Insite for Bench Press

KaydaRN

Soooo been stuck at 135 lbs for a max of 5 reps for several weeks now. I'm working support muscles, my triceps, and actually moving up with skull crushers and extensions but haven't been able to break 5 reps on my first set. I drop set my first set and push out an additional 6-7 reps at 115lbs and continue on at 125-115lbs for 8-10 reps 3 sets total. So looking for tips to break this plateau.

jimmie65

Have you tried ramping your sets up? Warm up with 5 reps at 45 and 5 at 65, then 5 reps of 95, 5 at 115, and then hit the 135?

jayche

Pyramids, more weight lower reps (3 reps?), more rest (IIRC you have fairly low rest times, which is fine, but if you want to break a plateau its always good to switch things up a bit), speed training with bands, chains.
You could try dropping the drop sets for a while and see how your bench progresses, I know that drop sets fatigue the hell out of me, could be hindering recovery.

KaydaRN

Thanks, I will definitely try the cutting the drop sets out. My rest periods now stand about 90 seconds so I'll give it a little longer.

Conorfitz92

Try changing to flat dumbbell press for a month or so, that really helped me break through it! Are you eating enough?

KaydaRN

I sure do eat.... I cook my meals a head of time, I get about 130-150 g of protein every day. I eat when I'm hungry every 2-3 hours. The scale doesn't scare me. Just want to push the limits at the gym hah.

Conorfitz92

Well if you're diets in check then just change the workout, do something else for a while and you'll break right through that plateau! Good luck :-)

KaydaRN

Thank you much ya'll