HUGE decline in bench press?

edwardkim85

Weight went from 280 --> 248.

Every lift went up( snatch, deadlift, pullup, squat, clean and jerk, curl, etc etc) EXCEPT bench press.

Bench press dropped from 225 12 times about one month ago to 225 6 times.

Incline dropped from 275 3-5 times(with hook/machine) to.... 225 2-3 time.

Don't know what happened but my incline bench dropped by like 80 pounds.

I've noticed my chest shape and mass dropping as well.

Anybody lose a lot of strength(unexpectedly) in one specific lift while on a cut/losing weight?

allen_ac

Push pressing is usually the first to feel the effects of a cut, not sure if it's suppose to be that dramatic though

When's the last time you had a deload week?
How much weight are you losing per week?
How big is your caloric deficit (including exercise) everyday?
Are you doing any cardio?

& What's your ideal weight to cut to?

edwardkim85

Push pressing is usually the first to feel the effects of a cut, not sure if it's suppose to be that dramatic though

When's the last time you had a deload week?
How much weight are you losing per week?
How big is your caloric deficit (including exercise) everyday?
Are you doing any cardio?

& What's your ideal weight to cut to?

- This is my first deload week. I haven't done much 'bench press', more pushups with elbow tucked close to the body.

- about 1-1.25kg/week

- Eating about 2k - 2300kcal / day, 40/20/40ish with about 200g of protein through meat and shakes.
One binge day every 8 - 10 days of about 5kcal worth of pizza, chips, wtv I want.

- At Crossfit, the WoD cardios - Generally 10 - 30 min AMRAP style high intensity workouts with rowing/ olympic lifts.

---

Basically I have become leaner and stronger in everything else. I can deadlift over 450lbs without a belt or straps and squat about 400lbs. Can do about 5-6 chest to bar strict pullups (couldn't do a single one before).

Can military press more, triceps got stronger from keeping the elbows in on the pushup.

Only exercise that suffered so much is bench in a period of one month... don't know what it is.

I am experiencing pain on my left palm when i put weight on it(pushups, bench press etc). But would that decrease my bench by that much?

Felt my chest deflate like a balloon lately lol

allen_ac

Could be just due to needing to deload, you may not be able to do your original numbers seeing as you've been cutting, but I'd imagine that it should kind of set you back on your feet.

You could probably rip out a couple more reps or same reps comfortably and then each session / week progress your way up close to your older numbers. If you haven't deloaded in a month and you kept pushing it (which you may of needed a deload much earlier) then yeah your numbers will drop and could stay lower just for now. I don't think your numbers SHOULD stay like that, but the other factor is that you've lost a good amount of weight and that extra weight made it easier to lift in many cases (deadlifts and squats usually not a problem for a while)

The palm pain could be both a mental barrier to your confidence and also a physical barrier, if it's really that problematic get it checked out, seeing as you feel it on just pushups, wouldn't want to think what you feel like grabbing 225lbs on it lol

If your body fat is still 15% and above, you don't have much to worry about with strength loss, you'll start experiencing many more stalls sub 15%, but still can improve on many lifts

kuntry_navy

maybe it's not your chest, but your rear delt strength is dropping or getting overshadowed by front and middle

Huffdogg

Sounds like you're doing what I did; cutting the chest out of the bench press.

Tucking elbows really tightly in and focusing on overhead pressing means you're concentrating on triceps and deltoids (which is great since MOST benchers neglect them) and not keeping up the pecs. For a raw bencher, the elbows aren't as tight because you don't get the low touch you get with a shirt. My coach had me do this:

set of 20 or so chest exercise like flyes or pec deck to get the "pump" in your pecs.
Set of 6-10 dumbbell bench, really dropping the elbows to stretch the pectoral.
Set of competition-form bench press, making sure to try to feel the chest muscle involvement in the lift.
Repeat this once per week for a month.
For three days after this, do 2 sets amrap pushups, wider hand placement, concentrating on squeezing the pecs at the top of the push.

You also may need to focus on your elbow position at the bottom. Try to get your forearm perpendicular to the floor, which will require altering your elbow flare and possibly where you touch your chest/belly at the bottom.

edwardkim85

Thanks guys for the great inputs. I'll work on my bench with huffdog's suggestions

and I'll get my palm checked out lol

jeffpettis

This is very common in a cut for some people. During a cut the best that most people can do is maintain the weight on the bar for most exercises, and that is fine. If you are making gains on most other lifts that is great, but you have to remember in a cut you are not trying to build muscle, you are just trying to do everything you can to keep from losing the muscle you have while losing fat.

