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
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How do you blast through your plateaus?
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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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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.