Anons please give me a chest day that will up my bench/grow chest. All other lifts are gradually increasing except bench and it’s really frustrating.
Have 155lb bench, want lmao2pl8 by May
Anons please give me a chest day that will up my bench/grow chest.
Pause all your presses, do larsen press, do close grip, do OHP if your delts are lagging, and do lots of tricep work at the end of your sessions. Improve your technique; make sure you use an efficient pressing pattern, make sure you use leg drive correctly, and make sure that your arch is coming from your thoracic spine instead of your lumbar spine.
>Leg drive
>Arch
have a nice day
If OP wants to get to a 2pl8 bench as fast as possible he's probably already doing those; I don't use leg drive or an arch in my training because I don't give a shit about strength. Shut up dumbass
post bench
Why are you aiming for May??? That's very close. You're looking to add about 6 pounds a week, while possible at your level, it will be extremely difficult, and needs everything dialed in to its best extent.
I hit 150lb for 5x5 just last Friday, and am looking to hit lmao2plate for 5x5 by September.
Just keep lifting, be patient, and you'll get there when you get there.
Wagmi
My bench increased so quickly last semester that this sudden plateau is frustrating, plus it always seems that people who look like they train less than me have a higher bench.
Weighted dips are slowly becoming one of my favorite movements, will keep training
If I do arch it is extremely slight, but I’m not fond of it. Full ROM feels better so I can get the stretch
>If I do arch it is extremely slight, but I’m not fond of it. Full ROM feels better so I can get the stretch
Good, this way of benching is much better for hypertrophy.
Holy fuck the amount of junk volume, why would anyone do this
What would you take out? I enjoy it, and my chest seems to respond well.
Nearly everything. Aim to bench x2 a week at the very least across two different rep thresholds. Specificity goes a long way, you get better at benching by benching more. If you want to do some flies or something afterwards then fine, but no need for x million variants of pressing. Keep a vertical press though. I'm assuming you're on a brosplit with chest once per week, because there is no way you are doing this volume x2 a week unless the sets are very low intensity.
Interesting. It started as part of the PHAT routine that I bastardized over time because I kept wanting more.
I guess it's time to relook at things. I've been in revenge body/heartbreak/forbidden pre mode for a while, so I've had the motivation to push harder when it gets tough. But maybe I'm just being ridiculous now.
That being said, I'm more than content with my bench, I'm just after the aesthetic.
One of the posters you replied to. I very recently added flies to one of my two weekly bench sessions. The reasoning behind it is that one of the days is low reps at 80-90% intensities with static volume and an AMRAP, and the other decreasing rep ranges from 12RM to 8RM with increasing volume, over a 4 week block. So I figure I can squish in something light and high rep after the heavy low rep session that won't interfere. No reason for me to add it to the other session, I've already smoked my chest with 4-6 sets of working sets at higher rep ranges. Anything not within 0-3 reps to failure isn't a working set, I don't count warmups.
Otherwise I do barbell OHP or dumbbell shoulder presses, and skull crushers. All in 8-15 rep ranges.
My plan is to get to 120kg within the summer, 100kg with some left in the tank came very easy for me so hoping I can continue before stalling and having to progress more slowly. If that happens I am switching to a x3 weekly bench program.
Anyway the point of this post is that there's a reason for everything that is added or removed. Easiest way to bench more is to simply bench more, with adequate recovery in between. Doing 20 sets of random stuff isn't conducive to the objective of benching more.
Much appreciated, fellas. Like I said, I'm happy with my bench, but I have clearly strayed and need to reset what I'm doing. Less is more, it seems. Will definitely redo some things - thanks again.
Also informed my cat that she's a junk set. She handled it well.
I'm the other poster you replied to; this
is very good advice. Only thing I can add really is that after you've done enough benching to get better at benching (IE you should still be able to progress with no accessories) you should probably do a good bit of tricep work, since usually your pecs will be fried but your triceps will have a good bit of juice left in them. 3-4 sets of tricep pushdowns followed by 3-4 sets of some kind of overhead extension or skullcrusher is a good starting place IMO. For shoulders it's a bit more individual, so figure that out yourself, but considering that many people do OHP after benching you'll probably be able to sneak in a few sets just fine. Obviously you should be training your upper back as well, but that's a given.
>What would you take out? I enjoy it, and my chest seems to respond well.
Slash everything except for 3-4 exercises that you like the most, and split them between 2 different sessions. And hit those exercises with intensity, not 10+ reps in reserve.
Work dips in. Really feel the stretch and the muscle at the bottom of the dip. When you bench try and feel the muscle in the same way.
And yeah like the other anon said lower the weight sligthly and do reps with pauses at the bottom. Lower the bar slow and when I say slow I mean FUCKING SLOW. Then pause on your chest and explode the bar up focus on the leg drive in the exlopision.
Cable flys specifically working on middle chest
Cable flys specifically working on lower chest
Cable flys specifically working on upper chest
There is no better exercise for the chest than cable flys. Nothing even comes close. It's literally the perfect movement.
