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Bench press

roelof Posts: 68 Joined: 2002/03/03	2002/08/27, 05:49 PM My bench press numbers seem to be decreasing as all my other number seem to be increasing... anyone have any theories as to why this might be happening? For example, incline increases, decile increases, but flat bench does not.. ---------------------------- If you can squat heavy and have solid sh*ts, what more can you ask for in life?
bb1fit Posts: 11,105 Joined: 2001/06/30	2002/08/27, 07:42 PM You might try one thing I do....switch your chest exercises around each time or at least periodically. Like if you always do flat first, incline second, decline 3rd, try one time doing inclines first then declines, then flat. The next time do declines first, then maybe flat, then inclines, then go back to flat first. You will of course be weaker in flat on those times, but when you go back to doing them first, you may see a big change. Also one other thing that really helped me was after heavy benches, doing like 2 sets of heavy dumbell benches. Those really seemed to give me a boost in strength. And of cours make sure you work your triceps hard, very involved in the bench. Best of luck....
Sempai Posts: 447 Joined: 2002/06/06	2002/08/27, 09:00 PM Do you press as oftan as you do your other routines. I find pushups can help increase the press capabilities as well as dips behind your back. Good luck -------------- Never be afraid to try something new. Remember the ark was built by amateurs, The Titanic was built by professionals.
duketter Posts: 76 Joined: 2002/05/01	2002/08/28, 09:27 AM Do you do dumbell or barbell chest workouts? Do the opposite of what you do for a while. I used to do barbell all the time and switched to dumbell about 2 or so months ago cause I hit a plateau. Well, I just switched back to barbell and wow! my bench is up and going up. You just got mix things up a bit. Right now, I actually do barbell bench and dumbell incline bench. And then some other chest workouts but mix it up.
icedcoffee Posts: 1 Joined: 2002/08/30	2002/08/30, 12:47 PM I don't seem to be getting much gains from my chest workouts. Any suggestions? The lower pecs seems stagnant. :)
wagnerzx2 Posts: 36 Joined: 2002/08/07	2002/08/31, 05:43 PM I have only recently started a program on here for chest mass and shoulder width. The program is having me do incline barbell, flat dumbell and then incline dumbell. I am only three weeks into the program and I have already noticed that I am getting stronger. When I first started, my one rep max was like 45 lbs for dumbells. I am now doing reps with 50 pushing my one rep max to almost 65 pounds. Before I started this program, all I was doing was a series of push ups and dips to increase my chest strength. It seemed to help. Perhaps warming up with some pushups would help, but I would have to agree with duketter. Switching things around, so as to vary your routine will help incredibly. Based on an article I read in Men's Fitness just a few weeks ago, your muscles will get bored with a routine long before your mind does. So, to reiterate, just switch things up for a while. I think you will be happy with the results. -------------- Mike Wagner *Music is the soul of society*
mwadkins1213 Posts: 1 Joined: 2002/09/04	2002/09/05, 04:59 AM I am a Master Fitness Trainer in the US Army, I also have been lifting for quite some time. I have recently strained my outer chest to the point my bench max has went from 385 to about 250 on some days, if I go see a military doctor they will put me on a no lifting profile. I can do incline and decline still but it pulls too much to even warm up on the flat bench.Any tips would be great.
aarsen43 Posts: 2 Joined: 2005/04/30	2005/04/30, 04:37 PM This is happening because you are probably overtraining your shoulders and doing you shoulder and chest routine to soon apart. The same thing happened to me when i was overtraining
aarsen43 Posts: 2 Joined: 2005/04/30	2005/04/30, 04:40 PM I am 15, 128 pounds, 5"9 and have a rpm bench of 155,
	2005/04/30, 07:08 PM hahaha......3 years later....someone finally answered the poor man's question....he's probably a General by now... aarsen check the date of the post you're answering...the guy posted this question nearly 3 years ago and never came back....no point in answering it... welcome to freetrainers :)