i need to increase my bench press

[dloehr22]

i weigh 165 or 170, i am trying to gain weight. not working. i max my bench at about 200 or 205 and i cant get any better or any more wight and it has been like this for about 1 or 2 months. everyone else who is doing the same workout, is increasing but they are 200 to250 pounders so that could be why... i do shoulders and back and tri's and bi's and i just cant get better. my main goal isnt looks....it is strength.
--this is what i do
day 1 is chest
day 2 is biceps and triceps
day 3 is off
day 4 is shoulders and back and i (max bench )only 1 or 2 trys at a certain weight.
(so that is #2if you count that)
day 5 is legs, calves, etc.
day 6 is off and
day 7 is repeat day one and so on and so forth

as far as looks 1st and strength 2nd, its the oppisite. i have always been really cut up or ripped as they say but i would rather look big than really ripped. so i guess strenth before looks to be honest. i just want to get stronger and gain wight. and i checked out that calorie thing and i am going to eat even more now and see what happens. any suggestions on the workout though?

 

[conorvansmack]

Read the sticky. Take a look at doing Starting Strength or StrongLifts 5x5.

 

[KoolDrew]

i weigh 165 or 170, i am trying to gain weight. not working

You're not eating enough.

any suggestions on the workout though?

How long have you been lifting? Also, how is your strength on other lifts?

 

[TallBill]

Don't worry to much about rushing things. I lightly benched for the first year of lifting. Eventually I decided to finally target my chest. I benched 3x5 twice a week and saw the weight shoot up. I was up to about 3x5x245, but grew some nasty stretch marks on my arm pits and ended up fucking up my shoulder. (to be fair, I was putting a lot of stress on my shoulder from boxing as well). Eat more food, track your calories.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: dloehr22
i weigh 165 or 170, i am trying to gain weight. not working.

Read the sticky. You need a caloric surplus to gain weight. Don't just guess at your caloric intake, as you'll undoubtedly guess wrong - after all, that's why your current diet is "not working." Instead, track your intake on a site like thedailyplate.com or fitday.com. One of the easiest and most effective ways to increase caloric intake is to drink a Gallon of Milk A Day (GOMAD).

Originally posted by: dloehr22
my main goal isnt looks....it is strength.

Then what you need is a strength training routine. The routine you posted is a bodybuilding style split routine, which is typically tailored towards maximizing hypertrophy (muscle mass/size) instead of strength. A good strength training routine will be based around compound free weight lifts, done with heavy weights, hitting the entire body 2-3 times per week. It seems like you are a beginner, so you'll want a beginner strength training routine. And because you're a beginner, you don't know enough to design it yourself. I don't mean this as an insult: there's just no reason for the average person to understand all the nuances of building a proper/effective/efficient routine, which is why you should use one developed by professionals instead.

The routine described in Starting Strength is one of the most effective & popular choices. Not only does the book describe this routine, it also does an incredibly good job of explaining why you should do strength training, why use free weights instead of machines, which lifts tend to be most effective, and thorough instructions (including great pictures & diagrams) of how to do each of these lifts. There is also a complementary DVD that came out recently which is extremely helpful. If you're going to spend multiple hours a week for months on end doing a routine, it's worth spending a little money & time up front to sure you learn to do the exercises properly.

If you're averse to spending money, you can check out some of the same content on the Starting Strength wiki. For that matter, the Stronglifts website is also an excellent (free) resource that I use all the time. The Stronglifts 5x5 routine is very similar to Starting Strength, with a few minor tweaks that make it a bit easier to get into. I personally prefer Starting Strength, but you'll have great results with either program.

 

[dloehr22]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew

i weigh 165 or 170, i am trying to gain weight. not working

You're not eating enough.

any suggestions on the workout though?

How long have you been lifting? Also, how is your strength on other lifts?

 

[dloehr22]

i have been working out "again" for the past three months pretty hard. and i think im eating enough,....what should i be eating....maybe i need certain things.

