plateauing

[speakeasy]

I've been working out pretty regularly now for about the past month and a half now. I had no problem adding an extra 5 or 10lbs to each previous set. I feel like my muscles are now plateauing however. In fact I'd say even retracted slightly(though maybe it went down because I was tired that particular day). Any suggestions on what to do to start moving up again? For example, I started off as a beginner incline bench pressing 50lbs for 2 sets of 5reps, then doing some dumb bell chest presses using about 25lbs per hand.

A month and a half later or so(probably more like 5 weeks), I'm feeling like I'm stuck at 100lbs incline press and and 45lbs per hand on dumbbell presses. I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to increase my weight.

Also, I just started taking whey protein shakes this week.


Another thing, I REALLY want my chest to grow more than any other muscle right now. I'm following the workout that's in the sticky at the top, 2 x 5 incline presses to failure and then 2 x 8-10 dumbell presses once a week. Should I do this twice a week instead of once?

 

[blinkwatt]

Change everything day by day.

When I get stuck I eat nothing but egg whites,fat free milk,peanuts,fruits and water for a couple of days and I can honestly say that I think it works to force me to kick start growth again.

Change up your workouts,if you normally do dumbbells,change up to barbell.

If you normally hit chest on Monday reverse your schedule to where it's on Friday. You should be switching this up anyways.

Good Luck!

 

[Warboss Alex]

First off, the routine in the sticky does not have incline presses 'to failure', they're meant to be done to near failure, i.e. you stop when you know you won't get another rep.

Exercise progression is not linear, it will stall after a while. You've added 50lbs in 5 weeks to your press (which is AWESOME), which would equate to 10lbs a week or 520lbs a year - not gonna happen. After a while you become inefficient at a certain exercise and stop progressing.

Here you can do a number of things, but in your case simply change the exercise - go with an incline press again if size is a priority, as blinkwatt said do dbs if you were doing a barbell, change the angle of the incline, add a pause at the bottom - same exercise, different movement. Again, not to failure, but near failure.

Then when your new exercise burns out you can return to the old one, start off a little lighter than your previous max and you'll find that you should blast past your old sticking point easily. Inclines have a good carryover to each other for obvious reasons.

Also you may want to review your choice of secondary press depending on where you find the incline most difficult (lockout, off the chest, etc) - let us know where you struggle and we can ascertain which is best for you.

 

[Omen]

I'd say the same thing. I asked my Exercise Phys professor this once. We talked about Plateauing, and we were on the subject of Hypertrophy.

I said... We assume that Hypertrophy meaning bigger muscles comes from a strength training program correct? So then we can assume if you weight train you get bigger? So then Subject X hits the gym, gets past the Neuromuscular Facilitation (adaptation) phase and then gains 1/4" on the arms and 1/2" on the neck area as an example.

Subject is still applying the overload principle, but getting know where. We are still lifting, so shouldn't we be getting bigger?

So then his answer was to TOTALLY change it, mix it up, etc. Buddy curls, 7 and sevens, totally different exercises, but just shock the body.

Do new exercises you have never done, and allow the body as well to use fibers that are normally never used. Then you will break that plateau.

Its tough for people, but change to high reps one week, or vary your whole routine, or drop set it, etc etc. He even suggested if you do 5 days a week, or 4, try 2 days a week. Its all about change.

May take a bit to find what is really working, but for instance I have switched my routine, and even done drop sets, high reps, etc etc.

 

[mrRuckus]

He's been working out for 5 weeks! He doesn't need to "shock his body" (that phrase just screams muscle mag at me) or start changing rep schemes every which direction and going to completely different exercises!

I wish everyone would just do pretty much a simple powerlifting routine and keep hammering the same handful of exercises instead of flipping out every time they can't add 10 lbs every workout. Especially the new guys. Slight variations - not major ones. There's no need. FIVE WEEKS.

So much of this hooey isn't even needed for intermediates let alone complete beginners. I'm willing to bet it's just his diet. A beginner should more or less be seeing linear progress for a good long time. Much longer than 5 weeks.

 

[Quagmire911]

I would add however that in 2-3 weeks you should take a week of just to refresh everything.

Another thing you could do is start a journal, logging your workouts on here and that way people can give you more direct advice on all of your training.

Also, that is great progress you have been making well done

I would agree with mrRuckus though. You have made great gains and it has only been 5 weeks. Bench will naturally be a bit slower than squat and deads anyway. Just be patient. Its if you are using the same weight 2-3 times in a row especially on the big three you need to start thinking of change.

 

[Warboss Alex]

shocking the body = about as useful as shock therapy.

the only shock the body needs is the load (weight used).

 

[Omen]

I missed the 5 weeks, but if that's all it is, then dont worry. Its 4 weeks at least for neural adaptation. If its only 4-5 weeks, keep training the way you are, but apply the overload principle. After your fist bout of weeks, the 8-12 weeks of training are usually associated with hypertrophy from changes in muscle contractile elements. (increased fiber size)

You may feel stuck and it may seem your at a plateau, but not with that small amount of training. There is only a kink somewhere.

As far as shock goes, if you dont like that term, come up with something else. You like overload, threshold, use those terms.

You do need to overload, but at the same time too, you cant always tell someone that they need to always lift heavier weights, because sometimes that doesn't always cut it in the plateau phase. This is where it gets into muscle fibers and not just the mere fact of "lift heavier" I'll bet money that you can see people lift heavier and not get bigger. They bump the weight up 5lbs or 10lbs and months later they are still the same weight, and same size. Lets assume the diet is right too. There are reasons this is happening.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Some advanced techniques may be in order here: rest/pause, half-reps, 3/4 reps, box squats.

Sorry mate but with a 100lb press there is absolutely no need for advanced techniques.