Starting first cycle tomorrow and have a few questions

[ATAVUZ]

Man I can’t seem to get my bench press up. I go to the gym 3x a week, I’m on a push pull push routine so I do chest once a week and every week I do it I only get 1 rep stronger then last week. Is that little or am I just being impatient? Idk bro and I’m the weakest dude at the gym lmao it’s embarrassing but whatever. I’m only benching 45 and 25 pound plates on each side. My goal is to hit 45,45 on each side for reps. Is there any tips on increasing bench press anyone can give?

 

[Dirtnasty]

1 re every week is crazy good

 

[Dirtnasty]

Also where is your sticking point what kind sets and reps are you doing bench. Cause if there is one lift I do well it’s bench

 

[ATAVUZ]

I do 4 sets of bench press on my chest day. I try to do my bench as heavy as I can get it. So this week on bench I Did 45,25 For 4 reps on my first set. My second set I did 3 reps. On my 3rd and 4th set I took the 25’s off and put 45,10 and just busted out some reps. So I probably won’t up the weight on my bench press until I can hit 4 sets with 5 reps each. Once I hit that I’ll do 45,25, 5 and start the process all over again.

 

[Dirtnasty]

I’m what I’ve been doing and been working well for me is one week doing sets of 3 reps then next week five reps. I try and do what I did for 3 for 5 the next week i usually only get it for 3 or 4 mmbut the Lindsey for 5 takes away the mental doubt game of well I’m only goi g do r this so that’s where I’ll stop. Also my week point was lock out so I incorporated jm presses on separate day from bench triceps are get much kit strong than they were before. I also believe In doing very slow controlled eccentric on bench with a bit of pause on chest. So you have a workout partner?

 

[ATAVUZ]

I’ll have to give that a shot see if I can get through that mental barrier lol. I go into the gym knowing I did 4 reps last week so I’ll try my absolute best to hit 5 reps instead of 4 and hope I get it. Sometimes it’s the same or sometimes I can bust out that extra rep. I don’t have a workout partner. I might once I move back to TX as my brother Sid lives there and we can go to the same gym. Me and him have basically identical lifts/Schedule. I have not tried with a pause on the chest. I go down and once it touches I go straight up. All my lifts are extremely slow because I am struggling just to get the reps up

 

[Dirtnasty]

Honestly you benefit of just doing lower weights in mid range reps 8-12 right. Ow to build up some mass before trying to go heavy.

 

[ATAVUZ]

Alright. So I should stick to the 45, 10 and once I can do 4 sets 12 reps a piece up the weight and repeat the process?

 

[Dirtnasty]

That could work for you. Before I switched to bro split kind of program I was doing push pull legs twice a week and did heavy bench Monday then higher reps on Thursday. Also if your just wanting to push heavy weight how is set up do you use and arch? Drive with legs tuck shoulders all that fun stuff

 

[ATAVUZ]

I wouldn’t necessarily say my goal is to lift heavy I just had it set up like that So I could monitor my strength gains as from what I know if you are getting stronger then you must be getting bigger. Bench, deadlifts, and squats are the only lifts I have on my routine that are heavy low reps. The rest of my exercises I do 3 sets 8-12 reps and once I can hit 12 for all I’d up it. As for bench yeah I arch my back and drive it up with everything. My ass never lifts off the bench though like I see some dudes doing lol

 

[Dirtnasty]

That’s how I do. Heavy low reps. Compound movements. Mid reps everything else. Been trying some high reps on certain lifts just to see if it helps the growth more

 

[ATAVUZ]

What kind of routine are you running? 5 day split or?

 

[Dirtnasty]

Yeah I went to Monday chest Tuesday back wedenesday arms Thursday off Friday shoulders Saturday legs. Now I throw in other body part movements on each of the day

 

[ATAVUZ]

Seems like a solid routine. If I had 5 days I would do the same thing. I can only lift 3 days of the week so I’m running

chest/triceps/shoulders

Back/biceps

Legs.

occasionally if I’m feeling up to it I’ll add some abs in or do some lifts that aren’t really in my routine like traps or something.

I’ve also noticed that my left arm has a bigger tricep, bicep and shoulder compared to my right yet my right arm is stronger. Don’t know if that’s normal or not

 

[Dirtnasty]

If I only had three days a week to lift I would consider doing full body each session

 

[BigSwole69]

Same here! And some at hone work in between!

 

[ATAVUZ]

Hmmmm. Each session in the gym I’m there for one hour so if I did my whole entire routine each day I’d be in the gym for a solid 2 and a half to three hours each day. I would be doing squats/dead’s/ bench and all the other lifts 3x a week. My days I gym are Tuesday / Friday/ Saturday. If you were me would you do this? I have no problem doing that at all To be honest. If y’all recommend doing it then I’ll do it I just didn’t know if that would be enough rest between the big compound lifts.

 

[Dirtnasty]

You wouldn’t do all three lifts each workout but you would do a little bit of everything each workout. Like each workout could focus on one compound movement then do accessories of other body parts

 

[ATAVUZ]

Oh okay I get what your saying so for example I could do;

Bench Tuesday
Chest/tricep/shoulders/back/biceps/legs

Deadlifts Friday
Back/biceps/chest/tricep/shoulders/legs

Squats Saturday
Legs/back/biceps/chest/tricep/shoulders/legs.

 

[ATAVUZ]

Alright this is what I got. Opinions does this look good?? I’ll post below my routine.

3 Days a week FULL BODY

TUESDAY—-
DEADLIFTS 4 SETS (45,45,25)

Lat pull down machine (125)

Row machine (100)

Barbell curls (50)

Concentration curls (15)

Dumbbell incline (35)

Chest flys cable (15)

Front raises (15)

Side raises machine (50)

Pushdown(42.5)

Cable extension (20)

Leg press (45,45) or machine (210)

Leg extensions (115)

Hamstring machine (80)

Calf machine(31)

FRIDAY—
BENCH PRESS 4 SETS (45,25)

Dumbbell incline (35)

Chest flys cable (15)

Front raises (15)

Side raises machine (50)

Pushdown(42.5)

Cable extension (20)

Lat pull down machine (125)

Row machine (100)

Barbell curls (50)

Concentration curls (15)

Leg press (45,45) or machine (210)

Leg extensions (115)

Hamstring machine (80)

Calf machine(31)

SATURDAY—
SQUATS 4 SETS (45,35)

Leg press (45,45). Machine(210)

Leg extensions Machine (100)

Hamstrings machine (80)

Calf machine machine (31)

Dumbbell incline (35)

Chest flys cable (15)

Front raises (15)

Side raises machine (50)

Pushdown(42.5)

Cable extension (20)

Lat pull down machine (125)

Row machine (100)

Barbell curls (50)

Concentration curls (15)