to this day i cant even probably get 305, ive been stuck at around 275 for almost 2 years, but my bodyweight is 30lb heavier from last year, maybe because i trained more like bodybuider, but i aslo emphasized benching heavy weekly in my routine..
IDK where my weakness is, its mostly lockout but my tricep are very very strong, but shoulders are very weak..
Can you help me with a good strength routine that really does increase strength, but i also want to continue bodybuild and do iso exercise, i know you said they wont help but i can get around that..
Also what should i do now?? Go back to dbells or what??

Forgot to mention i have tried something similar to westside with dynamic effort one day and max the other and i used bands but they made me overtrain rapidly, please give me a routine for a natural not a juiced powerlifter..
Thanks

 

[All In a Year]

Start doing heavy incline benching and incline dumbbells. Start doing 5x5, and stop overtraining. Your biggest problem is you're overtraining.

 

[stevesmi]

with flat bench do this

warmup

then do 1 set of 8 whatever weight you do that many
then do 1 set of 6 whatever weight you do that many
then do 3 sets of 4 whatever weight you do that many.. take 5 minutes in between sets.

then do incline/decline rotation each split. you need to get in 3 sets of dips at some point and 100 pushups.

what you eat can effect your strength, as well as adequate sleep, as well as other factors.. you could have been sick.

 

[joeblow12345]

I have actually read that article and saw his videos, technique is good, because i was improving but it stopped working now im going backwards in strength..
I know all about low rep (1-3) that builds strength im not a newb to this, But they make me overtrain rapidly when i train on 1-3 rep range.. I have done a 305 bench easy on Dec 05 trained heavy for while and on dec 26 i couldnt get 305 to lockout and the weight felt much heavier, to this day i cant even probably get 305, ive been stuck at around 275 for almost 2 years, but my bodyweight is 30lb heavier from last year, maybe because i trained more like bodybuider, but i aslo emphasized benching heavy weekly in my routine..
IDK where my weakness is, its mostly lockout but my tricep are very very strong, but shoulders are very weak..
Can you help me with a good strength routine that really does increase strength, but i also want to continue bodybuild and do iso exercise, i know you said they wont help but i can get around that..
Also what should i do now?? Go back to dbells or what??

Forgot to mention i have tried something similar to westside with dynamic effort one day and max the other and i used bands but they made me overtrain rapidly, please give me a routine for a natural not a juiced powerlifter..
Thanks

First things first if your overtrained at the moment then you are in serious need of a deload bench session. I prefer to use dbs for this but you can use the bar as well. Use about 30-40lb dbs and do 4 sets of 15-20 reps for your next bench session. The idea is to go really light and give your body a break from all the stress of heavy lifting. I would also recommend doing it with the rest of your training for the week. I know you are familiar with the conjugate mwthod but as I stated before its an advanced training method and done improperly can lead ti over training fast. This is why I suggested the 531 training method. It is simple yet highly effective. It also has regular deloads built in to avoid over training. Also if your lockout sucks than board presses and floor presses will be your focus.


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[Iron Warrior707]

IDK if this has anything to do with it but my shoulder hurts so bad right now, Yest when i benched it hurt my shoulder real bad it never used to be like this.. On wed i did alot of shoulder work up to 30 sets of shoulders, around 15 sets of side laterals, 4 sets of front raise, 4 sets of press and 6 sets of real delts.. This worked to bring up my delts but i dunno if it hinders my bench press strength, im gonna take 2 days off and get back on monday and do some dbl work no bar..
When do you think should i go back to bench press after flat and incline dbl work?? 1 week? 2 week? a month?
BTW im not gonna do into all these advanced lifts like board press floor press. i believe those are only for elite powerlifters..
I need a simple routine to follow i dunno whats the 531 you talking about..
I have done a 315 bench press but i was on 40mg of var and i injured my lef uperr pec where it connects to shoulder so i had to start from a scartch heres the 315 video..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYEBTVgrp1g&context=C38bf782ADOEgsToPDskJjSTiujkDlFPCEBw79BVGU

 

[joeblow12345]

Ok I watched the video and as I suspected your technique needs work. The first thing I see is you need to tuck your elbows more. This reduces pressure on the shoulder. The second and probably most important is your dropping the bar on your decent instead of controlling it. It actually not your lockout that sucks,its your lack of strength off the chest thats causing you to stall. When you lower the bar you need to use your lats to control it. You dont want the bar to slam into your chest. You want to touch your chest then explode off the bottom. Try doing pause reps and dead stops. On the pause reps do a full 2 count on your chest for each rep and use lower percentages. The dead stops set up in a power rack and set the pins at you weakest point, then press it up. Do multiply singles for a set, not reps. Every rep should stop dead on the pins. The 531 program is Jim Wendlers program. You can find it on amazon, elitefts, or just google it. If your shoulder is injured do light weight for a few weeks and lots of rehab. Do not train heavy shoulders or pressing as this could cause a full tear.

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[Iron Warrior707]

Ok thanks.. Will do what you suggested..

 

[themondtster]

Im curious on what your whole week routine looks like? Exercise reps and sets.

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