I've had a lot of success with all of my lifts except for bench, which is my weakest area. I'm really moving up in weight in everything else: shoulders, deadlift, legs, squats, even triceps and biceps, but bench is flat stalled out. :(

The bench press has always been my weakest area; I can't bench much at all, but everything else has really moved up so I can't figure out why bench isn't too. I've only been lifting weights for about 5 months, which isn't long, but I've had this problem of weak pecs and not much progress in the bench, for the entire time.

The only thing I can think of is that I'm using too much weight for my bench. :confused: (I added some incline presses to my chest workout to see if that would help, last week. It hasn't...)

I've been doing this workout for awhile now, and it really works well for me except for the bench:

Monday-workout A
Tuesday-workout B
Wednesday- cardio/abs
Thursday-workout C

Friday-cardio/abs
Saturday-workout A
Sunday-workout B
Monday-cardio/abs

Tuesday-workout C
.
.
.

Workout A:
Bench Press: 1 set 12 reps, 3 sets 8 reps (maybe too much weight because I can't get more than 8 reps in after the first set)
Dumbell flies: 4 sets 10 reps

Military Press: 4 sets 10 reps
Lateral Raises: 4 sets 8 reps
Behind the neck press: 4 sets 8 reps

Dips: 3 sets 2 reps (all I can do)
Tricep extensions or skull crushers: 4 sets 10 reps

Workout B:
Romanian Deadlift: 4 sets 12 reps

Pull ups: 3 sets (as many as I can do--usually 2 or 3 reps a set)
Lat pull down: 4 sets 8 reps
Close-grip low pull machine: 4 sets 8 reps

Bicep curls: 3 sets 8 reps

Trap (shrugs) 4 sets 12 reps

Workout C:
Squat (smith machine is all I have access to): 4 sets 12 reps
Calf-raises: 4 sets 12 reps
Hamstring curl: 4 sets 12 reps
Seated leg extensions: 4 sets 12 reps
Standard deadlift: 4 sets 12 reps


Does anyone have any ideas? I don't feel like my pecs are developing as well as other areas. They are getting better but it seems like the rate is a lot slower than everything else.

Cheers...:bb:

Does anyone have any ideas?

In one word: Rows.

I learned from Zen that rowing and benching go hand in hand. I bet he'll chime in and give you more info. For me, once I started rowing, the bench just kept going up... :tu:

Behind the neck press: 4 sets 8 reps


Does anyone have any ideas? I don't feel like my pecs are developing as well as other areas. They are getting better but it seems like the rate is a lot slower than everything else.

Yeah skip that behind the neck press, especially if you want to bench.

You could consider doing bent over rows barbell or dumbell.

I would also make sure to keep other compound lifts heavy if you want the bench to go up. Modern bench technique turns out to be almost whole-body.

By the way your pecs are not really a big part of a big bench. The muscles for the big bench are triceps, brachialis, and lats.

In one word: Rows.

I learned from Zen that rowing and benching go hand in hand. I bet he'll chime in and give you more info. For me, once I started rowing, the bench just kept going up... :tu:

Glad to hear it. Adding rows to a row deficient program does seem to get some people past plateaus in the bench. Since that guy already had some pulling exercises it's not clear that is his problem. But it is definitely an important checkpoint.

Yep, my bench has shot up to over #315lbs as a direct result of doing bent-over rows.

:bb::eat::tu:

Agreed on the no horizontal rows not helping matters.

There's a real easy solution when you're stuck at 8 reps and trying to get stronger -- more weight, less reps. Add 5 lbs, and start doing sets of 5.

Don't add the maximum amount of weight to make the sets of 5 difficult right from the beginning. It's okay for the sets to feel a little easy, because that's the idea, in the beginning at least. Let the progression occur naturally.

Not many people can 4x multi set bench, standing press, and dip all in the same workout while keeping intensity levels high, nor do they need to. Pressing related exercises are more of a low volume responder anyway (gross generalization, but there's probably some truth to it). And for a Monday workout that you're repeating on Saturday, that looks like too much.

How many Dips can you do when you're fresh and not fatigued from all the prior work?

Like mentioned above rows will help. Another thing that I did that helped was I took time off from bench press. I started doing different chest workouts instead of bench.
Ex.
Chest day #1 - Flat DB Press / Flat DB Flies
Chest day #2 - Incline DB Press / Incline DB Flies
Chest day #3 - Decline bench / Cable Crossovers

After 3 months of that I went back and could bench 20 more pounds. I think bench press is way overly used.