 

[KoolDrew]

You gain weight by being in a calorie surplus. Therefore, if you're not gaining weight, you're not in a calorie surplus and not eating enough. It's as simple as that.

 

[dloehr22]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: dloehr22
i weigh 165 or 170, i am trying to gain weight. not working.

Read the sticky. You need a caloric surplus to gain weight. Don't just guess at your caloric intake, as you'll undoubtedly guess wrong - after all, that's why your current diet is "not working." Instead, track your intake on a site like thedailyplate.com or fitday.com. One of the easiest and most effective ways to increase caloric intake is to drink a Gallon of Milk A Day (GOMAD).

Originally posted by: dloehr22
my main goal isnt looks....it is strength.

Then what you need is a strength training routine. The routine you posted is a bodybuilding style split routine, which is typically tailored towards maximizing hypertrophy (muscle mass/size) instead of strength. A good strength training routine will be based around compound free weight lifts, done with heavy weights, hitting the entire body 2-3 times per week. It seems like you are a beginner, so you'll want a beginner strength training routine. And because you're a beginner, you don't know enough to design it yourself. I don't mean this as an insult: there's just no reason for the average person to understand all the nuances of building a proper/effective/efficient routine, which is why you should use one developed by professionals instead.

The routine described in Starting Strength is one of the most effective & popular choices. Not only does the book describe this routine, it also does an incredibly good job of explaining why you should do strength training, why use free weights instead of machines, which lifts tend to be most effective, and thorough instructions (including great pictures & diagrams) of how to do each of these lifts. There is also a complementary DVD that came out recently which is extremely helpful. If you're going to spend multiple hours a week for months on end doing a routine, it's worth spending a little money & time up front to sure you learn to do the exercises properly.

If you're averse to spending money, you can check out some of the same content on the Starting Strength wiki. For that matter, the Stronglifts website is also an excellent (free) resource that I use all the time. The Stronglifts 5x5 routine is very similar to Starting Strength, with a few minor tweaks that make it a bit easier to get into. I personally prefer Starting Strength, but you'll have great results with either program.

that is extremely helpful and ill be sure to check all the information out. i appriciate it.

 

[dloehr22]

ok i am getting this but how am i supposed to know how many calories are in each piece of chicken...etc. ill check out the site. that will probably answer my quesstion. thanks for all the help

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: dloehr22
ok i am getting this but how am i supposed to know how many calories are in each piece of chicken...etc. ill check out the site. that will probably answer my quesstion. thanks for all the help

Go out and buy a digital food scale. A 4oz piece of chicken breast is around 120 cals and 26g of protein though. You can also use a website such as thedailyplate to keep track of what you eat on a daily basis. It can be tedious at first, but once you get the hang of it most of the foods you eat will be in "What I Eat Often" and can quickly be added for that day. It will help tremendously if you're trying to add mass as well. Aim for 16-18 cal/lb and 1g/lb of bodyweight to start and monitor your weight. If you're not gaining weight add more calories. Don't go overboard with it though, as too much of a surplus will result in excessive fat gain. I tend to aim for 0.5-1lb gained a week.

Also, you've only been lifting for three months. I highly suggest giving a routine like Starting Strength a try.

 

[dloehr22]

thanks for the info. ill give it a try. and i eat alot of hard boiled eggs...like 6 a day sometimes. taht is good right?

 

[KoolDrew]

Eggs are fine.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Eggs are fine.

Not just fine. Delicious and nutritious. Hell yeah.

 

[dloehr22]

ok good deal. well ill eat more critique my form and workout a little and we'll see where it goes from there. thanks for the help guys

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: dloehr22
ok i am getting this but how am i supposed to know how many calories are in each piece of chicken...etc. ill check out the site. that will probably answer my quesstion. thanks for all the help

I usually take the total weight of the meat according to the packaging and divide it into roughly equal parts. If I take a package of chicken that weighs 3.5 lbs and cook and eat all of it I can divide it roughly so long as I account for all of it. For example, if there are 7 roughly equal size breasts I go ahead and assume they are 1/2 lb each and enter them as such in my food log. A digital scale would definitely be convenient though.

