I was wondering what sort of things you guys do to blast through plateaus in your lifting that come up. I began lifting about 5 months ago and was maxing about 165 on the bench in april ( i weighed a little over 160) and over the past months i got up to about 210 before i plateued off for a long time. Recentely I have started going back up and am now at 225 and weigh a little over 165. I assume that this gaining won't keep continuing and I don't really know what I did to blast through it the last time, or if there's anything I can do to get through it quicker? Any thoughts? Dumbbells maybe? Thanks
"She Wants a Man, Not a Boy"
You asked her if she wanted to grab coffee. Then you asked if the time worked. Then you asked if the place was okay. Then you asked if she'd prefer tea.
Four questions. Four chances for her to say no. Four signals that you're terrified of making a decision.
Plan it. Pick the place. Pick the time. Tell her where to meet you. She'll either show up or she won't.
Either way, you look like a man instead of a scared little boy.
How do you blast through your plateaus?
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"I just moved here from Florida."
That sentence contains at least five follow-up questions she WANTS you to ask. Where in Florida? What brought you here? How long have you been in the area? What do you miss? How does it compare to here?
She handed them to you on a silver platter. And you said, "Oh cool. I come here every week. I love this band. Ummm... pretty crowded tonight."
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I was that guy for years. Talking too much. Listening too little. Panicking about my next sentence while she was literally feeding me the answers.
Then I found 22 rules that fixed the whole thing. Rule number one: shut up and listen. She'll tell you exactly what to say.
Skilla_Staz
Master Don Juan
Switch Up your routine. Change the days, change the order of some exercises. Change your rep schemes, etc.
Your body adapts. Once is acclimates to your training, it's time to hammer it with something else.
Your body adapts. Once is acclimates to your training, it's time to hammer it with something else.
how long you been going on to the gym consistently? Lots of times if you take a week to a week and a half off, you'll come back and shatter your lifts as your body rebuilds everything that it couldn't rebuild while you were consistently going to the gym.
Warboss Alex
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switching up your entire routine is often unnecessary - if you're having bench trouble, try to assess which part of the movement is bothering you and add an assistance exercise to help out. change the set/rep scheme, maybe pause the reps - be more specific.
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I could talk to any woman I wasn't attracted to. Charming, funny, relaxed. Then a gorgeous woman looked my way and I'd become a sweating, babbling mess.
The fix took me years to find and ten minutes to learn. Nervousness and excitement are the same physical state — pounding heart, adrenaline, flushed face. Your brain just picks the label. And you can pick a better one.
Rule 16 shows you how. You feel the nerves, relabel them as excitement, and let that energy pour out as enthusiasm. Women notice the guy radiating it. They always do.
donjuanjovi
Senior Don Juan
Totally revamp your routine and eat more. Do lots of BIG compound exercises like squats, rows, and deadlifts............. YES squats and deadlifts CAN increase your bench.
Warboss Alex
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this is often not necessary, unless your routine is crappy - however if you're just stalling then a few exercise or set/rep scheme changes may be all that's required.donjuanjovi said:Totally revamp your routine and eat more. Do lots of BIG compound exercises like squats, rows, and deadlifts............. YES squats and deadlifts CAN increase your bench.
however check your diet first as donjuanjovi said - as you get bigger and stronger, you need more base calories to support what you have.
Some things to consider, if you got the basics (nutrition, form,...):
-Improve the part of the movement on which you get stuck when going for a max: lockouts, reverse band bench press, wide grip bench press,...
-Work on explosiveness: do some speed work
-Back off the bench press & do some incline/decline/overhead press, work with dbs,... for several weeks to let your CNS recover.
You can not keep improving on a certain exercise week after week once past the beginner phase. Hitting a plateau is what keeps the sport interesting: how will you work around it?
-good luck.
-Improve the part of the movement on which you get stuck when going for a max: lockouts, reverse band bench press, wide grip bench press,...
-Work on explosiveness: do some speed work
-Back off the bench press & do some incline/decline/overhead press, work with dbs,... for several weeks to let your CNS recover.
You can not keep improving on a certain exercise week after week once past the beginner phase. Hitting a plateau is what keeps the sport interesting: how will you work around it?
-good luck.