I cant improve my Bench Press! any tips?

[StangBanger]

My Deadlift numbers go up all the time, my Squat numbers go up all the time...

my Bench... sucks... embarrisingly so.

Any tips to improve? I do a 5x5 (compounds) and 8-10 reps with isolations. It seems to be working great EVERYWHERE except with Bench.

any help would be appreciated... my buddy who just started working out is benching more than me but he cant touch my Squat or Deadlift numbers...

 

[SweetLou321]

Are you training a body part split? If you are Id stop that and focus your training on the bench, squat, deadlift with assistence to bring up those lifts. Do you know how to bench? If you think you do, check out "so you think you can bench" by elitefts on youtube. Do you ALWAYS bench and have been for a while? Try using other lifts that increase your bench like floor press, board press, cambered bar bench. Benching wont increase your bench unless you have form issues. Do you use progressive overload? This may be holding you back since its not as effective as nonlinear progression. So you do any speed work? If not, try adding dynamic work on a seprate day from your heavy bench work. Do you have equal pulling to pushing work? A strong row equals a strong bench.

 

[StangBanger]

Thanks Lou for the reply,

I have a Legs/Shoulders day, Back BI day and Chest Tri day. Primarily compound lifts with some assistance work each day. The focus is Dead.Squat.Bench. I will check out the SYTYCB vids,, the Squat series was great and I have been increasing my Squat regularly since watching it.

I train 3 days on, 1 off and repeat so I have always benched. It has gone up but lately seems stagnet where my dead and Squat still continue to climb on the regular. I will check out floor press, board press and cambered bar bench too thanks.

excuse the pathetic numbers but chest/tri day looks like this:

Flat Barbell Bench - 135x5, 155x5, 165X5, 175X5, 185x(5) (cant always do 5)
Inline or Decline Dumbbell Bench (alternates each chest day) - 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, 60x5, 65x5
DB Flys - 10x20, 10x20, 10x25, 10x25, 10x30
Pushups
Skullcrushers
Kickbacks
overhead tri extensions

 

[D Hawk]

Hey improved my bench by just doing 50 pushups everyday when I wake up idk how fast u need the strength but when I did em I increased my bench by 100 pounds over a summer

 

[Rodja]

You never answered how much you can row.

 

[Tboz]

try adding some diffrent movements and mayb some more volume.. TRY

Incline BB Press
Flat bench Press
Push ups
Dips


Also add some close grip bench press for your tri

 

[SweetLou321]

Thanks Lou for the reply,

I have a Legs/Shoulders day, Back BI day and Chest Tri day. Primarily compound lifts with some assistance work each day. The focus is Dead.Squat.Bench. I will check out the SYTYCB vids,, the Squat series was great and I have been increasing my Squat regularly since watching it.

I train 3 days on, 1 off and repeat so I have always benched. It has gone up but lately seems stagnet where my dead and Squat still continue to climb on the regular. I will check out floor press, board press and cambered bar bench too thanks.

excuse the pathetic numbers but chest/tri day looks like this:

Flat Barbell Bench - 135x5, 155x5, 165X5, 175X5, 185x(5) (cant always do 5)
Inline or Decline Dumbbell Bench (alternates each chest day) - 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, 60x5, 65x5
DB Flys - 10x20, 10x20, 10x25, 10x25, 10x30
Pushups
Skullcrushers
Kickbacks
overhead tri extensions

If strength is your goal then your split should be more like
5/3/1 example
Bench+assistence
Squat+assistence
Off
Press+assistence
Deadlift+assistence
Off
Off

Or WCS example
ME Bench
Off
ME Squat
Off
DE Bench
DE Squat
Off
Notice how for strength there are NO bodypart splits. If this is your primary goal, drop the body part splits. If you are training for size then its much harder to help you here.

How much do you row?
Does your pull volume equal your pushing volume?
Pull is Rows, Upper back, traps, chins, ect
Pushing is Any chest press, any tricep press where the shoulder is moved also, any shoulder press

Also 5 reps is submaximal work and not ideal for strength gains. Look into 5/3/1 for some programing to actually increase your lifts outside of just 5 reps.

 

[StangBanger]

Sorry, I my BB row is 135x5, 155x5, 175x5, 185x5, 195x5

Thanks for the tips, ill look at the 5/3/1 and other you mentioned...

just hit 315 (x2) squat and 425lb dead so I am happy with those and the progress I am making there... just a ***** on the bench!

 

[Rodja]

Sorry, I my BB row is 135x5, 155x5, 175x5, 185x5, 195x5

Thanks for the tips, ill look at the 5/3/1 and other you mentioned...

just hit 315 (x2) squat and 425lb dead so I am happy with those and the progress I am making there... just a ***** on the bench!

You need to focus on your back strength.

 

[BigRed904]

Dips, Dips and Weighted Dips.... These will increase strength greatly. I like to do this at the end of my chest day:

Dips 3x10
Weighted Dips 3x10
Dips (Pause at Bottom and Explode Up) 3x10

Adjust to what you can do...