| Many people eventually get stuck in their bench press exercises. They reach a point where they are benching the same weight with the same repetitions for months at a time! This will nearly always happen eventually and there are several things you can do to get past this point. Remember though, even adding one single repetition is getting you past this plateau. Don't expect to add huge weights or repetitions each week. While you may be able to do this for a short time when you begin exercising, it is totally impossible to sustain. Your problem might be that you are overtraining in your workout routine. More exercise does not always equal greater strength. Doing each muscle group several times a week isn't the only way to over train, it can also happen if you are doing too many sets or just too many exercises overall. Another problem might be your diet and your weight. Quite often if you increase your own body weight, you will easily be able to increase your bench press weight. If you find yourself stuck, you might want to try to add additional calories to your diet, because this will probably give you the added strength you need to increase. Sometimes you should consider mixing things up. Your body can become so used to doing the same exercises, for the same weight, for the same sets, for the same days of the week that it is hard to do anything different. If you normally do your chest workout on Monday, consider doing it on a different day of the week. Your problem could also be your triceps. This muscle group is a vital part of your benching, so make sure they are being worked out correctly. If you're doing any exercises before you bench press, this could be causing a problem as well. You should always start off with the bench press as your first exercise and make sure you are properly stretched and warmed up before you begin. Any of these ideas can help you move on in your training. Try them one at a time and something should be able to give your bench press that much needed boost! However a word of caution -- don't take things to the extreme as a very good friend of mine and a professional coach says (well he also says to make every exercise as if your life depended on it... but that's another story). So just pay attention to what you're doing and use some common sense when doing it. |
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