Like this guy () says, add in the stretch component. Accentuate the eccentric. Actually give your muscles time to recover and adapt. Don't just smash them over and over and over and expect to make gains. Do a good session, get your stimulus in. Eat food. Sleep adequately. Get enough protein. Get enough calories. Exercising follows basic fundamentals. Respect the fundamentals of basic physiology and you'll make progress. Also, post routine
>post routine
Bench press 3x5, ideally until failure
Incline bench, 4x6 with drop set
Cable flies 4x12
Reduce volume. Increase intensity. Reliably hit failure at least once per session. Go hard in the paint
>There is no better exercise for the chest than cable flys. Nothing even comes close. It's literally the perfect movement.
Ring pushups
>but but
Insane stretch, insane squeeze. You can even overload the stretch by letting your arms extend at the bottom, before using your biceps to pull them back in so you're in a better position to press back up. The RTO position allows you to fully contract your pecs unlike other exercises, and if you have the straps far apart from eachother, the rings try to pull apart at the top, increasing the intensity of the squeeze. And since it's a compound movement, it can be easily overloaded. No one who can do full ROM ring pushups with +40kg for 8-12 reps has small pecs, none.
Think I saw you in another thread. How do you program your ring push-ups as far as sets decline etc? I have rings and just got into ring dips and I’m shit at them despite being fine with regular dips. Probably just need to do them more.
>How do you program your ring push-ups as far as sets decline etc?
Currently I do 4 sets of decline ring pushups after 4 sets of 45 deg incline larsen press. I superset them with ghetto chest supported rows (bc home gym)
>I have rings and just got into ring dips and I’m shit at them despite being fine with regular dips. Probably just need to do them more.
Definitely, spending more time on the rings will help a lot.
I did smolov jr. for one month, then some higher reps 3x8, Larsen press, close grip press for a few weeks, repeat. Bench went up a lot
learn to bench properly so you dont shake like a gay and destroy your shoulders
literally this
kek. die.moron.garden gnome.le vertical video.le hecking leg drive.die
My routine:
6x8 dumbbell press
5x12 incline dumbbell press
4x12 weighted dips
6x14 hammer chest machine
4x15 incline flyes | 4x15 flyes | 4x15 decline flyes
4x12 decline bench to failure
Go home, eat chicken, cuddle cat (amrap).
thoroughly retarded, I bench x2 times a week and do nothing else for chest, got my 2pl8's within 3 months
>Have 155lb bench, want lmao2pl8 by May
Eat
This or just blast tren. You're not hitting 2pl8 in three months unless you're closer to 200lb
tfw 200lbs + training for 3 years and still 195lb bench. I’ve been stuck at 195 for a full year. Every time I make a bit of progress I get sick or get knocked out with some injury and then have to take a break for a bit. Honestly I feel like 2pl8 is some ridiculous fantasy at this point.
t. 1.1/1.7/2.5/4.25
you need to do far more volume or do your work sets at a heavier weight. Add more weight until you can only do one even. Who fucking cares if you can't do 5 or whatever you need to get your body adjusted to heavier weight. You need to basically be on the verge of collapsing under heavy weight, and no doing 95 15 times is not strenuous on the body. Only do that if you want to perfect your technique.
Adding to this use dbs if you don't have a dedicated spotter bro to baby your 1RM attempts
If you can do 195 for reps then you can grind out at least 3 reps on 2pl8
I benched 100kg in 3 months time from starting to barbell bench, weighed in at 78.8kg that morning.
I had a background of around 6 months in calisthenics before that, was really good at BW pullups and dips by the time I joined a gym. So didn't start from complete scratch, and;
>First two months in the gym I only did OHP, weighted pullups and dips + arms for upper body.
>Then last 3 months I added close grip bench as an assistance to OHP. Still focusing on the barbell OHP, doing it 2-3 times a week and then CG in high rep ranges after.
Only the last one of those 3 months was me focusing on bench as a priority with a competition grip (pinkies on power rings for me) and setup.
He might not hit 2pl8 by May, but he can get pretty fucking close if he applies himself through programming, attention to technique, nutrition and sleep.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard "all my lifts are increasing except for bench". Please, just stop lying to yourself. You only lifted to "get a big chest so you could get women", and no, all the other lifts aren't increasing, you just want the big chest.
fuck you for making me remember that attention whoring gay
When I incorporated overhead press with a barbell into my routine everything about my upper body strength seemed to increase significantly. If I had known about OHP and pull-ups back in high school my sport journey would have been much different. Bent over toes seems to help as well. The last time I maxed on bench it felt like my entire upper body was helping me lift it, not just my chest. 305 btw. Going to go for 315+ next week.
How do your progressive overload looks like? You should be adding very small amount of weight weekly (with the 1.25kg disks)
Before 2pl8s you should be able to progress linearly so you will get better at bench pressing by doing more bench pressing
40kg x 3sets as many reps as you want
42.5kg x 3 sets
45kg x 3 sets
47.5kg x 3 sets
50kg x 3 sets
52.5kg x 3 sets
55kg x 3 sets
57.5kg x 3 sets
60kg x 3 sets
62.5kg x 3 sets
65kg x 3 sets
67.5 x 3 sets
70kg x 3 sets
etc
keep going till you get your 1 rep lift
every week move the starting weight up 2.5kg
youll end up being able to do hundreds of sets
youll be able to hit 3 plates this way, it takes a long time