2) do not have progression properly built into your training schedule so that you can actually get stronger
3) aren't training your chest enough, 3 total sets of chest a week isn't very much, i assume you do more things though since you are in there 5 days a week
4) extremely extremely weak to begin with, most fully grown males who weigh over 200 lbs should be able to bench around 135 untrained
What are you actually doing in the gym these 5 days you go in?
Oh I don't do 3 total sets of chest a week, just 3 sets of bench a week. On chest day I still do dumbbell press, chest press machine, etc. 4-5 exercises a day for the muscle set typically. Just bench once.
Gym day rotation is Chest -> Back -> Arms -> Shoulders -> Legs.
I'm also under the assumption that I don't eat enough before going to the gym as I usually go immediately after work knowing I haven't eaten much recently. Trying to get in the habit of fixing that.
I feel my chest is my weakest for sure regardless though. I'm happy with every other big lift.
Best way to increase strength rapidly and take advantage of quick neural gains as a novice is to do more sets of fewer reps at higher weight. Doing a 3x8 split when you don't really have much muscle and don't really have a great mind-muscle connection to speak of can be just spinning your wheels. I'd put bench first in a more typical 5x5 strength emphasis with fewer total exercises. You want to use weight that is challenging and focus on getting as many good, challenging reps in as you can to improve your muscle activation.
It's also possible that your physical set-up and form for the bench isn't very good. If you just went in without knowing much, figuring that all you had to do was move the bar up and down off your chest you might not be tight, with proper lever arm angles and form, which would result in your progress being hindered.
edit: I find that taller people with longer arms are especially prone to form problems when starting out*
Opened 140kg, other guy did aswell, then benched 150kg, other guy did aswell.
I was gonna go for 155 on the third, but the other guy asked me we both do 160kg to try uni's all time record, but we both missed. I won cause I was 82kg and he was 85. I am really happy with results cause they moved the bench to the center of the gym (where machines are) and the floor was slippery as fuck, no rubber mats or anything, like my legs slided after I arched so I pushed 140/150 with pure chest strength. For nationals I'm gonna do 160++ for sure. It's also quite a feeling to lift with 100+ ppl cheering, powerlifting meets here usually involve 20 competitors + 20 relatives in a mostly silent manner. Plus bragging rights obviously.
I generally think novices should stick to an upper/lower or full body split. Two reasons for this are that 1) novices aren't incurring as much muscular damage, nor are they incurring as much strain on their nervous system because they just aren't capable of lifting weights as heavy as advanced trainees and 2) novices benefit from lifting the same muscle groups 1.5x or 2x as often as they would on a regular bb split because they get to practice the movements
On October 18 2013 12:21 IgnE wrote: What's a roid split?
Just what i like to call the traditional bb split.
Leg day Chest day Back day Shoulder day Arm day Chest day
Despite everyone hating on lolroid splits here and everything related to bodybuilding splits, I've gained WAY more muscle mass from doing hypertrophy back work for 3 months then from deadlifting 440 pounds for a single. I agree that all good programs should at least have some strength work, though.
Also I agree with Igne that you should just do an upper/lower/rest/upper/lower/rest/rest split if you're just starting out.
On October 18 2013 12:21 IgnE wrote: What's a roid split?
Just what i like to call the traditional bb split.
Leg day Chest day Back day Shoulder day Arm day Chest day
Despite everyone hating on lolroid splits here and everything related to bodybuilding splits, I've gained WAY more muscle mass from doing hypertrophy back work for 3 months then from deadlifting 440 pounds for a single. I agree that all good programs should at least have some strength work, though.
Also I agree with Igne that you should just do an upper/lower/rest/upper/lower/rest/rest split if you're just starting out.
I love bodybuilding splits. Although I gained the most mass in my life doing a DC split. I think DC is the best mass-building program out there for people who are at least at intermediate level (i.e. can bench 225, deadlift close to 400, and squat over 315).
On October 17 2013 13:00 Snuggles wrote: Guys I don't know how I should feel about the biggest guy at my gym curling at the squat rack... Like this dude is a goddamn bear, and he curled at my precious squat rack. This world is so messed up.
Ahh yeah, I've seen references to doggrapp before but never really looked into it.That article is interesting, I kinda skimmed through it but I have no idea if it's BS or not.
Ahh yeah, I've seen references to doggrapp before but never really looked into it.That article is interesting, I kinda skimmed through it but I have no idea if it's BS or not.
I don't know if the extreme stretching itself works. I've done it during DC and I've not done it during DC. I do know that when I did DC for a year or two I shot up from ~205lbs to ~230 while keeping my bodyfat around ~12% at 5'11". Like I said, I think it's the best pure mass builder around for intermediate lifters and above.
Ahh yeah, I've seen references to doggrapp before but never really looked into it.That article is interesting, I kinda skimmed through it but I have no idea if it's BS or not.
I don't know if the extreme stretching itself works. I've done it during DC and I've not done it during DC. I do know that when I did DC for a year or two I shot up from ~205lbs to ~230 while keeping my bodyfat around ~12% at 5'11". Like I said, I think it's the best pure mass builder around for intermediate lifters and above.
Rest-Pause training is amazing for mass building, but DC isn't the only style of training to recommend that. As for the rest of the routine, I don't have any experience with it, so I'm not going to say anything.
As far as only benching 135, I'm just about the same height (and finally getting to the same weight) and it took me two years to bench 200 for a single. That was doing almost exclusively SS followed by a weekly progression thing. Any time I tried to push it higher or faster, I ended up with an injury. Even now, 4 years since I started lifting my best bench is only 190 for 5x5. Bench is hard.
fuck this shit. im getting out of bed and doing another 30 mins stretching at least. thanks phyre
ps, using 20kg weight balanced on one knee to provide additional force in ankle stretching is AMAZING. literally 6x better than anything i've done without it
pps, i bought some sick super-flat shoes today. was wearing my powerlifting heels everywhere for the last year; putting on these new flat soles is gonna help my ankles soooo much
So I have two new squat videos. One is at 95 lbs and the other is at 140. I still don't feel that good about my form, but I think it's getting better. I tried really hard to keep my chest up, but I still lack the mobility to keep my chest up, my body stable, and my feet pointed in at a narrower stance.
yeah when you reach the lowest point the bar still "collapses" on you due to the lack of flex'd abs and chest up I think which transitions the whole movement into the "squat-morning"
Also it's hard to tell from this angle but I think you could go even narrower with your stance. I don't know about the others here but personally I barely go further than shoulder width when doing Highbar.
On October 19 2013 06:36 AsnSensation wrote: yeah when you reach the lowest point the bar still "collapses" on you due to the lack of flex'd abs and chest up I think which transitions the whole movement into the "squat-morning"
Also it's hard to tell from this angle but I think you could go even narrower with your stance. I don't know about the others here but personally I barely go further than shoulder width when doing Highbar.
The stance really isn't that much wider than shoulder width (it looks pretty bad in the videos, I will admit) but I really can't go narrower. I really just don't have the mobility yet.