Bench Press Advise

[firefighter2032]

Guys and Gals I need a bit of advise and help.

A guy on my fire dept has decided that it is time for him to conquer his current weight problem and get back to being healthy. He's 27 and has a baby on the way.

Through diet and adapex (sp?) he managed to drop from about 330 to 305 lbs.

He started working out with me in my basement about 2 weeks ago and has dropped another 10 lbs.

So here's where I'm puzzled.

The first time he came over and worked out I had him bench press 135lbs for 3 sets of 10. He did ok on it and didn't really struggle till he got to the last 3 reps on the last set. The weird thing is now he can barely do 95lbs for 3 sets. He says as soon as he unracks the weight it feels like a 1000 lbs. He also seems to have a lot of difficulty doing any weight on shoulder presses.

So...am I doing it all wrong by having him do 3 full body workouts a week? Am I not giving him the proper amount of recovery time? Is his CNS not able to handle this? Could it be that he's too tight and needs to stretch the chest, shoulders, and triceps better?

He's not really that sore the next day. I'm not worried about how much weight he pushes...I'm more concerned about having him lose the weight and keeping his diet in check...but it's killing him mentally (he's a big strong guy..won state with his high school football team back in the day). He does extremely well on all the other exercises (squats, deads, rows, etc) and his treadmill is increasing steadily.

Any help to keep my buddy going is great appreciated.

 

[nparisi]

Maybe he's overtraining. How many exercises and sets is he doing for each body part 3x a week? Or does he have any shoulder problems? If he can't do much on shoulder press maybe it's a shoulder problem. Make sure he is tucking back his shoulder blades on bench, have him arch his back a bit and stick his chest out, and also have his hands slightly closer together than normal to put less stress on his shoulders in the movement. I have had a lingering problem in my left shoulder and that has helped me a lot with bench.

 

[firefighter2032]

I keep racking my brain thinking it's overtraining also...but then I keep thinking that it doesn't make sense, since everything else he keeps doing better on.

On his workouts he does 2 exercises for large muscle groups and one on smaller.

 

[nparisi]

That doesn't seem like it'd be that bad or overbearing and if he's progressing elsewhere I doubt it's overtraining, unless rep ranges are different for other body parts? If not, just check his form closely on bench and have him use a bit of a closer grip and see if that helps? hopefully it will

 

[pmiller383]

Make sure his diet is not way to low on calories. If he is not getting sufficient calories to repair from a workout he is going to experience some muscle loss as well as fat loss.

 

[hyperCat]

While his workout doesn't seem too intense, it could be that his body will just take longer to adjust. With his substantial weight loss, his body is going through some major changes right now.

Maybe instead of having him do bench presses 3x/wk, cut it down to 2x/wk and have him substitute with some simple chest flies or cable crossovers for that 3rd day for awhile. Just a thought - might take some more experimenting and tweaking to find out what works for him.

 

[Aggravated]

This could be anything really. Not really sure what to say as far as advice goes. Just double-check everything again. He could be taking in too few calories. Maybe not enough good fat/protein.

 

[mixedup]

could he have a rotator cuff strain? since it's shoulder presses and flat BP that is being hindreded and everything else is going up.

 

[bigzach1234]

i think his diet is just suffering.. he is prob not getting enough nutrients for energy.. my bench litteraly plumets(sp?) when i dont eat right that day.. also u may ask why his other lifts arent suffering then.. it could be because he has the potential to do way more weight then u are having him lift on the other excersises... therefore they still seem easy too him

make sure he is getting enough protein and carbs for energy

 

[killertiller]

Seems to me likes hes trying to lose too much weight too quickly, which can leave a person pretty weak. Cutting weight is just a phase in the cycle of things for most of us. As long as his diet is on point and he continues to train he will reach his target weight soon enough.

 

[soseg]

I found I tend to lift less when I cut down...

easiest to focus on either gaining strength/bulk or getting lean... thats my opinion

be sure his chest is fully recovered... even tho it may feel fine it doesnt mean it hasnt recharged fully... and same goes for triceps

mine felt fine the other day but last week i did skull crushers instead of close grip for the first time in ages... and my bench dropped heaps even tho my arms were not sore at all... but my arms just couldnt handle it

and if u want the strength gains.. u gotta eat.... but at that weight id say focus on cutting down first another 100lbs roughly maybe more maybe less depending on height and how he looks then tone it out

 

[PowerlifterMB]

Couple things, one he probably has very weak shoulders. The weights sometimes feel like that to me too and I have weak shoulders. I know the feeling of the weight being 1000lbs. Have him do split training instead of full body workouts.

Since he just started training he'll get gains off any program and a full body workout could be taking a tole on his CNS. Tell him to take a week off and only do HIIT and jogging.

He'll be fine after that.

Not sure why but I've noticed a pattern. Football players have to use explosive force and back and legs much, much more than chest. This could be a reason his chest's so weak.

 

[Aggravated]

Yeah, shoulders could have a little to do with it. I find I can press a little bit more if I get some blood flowing in there as well. To be completely honest, if I lost 30lbs I would probably lose some strength as well.

 

[bigzach1234]

wat does his split look like.. if he is working out shoulders or tris.. in the few days before chest.. could be a problem

 

[PowerlifterMB]

^ Agreed. It's hard to balance a routine right so that chest days don't interfere with triceps and shoulders day and vise versa.

 

[LoPips20]

could the weight loss could be interferring with his strength gains?

 

[PowerlifterMB]

As long as his calories are above maintainance levels it shouldn't be. Generally just from working out you lose bf so provided he's eating enough he should be fine. If you're cutting and calories are below maintainance levels that's another story.