 

[dloehr22]

well thanks but im over seas right now and dont have access to that stuff but i just have a chow hall and i dont know how to tell is what but i am doing the dailyplate web site and im figuring it out.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: dloehr22
well thanks but im over seas right now and dont have access to that stuff but i just have a chow hall and i dont know how to tell is what but i am doing the dailyplate web site and im figuring it out.

Just eat a lot then Eat as much as you can every meal. That's really what it takes - try to eat as much protein as you can, while getting a fair amount of carbs and fats. If you know the sources of each of these nutrients, it'll be easy to guesstimate how much you're getting. Eating more without tracking is way easier than eating less. Eat till you're sickly full, lol. That's what I had to do to bulk.

 

[dloehr22]

thanks thats what ive been doing and continue to do. and im not running very much anymore either, atleast till i gain ten puonds or so so hopefully a month or month and a half tops. this drawn out 1 to 2 pounds is getting old so ill continue to stuff

 

[dloehr22]

i got up 215 tonight!! i read a little on line about phycing(i dont know how to spell it) yourself out and that you just need to know in your mind you can do it and it actually felt lighter tahn 215 when i did it. thanks for the tips. ill continue to eat.eat.eat. and get that numbr higher and higher

 

[Sciron]

You can also try not benching for a few weeks... Sounds silly doesn't it? What you do instead is concentrate more on your supporting muscles. So you would do shoulders, back, even your legs more. All power starts in your legs! Start doing more pushups.

Maybe try some GVT (German Volume Training).

It sounds strange but I didn't bench for a good 3 years. Basically I stopped having fun while benching so i stopped benching. Anyway, I started up again recently and I am able to push up more weight (only 245ish) as a max and do 185 for more reps than I was previously. Prior to me starting to bench again my only "chest" exercise was pushups.

Good Luck! Sometimes you will just hit a plateau for awhile then suddenly you fly past it.

 

[Chode Messiah]

I'm pushing about the same weight right now but I weigh in at 198-200. I've been doing 3-4 sets of 10. Do you guys think more sets of lower weight would be better for increasing strength? I'm able to push a lot of weight in my other exercises, but I've been finding myself consistently weaker at benching.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: Chode Messiah
I'm pushing about the same weight right now but I weigh in at 198-200. I've been doing 3-4 sets of 10. Do you guys think more sets of lower weight would be better for increasing strength? I'm able to push a lot of weight in my other exercises, but I've been finding myself consistently weaker at benching.

In general, if you want to get stronger, you have to lift heavy. It's important to understand that "heavy" is not defined in absolute terms, but simply in what percentage of your 1 rep max (1RM) you're using on the exercise. For example, if you are doing sets of 10, you're using ~75% of your 1RM. If you are doing sets of 5, you are closer to 85% of your 1RM. Since the body adapts exactly and specifically to the training stimulus, working with heavier weights will tend to produce more strength & power as an adaptation. Check out this reference chart for more info on the training effect of different rep ranges.

 

[Chode Messiah]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: Chode Messiah
I'm pushing about the same weight right now but I weigh in at 198-200. I've been doing 3-4 sets of 10. Do you guys think more sets of lower weight would be better for increasing strength? I'm able to push a lot of weight in my other exercises, but I've been finding myself consistently weaker at benching.

In general, if you want to get stronger, you have to lift heavy. It's important to understand that "heavy" is not defined in absolute terms, but simply in what percentage of your 1 rep max (1RM) you're using on the exercise. For example, if you are doing sets of 10, you're using ~75% of your 1RM. If you are doing sets of 5, you are closer to 85% of your 1RM. Since the body adapts exactly and specifically to the training stimulus, working with heavier weights will tend to produce more strength & power as an adaptation. Check out this reference chart for more info on the training effect of different rep ranges.

Thanks for the great info.

Today is chest day so I'm gonna make some changes.