Alright so before anyone says it, I have been eating at a surplus and have gained weight (i count all calories and macros and have gained around 5lbs in about 5 weeks). I always do dumbbell bench because I tend to feel it more in my chest as apposed to BB bench (where i mainly feel it in my delts). When I first stepped into the gym I started with 30lb dumbbells for bench, and i worked up steadily to 50lb dumbbells after around 3-4 weeks. I have now been stuck at 50lb dumbbells for about a week or so which is really frustrating the **** out of me. I'm currently doing an upper/lower split and for chest I do 3 sets of flat DB bench, followed by 2 sets of incline DB bench, followed by 3 sets of cable crossovers (I know it's somewhat high volume but I really want to bring my chest up). My incline and cable crossovers weight has improved but I have a hard time even adding an extra rep per set each week for my flat DB bench. I stick in the rep ranges of 5-10 (work my way up to 10 reps then up weight and start at 5 reps). So guys, how am i going to get over this? Would you recommend lowering weight next time and doing higher reps or what? Today i tried adding in more volume to really kill my chest but i dont know if that was the best idea. If you want more info on my routine or anything then just ask. Thanks.
Bench plateau after only ~5 weeks of lifting. Find another way to progressively overload until you get past your sticking point. For instance: Do more reps with the same weight. Do the same reps with the same weight with less time to recover. Do the same rep with the same weight but faster/with more intensity. Do the same rep with the same weight but control the negative much slower. Do more weight for less reps and try to build up to it.
Bench plateau after only ~5 weeks of lifting. That much volume is not necessary. It will grow as long as you progressively overload on it. You probably need to deload, just lower you weights by 10-20% for 1-2 weeks
Bench plateau after only ~5 weeks of lifting. Thank you two for serious answers. Would rep if i could (lol). I usually have a pretty short rest time in between sets (like 30 seconds max). Might try drop it down to 45's and focus more on form and slow negs as well as higher reps.
Bench plateau after only ~5 weeks of lifting. What are your goals? Unless you're training for endurance I see no need to rest only 30 seconds. Rest about 90 seconds for hypertrophy and about 4-6 minutes for strength
