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bench help?

erickthegreat11

New member
Triceps keep getting stronger, but bench press remains exactly the same. I'm going to try the 5X5 method or 6X4 to see what it gets me. All other compound lifts continue to increase.
 
I have the same problem with my assistance exercises all getting better but my bench going nowhere. I'm trying a variety of different approaches, including form changes (pushing in a curve vs. a straight line) and training. Right now I'm doing a DE bench day and a 5x5 regular flat bench day. Sort of a cross between westside and dinosaur training.

What assistance work are you doing? Are you doing any speed work?
 
I feel for you, bro. I've been stuck at 450lb for more than a year. I've just never been able to work out what my weak point is. But then, my two other lifts are really going fine.
 
I tried speed work for a couple of sessions, but this seemed to diminish strength. I'm beginning to realize that ME training (1-2 rep range) has its place in coordination with 5X5 or 6X4 type exercise sets.

Assistor exercises for bench: triceps narrow grip cable pushdown got to 85# 6 repsX4 (up from 55#). once strength gets to a standstill in this movement, I switch to overhead dumbell extentions 32# 6 repsX4 (up from 20#)
lat work: seated row 6X4 cycled with bent dumbell rows 6X4

I'm doing a narrow grip bench and I cycle it with a wide grip.

I haven't tried dumbell bench movements. What weight would you suggest to start with? My current bench for wide and narrow is 200#.
 
erick....

it takes awhile for westside style training to kick in.

hardest points for me:

1. speed weight should be SPEED WEIGHT. Leave your ego behind. i have benched 580. I use 185 - 205 for speed weight. I took me a LONG time to learn this.

2. ME days should be so you work your weak points. If you are a 405 bencher, don't pick movements where you can do more much more than 405 all that often. pick movements you are weaker than normal at. again, leave your ego at the door.

3. don't try and mix westside stuff with conventional training. you will wind up overtrained and injured eventually (speaking from experience here). its not to say NOT to do anything else, but leave the other compound bench exercises behind. speed day should leave your joints feeling nice and rested and you rearing to go on MAX EFFORT day.

4. don't expect immediate gains unless you are a complete novice. most experienced lifters' strength goes down for a bit while they get acclimated to the program.

5. stick with it.

good luck!
/irish
 
Great reply IrishPower.
I needed to hear that.

You should post it as a sticky.

I started Westside about three weeks ago, after about two months of trying it then thinking it was too little switching to something different. Back and forth, getting discouraged, feeling weird because I'm the only one doing some weird exercise.

I'm happy to say I said fuck it and said to myself that I will try it for 8 weeks and see what happens. The three weeks I've been using Westside I've been able to steadily and sometimes surprisingly upped my ME numbers. So I am so pumped for week 9 (I’m following the basic program from elitefts and Dave's Seminar.) to see actually how much progress I've made.

I've been extremely unmotivated and really lazy for the last year and a half, due to work issues and stress I bring upon myself. (I get this crazy notion almost everyday that I can change things, ha.)
At the rate I see myself going I believe I can beat every PR I've ever made with a dedicated 4 year training regime.
 
Tried dumbell bench press last night. Feel pretty confident it will get me a lot stronger for a while. Started at 40#, felt way too light, then finished off with 50# for the remaining 4 sets. Do you substitute this for regular barbell bench, or keep it in with it?
 
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