Bench Articles

“Blasting Through Plateaus”

By Ian Smalley

We’ve all been there. Numbers are steadily increasing then all of a sudden they come to a screeching halt for no apparent reason. Sometimes your numbers may actually drop, which is even more ridiculous. Here are 11 things to avoid to get your benchpress workouts back on track and your numbers up.

1. Not eating enough. This is a big one that rears its head more often than you think. It makes sense that in order to gain strength you must feed your body. Your body will probably demand a bit more from you calorie wise when your benching 400 than when you were benching 200. Usually this is just laziness or too many supplements and not enough real food, so add 1000 calories or so to your diet and watch what happens.

2. Dehydration. Not getting enough fluid will leave you feeling weak and lethargic. Notice I said fluid and not water. Drinking water is great but contains no calories. Milk, fruit juice, and sports drinks are 95% or more water anyway so get some calories while you hydrate. Your pee is supposed to be light yellow to clear, so if its dark then either you just had an energy drink or you're dehydrated. Unfortunately by the time you see your pee its too late so drink fluid often and it won’t be a problem.

3. Not enough protein. Muscles need protein to rebuild so that you can be stronger, robbing them of this will stop your strength gains in there tracks. Buy some whey and add 100grms a day to your diet. Bingo-back on track.

4. Over trained. This is a touchy one because volume and intensity is relative to the individual. The simple explanation is that if you feel lethargic during your workout despite 5 scoops of pre-workout, then you’re probably over trained and should take a week off. That’s right…a whole week. Your CNS will thank you on your next max attempt.

5. Not enough sleep. If you are a serious strength athlete then this is obvious, but 8 to 10 hrs a night is a must. If you only get 4 or 5 because you like to party or your job is stressful bla, bla, bla, then don’t complain that your bench sucks. Eat, Sleep, Train…no sleep, no recovery.

6. Same old routine. You know the old saying, " the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Well, this COULD be to blame if your stuck. Now don’t get me wrong, If you’ve started a routine you should stay with it for 3 or 4 months at least, otherwise you won’t even know if it works. Too often guys will use bands for 3 weeks and say they don’t work, etc… so give your routine a chance, BUT if you stop making progress go ahead and make a change, it will probably be for the better.