Seeking help for stalled bench (with video)

[lincoln]

I've been making good strength gains using Wendler's 531 (BBB variation) for the past year, but my bench is stalled and has been for months. I've been watching Dave Tate's "So you think you can bench" videos and trying to learn whatever I can, but to no avail. Mechanically I'm probably not the best body type for big bench numbers but still.. I should be seeing progress. I've determined that I'm stalling for one of two reasons (or both): bad form or bad programming.

Quick view of my programming on bench day:
Bench 531
Bench 5 x 10 @ 50% 1RM
Bent BB Rows 5x10
Lying Triceps Extension 3 x 8

Here are some videos to see if my form is off

Video of side view:

YouTube Video

And Front view:

YouTube Video

Thanks for any help!

 

[pebble]

My advice is to take a break from the bench pressing and focus on shoulder press and rows. It may not be what you want to hear, but it has always worked for me.

If you have stalled you need to make a change - diet, volume, intensity ... - it's that simple.

 

[Vibrant]

research german volume training, it always helps me when I stall.

 

[Usealittle]

Big bench is not just about benching! Shoulders and tris need to be worked also.

As for your form.... Your grip is way to narrow. For power your forearms need to be straight up or just to the out side of that when the bar is on your chest.

How come it looks like your benching in a shirt when your doin it raw? The raw and shirted bench do not work the same. Big you watch someones video and copy them?

 

[ExLe]

Eat more food...

 

[lincoln]

Big bench is not just about benching! Shoulders and tris need to be worked also.

As for your form.... Your grip is way to narrow. For power your forearms need to be straight up or just to the out side of that when the bar is on your chest.

How come it looks like your benching in a shirt when your doin it raw? The raw and shirted bench do not work the same. Big you watch someones video and copy them?

Thanks. I do the triceps extensions for tris, and for shoulder work I do seated presses on a different day (I would do standing, but my basement ceiling doesn't allow it)

Thanks for the observation about grip width, that sounds like it could help. I've been cautious not to go too wide and tear my shoulders up, but I'll play around with it

Can you explain what you mean about shirted vs. raw bench? I watched Dave Tate's tutorials for advice on form and he is not shirted in tutorials. What specifically about my form looks shirted?

 

[Merkaba]

Well what everyone else said. And yes, make sure you're eating!

2 things that I find important:

1. I don't know what all of your work is like, but to me, at that tempo, you're losing about 30 percent work. I would do some sets with a slower lowering phase, at least 3 times slower that yours in this vid. There's no need in letting gravity steal half of your rep. Again, your protocol might call for this tempo, I'm not sure. Just something to think about.

2. I can't tell, but your elbows should be tucking in some at the bottom, like you're trying to bend the out side of the bar toward your feet. This is basically why the elite guys scream "tuck!" at the bottom of alot of their vids that I've seen. You don't want this to be too exaggerated but this is also important for activating more pec and the rotation takes a ton of stress off of the shoulders. Rotation.

 

[lincoln]

1. Thats great advice. I honestly don't even think about tempo on the way down, I think about bar speed from the bottom through lockout, so I just rush it.

2. I do think about trying to "pull the bar apart", but maybe if my grip is too narrow there's not enough room to really tuck the elbows. I'll play with widening the grip and slowing down the tempo on the lowering phase to see how it feels

 

[Usealittle]

Your temp and your setup ( how you get into possision to bench) are the 2 reasons why I ask where you got you bench style from. For a raw bench you want to move the bar up and down as fast as possable (under control) for max srtength gains.

 

[Cork]

The positioning he takes on the bench is how everyone should bench. Hard arch, shirted or not.

I agree with the width comment. I personally don't see anything really wrong other than that. You need to do more for tris than just extensions. Dips and close grip bench will really help you out. And not that pansy bench dip stuff. I'm talking real dips.

Or, it could be that you're listening to Nirvana..... yeah, I went there.

 

[lincoln]

The positioning he takes on the bench is how everyone should bench. Hard arch, shirted or not.

I agree with the width comment. I personally don't see anything really wrong other than that. You need to do more for tris than just extensions. Dips and close grip bench will really help you out. And not that pansy bench dip stuff. I'm talking real dips.

Or, it could be that you're listening to Nirvana..... yeah, I went there.

thanks.

lol, ouch. Nirvana shows up on my 'Rage Against the Machine' Pandora channel. I do admit to liking them out of nostalgia, but certainly not my first choice for lifting

 

[TJTJ]

how long have you been at this rep rang? blast them with 20-25reps. we have three different types of muscle fibers. work all of them

 

[stfuandliftbtch]

Eat more food...

what he said^

 

[ExLe]

what he said^

Start eating about 300-500 clean calories above your maintenance a day...

Your body needs the extra calories to build new muscle...

 

[manickanuck]

get a training partner and do slow negative reps every third or fourth week. train light to moderate the following week though...you will be sore. i guarantee you your bench increases in no time at all. controlled tempo is always good as well. 6 seconds down 2 up

 

[Powermaster]

In addition to putting on new muscle getting stronger requires recruiting more muscle fibers (CNS training). Try some static holds with elbows at 90 degrees with a weight you can hold for 5 to 10 seconds at the end of you benching routine.

 

[lincoln]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. Looking forward to trying these out and I will report back with results

 

[toothache]

Great advice given.........

 

[zoco]

The best position for a big bench is when chest,shoulders and triceps are working together.You should get a wider grip so that the forearm and upper arm form a 90 degree angle in the lowest position.

also take some time off from bench press (or work with light weights) and do some shoulder press for some time

 

[bjg]

here is my view:
1-for maximum gains your positive phase during training must be fast but slow down on negative phase. (That is not true when trying for the maximum bench just one lift where both phases must be quick)
2- your grip is too narrow for attaining maximum bench. you rely a lot on triceps. use a wider grip ..maybe at first it will look hard for you since you are not used to it but later you will see improvements over your actual bench.
3- train chest with wider grip as i said, train triceps with close grip bench presses (these are like the triceps squats), train shoulders with front military press.

 

[Curlingcadys]

as many have said, change it up, take some time off the bench switch to 100% DB's for a while and increase volume, enhance your tri and shoulder work along with EAT MORE. It's somthing that has worked for many stalling out on anything, you need to change things up with that muscle group break the body adaptation and usually swapping low for high volume with different exercises and diet increase (clean) and putting some focus on supporting muscles if applicable will do it. Your body adapts frusterating you so CHANGE and "frusterate" your body breaking the adaptation/plateau.