Depending on how long you have to be in a deficit to reach your desired BF% just maintaining the weight on the bar can sometimes be an all out struggle. I have always had kind of the same problem with the bench press. I'm able to keep the weight the same or even progressively increase the weight on some exercises, but the bench always gives me a fit.

Normally I wouldn't suggest a deload while cutting, but for some people who have been in a deficit for a while it does absolutely help. I had to do it a couple of months ago for the same reason. But what helped me the most I think was after the deload I switched to reverse pyramid sets from straight sets. You'll just have to try something and see if it works, but remember, sometimes no matter what you try, the best you will do is maintain the weight on the bar, and sometimes no matter what you try you won't be able to progress while cutting.

As far as the pain in your hand goes I would suggest seeing a Dr. if it gets to bad. I know for me during a cut I start developing aches and pains that I normally don't get when not in a deficit, but you have to keep in mind that your recovery ability is diminished because of the energy deficit you are in.

The "deflated" chest sounds like fat is starting to be lost over your pecs, everything should be getting "smaller" yet more defined as long as you're hanging on to the muscle under the fat.

Good Luck! :drinker:

DavPul

Anybody lose a lot of strength(unexpectedly) in one specific lift while on a cut/losing weight?

Anybody? You mean everybody. And it's expected. After you stop cutting and stabilize for a bit quite a bit of your former strength should return

Huffdogg

Anybody lose a lot of strength(unexpectedly) in one specific lift while on a cut/losing weight?

Anybody? You mean everybody. And it's expected. After you stop cutting and stabilize for a bit quite a bit of your former strength should return

Uhh...It's common. But it's not at all universal. It's completely possible to get stronger on a deficit.

DavPul

Anybody lose a lot of strength(unexpectedly) in one specific lift while on a cut/losing weight?

Anybody? You mean everybody. And it's expected. After you stop cutting and stabilize for a bit quite a bit of your former strength should return

Uhh...It's common. But it's not at all universal. It's completely possible to get stronger on a deficit.

ad infinitum?

Huffdogg

probably not, but certainly for anyone below elite level strength, which means "everyone on MFP."

jeffpettis

Anybody lose a lot of strength(unexpectedly) in one specific lift while on a cut/losing weight?

Anybody? You mean everybody. And it's expected. After you stop cutting and stabilize for a bit quite a bit of your former strength should return

Uhh...It's common. But it's not at all universal. It's completely possible to get stronger on a deficit.

You're right, it is "possible", but for the majority of people the best they are going to be able to do is maintain strength in a deficit.

edwardkim85

If you start off wiht a lot of 'fat' (30% plus), then can't you use that as 'fuel' to gain muscle up to a certain point?

Once your body fat decreases to low 20s or high 10s, I'm sure it would get harder and harder to 'gain' strength and muscle on a deficit.

For eg. on a 2kcal diet, I can still macro 200 g carb, 40g fat, 200g protein. Which should be more than enough protein for me(about 0.8g/pound)

Basically, only bench press decreased, all other aspects strength wise increased a lot, especially deadlift.

DavPul

Could mean that your bench was closer to your theoretical max while your deadlift was lacking And still had room to grow.

SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish

Cutting will hit bench hard. You have to keep lifting on that lift to keep non-long term established gains in chest muscle since its use is so limited in day to day activities, or focus your attention/flex the muscles isometrically to keep them engaged daily constantly.

Heavy pull lifts like dead lift, pull downs, power rows and shrug can sometimes cause a sprain/overuse injury that becomes irritated with compression, and does not hurt much with pulling except at certain angles, I'm going to guess this is probably what happened to you since you note you increased on other lifts fairly heavily.

I also find that bench press is more of a mental "will" lift than other lifts. Wrist pain will dramatically disrupt this will to generate power, I found when my wrist was injured. I had to reduce to reps with 225lbs too.

You don't want to hear this but getting it checked out and stopping loading it for a bit is probably what you need. I would re-add benching when you can re-load your wrist fully, and it would probably be best to back off on both the cutting and the lifts that load wrist at the same time for a bit, maybe a week or more, to allow some healing and then start again with bench as part of your program. Be aware if you switch to maintaining, you will gain some weight first off, but if your wrist is injured. it is probably best.

BranDiesel_27

Yes, I got that a few times on barbell Curls. but what I ended up doing was, since I was cutting, I didn't hit it as hard on a cut anymore and all was fine.