Bench stagnation on 12WS for 4 weeks

My squat and deadlifts have been progressing fine, but my bench has stayed the same for a month now. This week it felt a bit weaker than usual. Could it be caused by overshooting the singles on W3, or is this normal for the accumulation phase? I did 112.5x5 before I started this program so Im somehow unable to get out of this benchpress hole. Rep sets have never been close to failure. At most an RPE 8.5

Generally, is it normal to feel a bit underrecovered at the end of Week 5-6? Been beginning to feel it for the Squats and Deadlifts too.

W2 (I skipped Week 1)

100x1 @ 7 110x1 @ 8

87.5x5x5

W3

100x1 @ 7 110x1 @ 8.5 115x1 @ 10

80x5x5

W4

105x1 @ 7 110x1 @ 8

92.5x4x5

W5

100x1 @ 7 105x1 @ 8

85x4x5

AG,

I’m not sure, as there are a lot of other things I’d want to know. That being said…some thoughts:

  1. Your warm up game looks like it could use some help. Based on 112.5 being a 1RM, 100 x 1 should be @ 7 and 105 should be @ 8. 110 x 1 @ 8.5 is a slight overshoot, but not sure why you did 115 x 1 after.

  2. Week 3, your back offs should’ve been 88kg.

  3. Not sure what context your 112.5x5 was prior to the program. Do you have a known 1RM?

Hi Jordan,

  1. At first I somehow thought that 110 was a 7.5. Only in hindsight after 115kg did I realise that it was more of a 8.5. I got a bit too aggressive.

  2. My rep sets usually suffer badly after RPE 10 sets so I played it safe a little. I would have probs struggled to do 88x5x5.

  3. Not really, but my theoretical 1RM is maybe around 140 since I did 112.5x8 on a Nuckols program. After that I moved to a one lift a day powerbuilding program where I did 112.5x5x2 before starting the 12WS.

Yea I don’t think it’s worthwhile to nitpick any further, but I would try and be cautious with the RPE rating here.

The big thing is, you have no base 1RM and since you haven’t really been training it - I expect it to be lower than predicted until you’ve trained it a while. 112.5 x 8 may predict a big 1RM, but usually doesn’t transfer over very well to an actual 1RM since the adaptations and skills needed are much different.

In any event, I don’t think there’s anything wrong here per se’, but I would really pay attention to your loading, try and build some momentum with small progress every week if possible, and work on your ability to execute your singles.

Hi Jordan,

Its been 3 workouts now and the bench has still barely moved. E1rm stayed around the same but my rep sets have clearly regressed for some reason.

Now my bench woes are infecting my squat and deadlift. They regressed as well by 40 and 20kg respectively these past 2-3 weeks. I even tried adding more calories these past few days but it didnt seem to work. Sleep and diet seems alright so I’m not too sure whats wrong. Paid extra attention to RPEs this time. All I can think of is perhaps the tapering period is too drawn out and maybe a sharper reduction in volume would have helped.

W6

112.5x1 @ 8 95x4x2

W7

110x1 8.5 92.5x3x5

W8

110x1 8 92.5x3x2 (Got an RPE 9.5 on the 2nd set. Just cut it short)