So I have been training in one form or another for about two and a half years now, and while I can definitely say that I’m in no way a fast responder, I have mostly been making decent progress in my lifts. My pr squat is 142.5kg for 1@8 and my pr deadlift is 151kg for 1@8. My bench, however, is stuck at 72.5 for 1@8.5-9. I mean, it technically just recently got unstuck, but I was stuck with an e1rm fluctuating between 70 and 73 kg since spring.
Male, 21 years old, 190-ish cm, 93kg btw. WC ~85 cm. I do have quite long arms, even for my height, so I guess that’s one thing working against me.
So I have a couple of ideas about why my bench might be progressing so slowly. I just wanted to ask if these reasons make sense at all, and what I should do about it.
First of all, I think what I just said about the history of my bench might be a little bit misleading. It’s possible and in fact quite likely, that I used to misjudge RPE on my workouts quite frequently. So the first time I thought I benched 67.5kg for 1@8, it might have actually been more like a 9.5. So that’s probably a part of the reason why my bench feels like it’s prgressing really slowly, but I do wonder, if this might also have been actually slowing down my progress.
Technique is also probably an issue. I used to bench with extremely messy, and quite inconsistent form. I probably still do to an extent, but it’s better now. It definitely has been holding me back. But I guess it shouldn’t explain it completely, since benching with bad form should still cause my strength to improve on that specific movement pattern, right?
I guess the fact that my bench isn’t progressing enough could also be interpreted to mean that I haven’t actually benched enough in my programming. I have ran the bridge, 3-day gpp hypertrophy, gpp endurance, 3-day hypertrophy again, bridge 3.0 and HLM over the course of about 11 months, in that order. I have noticed that the only times that my bench improves at all are when volume is or has recently been really high. Weeks 3-4 on HLM seemed to work really well, for example.
So do you think benching even more might get my bench to improve? I’m thinking about doing 4-day hypertrophy next, since the amount of benching and pressing is pretty huge in that one, and I already have it. I’m also open to doing 12 week strength, but I’m not sure if peaking is a good use of my time when I don’t have a meet planned or any particularly exciting/motivating pr’s around the corner.
That being said, my main lifting related goal is to eventually go to a meet and not be the weakest guy there.
