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2005/04/11, 01:17 PM
For about a little less than a year, ive been doing dumbell bicep curls with 40 lbers. 3 sets of 7 or 8. Good form. Lat pulldowns, im always using it with 70, 80, or 90 lbs, and i can pull about 20 reps with 70, 15 with 80, and a little less with 90. My bench has been stuck at the same weight for months now, 215/220. ( i did 220 once about a few weeks ago, but i took me 4 months to get there from 215). I know the key to strength gains and growth is variety, but why am i staying the same in strengh. Im really worried about those bicep curls, and lat pulldowns. Is 4 months being stuck on a weight considered bad? What can i do to get stronger? Alot stronger!
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2005/04/11, 01:36 PM
Try drasticly changes reps...and or weights. ie. instead of doing 15 reps with 90 or whatever.......bump it up to 120.....and do 5 reps.
Or change rest time....do yoru 15reps....but only rest 30secs.....go for another 15.
Or do both....its called "rest"/ "pause" put 120 on the rack/bar whatever.....do as many rep as you can.....rest 15secs.......do as many more as you can. Do this 4 or 5 sets like this......You can do it with higher reps as well.
Either way, your body's gonna start recruiting more muscle fibers, to move the weight...and should get bigger as well.
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" The only true eye, is your minds eye"- plato
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2005/04/12, 01:59 PM
YOu should focus on triceps, back and abs, and lay off bench and chest for about 3-4 days. Dont work the chest unless you are streching. The more stronger your triceps, back, and abs get the more you can bench.
Try to drink a lot of water between sets during rest to keep muscles hydrated.
If you overtrain you will get weaker, (that was my problem) try only benching twice a week until you increase.
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Don\'t think you cant do it know you can do it.
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2005/04/12, 09:07 PM
Kev are you trying to increase your chest or just improve on bench?
for muscle gains...I would just stop doing flat bench altogether and switch to incline bench or incline dumbell flyes.....along with some heavy dips(attach extra weight to urself with a belt if you need to)...
for just improving on bench press.. I suggest that you start doing exercises to strengthen your front delts, triceps, lower back, and hamstrings....in addition to your chest.....
so maybe try doing reps of 2 and 3....(12*,3,2,2) for bench
and do 3 or 4 sets of close grip bench (12*,3,3,3,)for triceps and do front barbell raises(12*,3,3,3)for front delts...(remember to do barbell press also (12*,3,3,3))...
also check out powerlifting forum....animal workout....has been dicussed...maybe it will also help you....
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2005/04/13, 06:03 PM
go lighter for a while but more reps and better movement.
you will see that when you return to the same routine you had before, you will indeed lift more weight that you used to lift
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2005/04/13, 06:28 PM
kakaroto that might be counterproductive....because he'll build muscle endurance...so he will indeed lift more at the higher reps but he will lose some power so when he drops down...he'll be lifting less....there's no direct proportion to what you can lift for X reps to what you can do for 1 rep...despite different formulas...they may be close...but to be able to lift more at low reps...he has to train at those low reps...
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