more muscular but weaker

[hittravelskick]

for some reason after achieving my desire weight 120 kilos, I still feel my strength is the same as 8 months ago when I started training and taking supplements and my weight was 103 kilos, I have friends of my size and weight at the gym that made a huge improving in benching and they are lifting 30-40 more I can, any idea guys what my problem is? do you think it's a generic problem? thank you.

 

[SteveMobsterG]

Let's start with some numbers. What's your current training look like?

 

[stevesmi]

impossible to answer this man. you can't just gain weight and get stronger automatically

are you pushing yourself enough in the gym to get stronger? are you building consistency? it is one thing to mantain in the gym but improving is a whole nother thing

 

[Lev Butlerov]

There are two things to keep in mind - with different approaches you can develop more muscle mass and volume, or you can increase strength. So it may well be that you were working a lot on the volume, and the strength did not increase that much.

However, I also got another theory of what could be going on for you. For how long have you been training without taking a break? Sometimes you need to take a break in order to completely recover and have your maximum strength. When was the last time you deloaded or took a one-week rest? This may seem counter-intuitive, but in many cases by doing less you will get more results.

 

[muskate]

Strength has a lot to do with genetics. Things like your limb length, clavicle size etc. make a difference in strength but are something you have no control over.

The strongest guys were built to lift heavy weight. A lot of the best powerlifters could bench over 200 pounds their first day in the gym.

Just focus on continuously getting stronger and you will eventually become as strong as them. Slow and steady wins the race.

 

[MasonicBodybuilder]

Size doesn't always mean strength. Just look at some powerlifters vs bodybuilders. What I would do is start training specifically for strength if that is your new goal. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[SteveMobsterG]

One of the reasons why losing bodyfat (hence being more muscular) means you're not as strong is intramuscular fat loss. Simply put your leverage changes.

Lets use the flat bench press as a simple example. My preference is for close grip. When I pushed the biggest weights I weighed close to 300lbs thus my arms were bigger (both upper and lower) as well as my chest. Therefore around my elbow joint I had a thicker mass and chest in the bottom position which shortens the range to push from.