bench stopped advancing

[John_Galt]

8-10 would be body building range. But there's other ways to stimulate growth.

 

[Oxide]

Say what? I've always heard an inch before chest is where you stop, because you are using more energy and working the muscles more. wtf?!

 

[spesmilitis]

Hows much can you BOR? I remember reading about a coach who said you can bench more than you can BOR, then you should be concentrating on BOR's. If you can't BOR much, do deadlifts and squats.

 

[Quagmire911]

What is your current PR for 5 reps or however many you usually do. Also what is your warm up for bench like, it could be a factor I havent seen considered, apologies if it has.

 

[EFFORT]

Flies work good as a stretch, but dont know anyone thats using flies to up there bench. You get your bench together by learning correct form first, then finding your sticking points and using a variety of bench press variations and different rep ranges and set numbers to get passed sticking points.

You also need to be adding weight to your squats and deads, these will increase your bench as well.

 

[insidious]

.... I'm approaching the weight class of Arnold and I can't bench press over 200. Weight doesn't mean you're going to get big. I've seen skinny punks that move more weight than I do.

Which brings up an interesting point. How much of BPing is mental??

Following an accident last year, I was benching 65lbs. Over the following 14/15 months, I've gradually worked up to 175lbs - my goal is 225, about 1.5x my body weight. As I've worked my way up to the 160/170 range, I noticed that this level of weights seriously has begun testing my mental resolve.

About a month ago I was having a seriously bad morning, moodwise, lots of crap going on, and I couldn't push past 3 reps on my first set. Next time around, about 5 days later, I was able to push out my 4x4 without a hitch. The other day, on my first rep of my first set, I realized my grip was uneven as hell, my concentration was beaten down and I got trapped by the damn BB!

In other words, if a puny, skinny guy has the concentration, is it possible for him to lift as much as a bigger guy who can't focus well, all other things being equal?

 

[John_Galt]

Which brings up an interesting point. How much of BPing is mental??

Following an accident last year, I was benching 65lbs. Over the following 14/15 months, I've gradually worked up to 175lbs - my goal is 225, about 1.5x my body weight. As I've worked my way up to the 160/170 range, I noticed that this level of weights seriously has begun testing my mental resolve.

About a month ago I was having a seriously bad morning, moodwise, lots of crap going on, and I couldn't push past 3 reps on my first set. Next time around, about 5 days later, I was able to push out my 4x4 without a hitch. The other day, on my first rep of my first set, I realized my grip was uneven as hell, my concentration was beaten down and I got trapped by the damn BB!

In other words, if a puny, skinny guy has the concentration, is it possible for him to lift as much as a bigger guy who can't focus well, all other things being equal?

Mental is a lot of it. I don't have weight goals for myself though, my goal is putting on as much muscle as possible, and that's what I've been doing, I typically push 155, 8 times for three sets. I throw my body so many curve balls, volume cycles, and speed changing, that it doesn't have time to adapt to gain strength.