Thanks JC and zenpharaohs :nod:...

Ok, I'll drop the behind the neck press and definitely add those rows in. Does it make a difference whether the grip is underhand or overhand (bent-over barbell rows)?


Thanks Azure :)... It's good to hear that other people are able to get out of a plataeu like that.


Thanks Goonie :cool:...

I'll change to a 5x5 bench too and add 5 lbs.

As far as the dips; I haven't actually tried doing dips fresh, without being fatigued from other lifts. I think I could probably do 3 sets of 4 if I was fresh. Honestly, my triceps aren't that great.


I have been considering adding another day of rest in, but I like working out 5 times a week and I have plenty of time to spend in the gym everyday so I've been reluctant to add an extra day of rest in. Maybe that's part of the problem too though, not enough rest time. :confused:

Thanks felon :)...

That's a good idea. I haven't really mixed up much. I like the idea of changing it up like that.

I agree with what everyone else says, but would add a few things.

1) Is it really necessary to do 24 sets in workout A? Seems like a god-awful amount of work....seems hard to maintain any kind of intensity (in terms of weight) with that much volume.

2) Ditch the flyes, they do nothing for strength.

3) Related to number 2: you seem to be expressing 2 different goals. On the one hand, you say the goal is to get a bigger bench. On the other hand, you say that the goal is to enhance pec development. The route to these goals isn't necessarily mutually exclusive, but maximizing for one doesn't necessarily imply progress in the other. Most people think big pecs = big bench, and that if you have one, you (by default) have the other. Not really true. You can try for both, but you should figure out which one you want more, and structure your routine accordingly.

4) Add in some close-grip bench presses.

Ok, I'll drop the behind the neck press and definitely add those rows in. Does it make a difference whether the grip is underhand or overhand (bent-over barbell rows)?

Not really. But make sure you go sort of heavy. 5x5 would probably be fine. Until you get a huge bench, your bent over barbell row max should be more or less the same as your barbell flat bench press.

The only thing I can think of is that I'm using too much weight for my bench. :confused: (I added some incline presses to my chest workout to see if that would help, last week. It hasn't...)



Just noticed this. NOTHING works in only one week. Any change you make in your program will take a few weeks minimum to yield any tangible results. Makes me wonder if you've really "plateaued" on bench, or if you just have unrealistic expectations about how fast you should gain.

Thanks JoeSchmo.:nod:...

Just noticed this. NOTHING works in only one week. Any change you make in your program will take a few weeks minimum to yield any tangible results. Makes me wonder if you've really "plateaued" on bench, or if you just have unrealistic expectations about how fast you should gain.

No, I just meant that I tried adding that particular exercise in extra, for a week to shock the body into responding. I've had success with that method before, when I stalled out. I added something else in temporarily, or upped the weight quite a bit and lowered the reps, to sort of shock the muscles.

To be honest, I don't know if that worked in the past because the muscles were responding, or if it was mental (placebo effect) but it worked when I had problems with my deadlift, so I figured I would try it again.

As far as my bench press: it's plateaued for sure. I've never really made good progress on it since I started lifting: I stopped making any progress at all at least 2 months ago. The bench is my achilles heel; it's really frustrating because I've watched my shoulders and back absolutely explode in both size and strength gains, but the bench stays the same.

I agree with what everyone else says, but would add a few things.

1) Is it really necessary to do 24 sets in workout A? Seems like a god-awful amount of work....seems hard to maintain any kind of intensity (in terms of weight) with that much volume.

It's a lot of work but I would hate to cut out most of the lifts as I feel they are really paying off. I guess I could cut down the reps and lift heavier.


3) Related to number 2: you seem to be expressing 2 different goals. On the one hand, you say the goal is to get a bigger bench. On the other hand, you say that the goal is to enhance pec development.

I think the problem is that I don't have enough strength in that area, and a symptom of the problem is a lack of peck development. :blank:

I think the problem is that I don't have enough strength in that area, and a symptom of the problem is a lack of peck development. :blank:

I gotcha, but it is a common misperception that bench press strength stems from pec strength. It does to a degree, but the triceps and delts are big players in the bench. If I were you, I would certainly take the rowing advice that others gave. I'd also cut the number of sets down from 4 to 3 on your workout A exercises, totally eliminate behind the neck presses, and I'd add close-grip bench presses (for strength). Also, flat DB presses will help you with pec development more than flyes....so, you might replace flyes with DB press.

:gl: