Are these gains reasonable? Stalled progress?

Scarscub

I've been lifting free weights for eight weeks now (prior to that I used weight machines for several months), but I've earned my strength gains rather slowly. To give some examples:

One-arm dumbbell row: began at 25lbs, currently at 40 lbs
Dumbbell bicep concentration curl: began at 10lbs, currently at 20lbs
Dumbbell overhead press: began at 10 lbs, currently at 20lbs each
Dumbbell chest press: began at 10lbs, currently bench pressing 45lb bar

Is this reasonable progress for someone in a calorie deficit?

And to tangent a bit: my gym does not have any 2.5lb plates. I would like to increase my bench press, but I highly doubt my ability to add ten more pounds. I tried to chest press 25lb dumbbells, only to manage two repetitions. Should I acquire some 2.5lb plates and smuggle them into the gym, or should I continue with the bar? I do three sets of eight repetitions, now increased to nine repetitions.

Thank you for reading!

Scarscub

Sorry to bump my own thread, but I would appreciate any advice or observations.

FatHuMan1

Considering you've doubled nearly all your lifts I would say yes, those are reasonable gains. Are you starting to stall? As long as your progressing keep doing what your doing. As for increasing your bench, you could try strengthening the accessory muscles as well as the chest with different exercises. Does your gym have a dip station? Also try barbell presses with 20lb weights, which will help strengthen your stabilizer muscles. Also military press and close grip bench, all of which will strengthen accessory and stabilizer muscles (delts, triceps, etc), which should eventually help with your bench press.

DanIsACyclingFool

Whaaaa? No 2.5lb plates? That sucks.

I wouldn't bring any in, guaranteed one way or another they'll end up disappearing. Maybe mention it to the gym staff. Probably they won't care, but still, it's not like 2.5lb plates would cost them a lot.

In my humble, relatively inexperienced opinion it's asking too much to make 10lb gains. Especially in a deficit where you're already weaker than you'd like to be.

Nothing wrong with adding a single 5lb plate to one side, though. That cuts your jumps in half, at least.

jaymek92

yes, those are decent gains! especially the concentration curls, given you're doing them with proper form! when i do preacher curls, i only can do 17.5 pounds for 3 sets of 8 and i've been lifting for a decent amount of time.
however, the rep/set scheme you're doing is more associated with hypertrophy (muscle growth) than strength. while it's not 100% scientific and the ranges are different for everybody, most people see the most progress strength-wise doing 4-6 sets of 4-6 reps. if your main goal while lifting is just to get stronger, you might just want to try doing more sets with less reps for 8 weeks and see how that works for you.

also, how much you can lift with dumbbells vs the bar is usually pretty different. when you do dumbbells, each side has to lift on its own. you probably find that one side, probably your dominant side, is stronger. when you use the bar, the stronger side can compensate for the weak side. if you want even strength gains, keep it up with the dumbbells. even if you can only do two reps today, do 3-4 more sets of two reps. the next time you go to bench, you might be able to do 3 reps for 4-6 sets, then 4, then 5. however, if you don't care about being balanced, go for the 55# bar. just make sure you have a spotter/the safety catches set in case.

jaymek92

Nothing wrong with adding a single 5lb plate to one side, though. That cuts your jumps in half, at least.

NO DON'T DO THIS.
making the bar unbalanced is a very, very bad idea. whatever side is pushing/pulling the heavier side will get stronger. if the bar is unbalanced, it'll feel weird and you'll be less focused on your lift and more on the way the bar feels. also, you're more likely to drop the bar, swing to one side, or lose the rep entirely if the weight is heavier on one side.

DanIsACyclingFool

Nothing wrong with adding a single 5lb plate to one side, though. That cuts your jumps in half, at least.

NO DON'T DO THIS.
making the bar unbalanced is a very, very bad idea. whatever side is pushing/pulling the heavier side will get stronger. if the bar is unbalanced, it'll feel weird and you'll be less focused on your lift and more on the way the bar feels. also, you're more likely to drop the bar, swing to one side, or lose the rep entirely if the weight is heavier on one side.

I didn't think 5 lbs would be enough to feel very weird, or make you unbalanced. :ohwell:

I guess it depends how heavy you lift. Like dumbells I was thinking some extra benefit might be had from the small extra balance needed.

In that case lobby for 2.5lb plates.

jaymek92

Nothing wrong with adding a single 5lb plate to one side, though. That cuts your jumps in half, at least.

NO DON'T DO THIS.
making the bar unbalanced is a very, very bad idea. whatever side is pushing/pulling the heavier side will get stronger. if the bar is unbalanced, it'll feel weird and you'll be less focused on your lift and more on the way the bar feels. also, you're more likely to drop the bar, swing to one side, or lose the rep entirely if the weight is heavier on one side.

I didn't think 5 lbs would be enough to feel very weird, or make you unbalanced. :ohwell:

I guess it depends how heavy you lift. Like dumbells I was thinking some extra benefit might be had from the small extra balance needed.

In that case lobby for 2.5lb plates.

once, when squatting ~150, i had an extra five pounds (so a very small percentage) on one side, and it definitely felt weird. i could feel my left side working a lot harder and it really threw my balance off. so, yeah, on a 50 pound bar for benching, an extra 5 pounds on one side would probably feel really weird.
dumbbells themselves require more stabilization than the bar, so i'm not really sure what you're trying to say here?
op, if you decide to buy your own 2.5# plates, just make sure you remember to take them home with you and don't share!