recovering from a workout

I'm not really an expert but currently go 5x per week with some good progress.

- one key thing is you might need to change your routines every few weeks ( 2-4? )
- care on diet, sleep and rest is essential. As is stress management.
- making good notes on reps/weights can help you set meaningful short term goals.
- if you are focussed on 1-rep max, I'm not sure what that implies what you are doing overall? I try to go for weights I can rep 8-12 times... If it's 12 I put it up next time, and when it's 8 I know I'm near a limit... For now.
- work chest several different ways, eg barbell, dumbbell presses, pec deck machine, push-ups.
- work triceps alongside chest...
- for both db and bb bench press, form is key, eg 1second up, 3-4s down, to maximise volume under tension.
- what sort of weights are you doing? I'm benching my own body weight at 70-75 kg, but I've been working back to that with better form after some time at eg 50k, 60kg. Having some goals on both reps and weight will help you set and meet meaningful short term goals...

In the past I have done high weights eg 85-90 but with terrible form. That's not really very good.

Every now and then everyone gets a bad day. A dip in the chart. But thats ok provided you get back to it before too long.

:smile:

I agree with almost everything in ex bikers post.
With a big emphasis on food. Your muscles can't repair & build if they don't have the proper nutrients.
The other thing I would suggest is re-doing your routine. If your goal is to increase your bench, I'd work those muscles all on one day. That includes: chest, shoulders & triceps.
I've been using a push/pull program for quite a while and have seen consistent results.
In very simple terms, all your "push" muscles get worked one day (chest, shoulders, triceps), all your "pull" muscles on the next (back & biceps),and legs & abs on the third day. Your entire body gets worked twice a week, with enough rest in between for the different parts. My girl, snarky_succubus, is on the same program and is seeing her personal bests in all lifts go way up.
Don't let a temporary setback get you down...we all have them.
Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

87sultan said:

Thanks for the advice. I don't think I get enough sleep, attribute that to the life of a student.

I'm trying to make sure my diet is good. I've been increasing carbs, which I normally avoid, and am not as lean but it seems like I have more energy during the workouts.

As far as the actual bench portion, the workout starts at 10 reps, then 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, then back to a working weight (85% of 1RM) for 12 reps, rest 1 minute, then try to do 50% of the reps of the working set. Hope that makes sense. I weigh 155ish and the working set right now is at 165lbs.

My goal overall is to bulk everywhere. The program fits in my class schedule and overall I feel like it is helping. I think I have a tendency to start adding more stuff and then I'm no longer following the original program. Thinking I should go back to how I started and see how that goes.

Click to expand...

Having been obese the majority of my life and maxing out at 300 pounds, I am VERY carb-shy. I have avoided carbs like the plague for years... To the extent that I felt guilt eating a half cup of rice. That being said, I noticed a little backslide in my workouts recently that concerned me since I've been making *serious* progress in all of my lifts. Socalfreak talked me into trying 1/4 scoop of his carb powder (karbolyn) while I workout (I used iced tea to mix it and my creatine into. He uses powerade) and 1/4 scoop in my protein shake, post workout. I'm astounded at how much it helped. Yesterday I went into the gym feeling sluggish and weak... And squatted 335 pounds... Worth a shot.

From the few details you provided about your workouts, it sounds like you're training for strength but when you mention focusing on chest, it makes me think your intention is to work on aesthetics. If your goal is aesthetics, scrap the 5x5 stuff, that type of training is worthless for the most part at building muscle mass in the short term; stick to using moderate weight for moderate reps if you're chasing after aesthetic gains.

If your goal is pure strength, then absolutely group your chest, deltoids, and triceps together in the same workout but do so intelligently; focus on compound exercises for each muscle group and ditch the isolation work, as it will do little to get you towards your goal. Don't waste time doing cable pushdowns and dumbbell kickbacks when you could be putting in more time on exercises that can actually supplement your bench press like overhead barbell presses and close-grip bench presses. Also, you should be bench pressing more than once a week as well if increasing your poundage on that lift is a priority.

When I train for strength, I don't like using a specific rep range or anything for a specific set in general; I use what's called the rep goal system.

For example, if I'm doing 5 sets of heavy bench presses and an effective rep range for strength is 3-5 reps, then I'll take the average of that rep range (3+5 = 8, divided by 2 gives us 4 in this case) and I'll multiply that average by the total number of sets I'm going to do. So, in this example, 5 sets x 4 rep average gives a total rep goal of 20 on those 5 sets, using the same weight on each set. I do as many reps as I can on each set so I can maximize what I'm doing on each one. If I only get 18 reps, I'll keep the same weight again next workout and try for more reps. If I get 22 reps, I'll add 5-10 pounds the next workout and do the same thing. I've never personally hit a plateau using this method for gaining strength; I either get more reps with the same weight next workout or the weight goes up.

You do, of course, have to maintain a diet that is suited towards your goals in order to get anywhere. Don't kill yourself in the gym and eat like a bird outside it. And furthermore, if you're chasing after a bigger bench press, don't neglect training your back either. The lats and traps can really be utilized quite a bit if you learn how to properly involve them while benching heavy, and retraction of the scapula is definitely imperative in the bench press for both maximizing strength and minimizing strain and tension on the rotator cuff. If you're unsure of what scapula retraction is, I can send you the links to a couple of YouTube videos I know of that do a pretty good job of explaining and demonstrating it.

Really good advice here. The posts by socalfreak and j84 are exceptional and I have little to add except to emphasize proper nutrition--you have to consume calories if you want to build. When my progress starts to slow, I try to mix it up with some variety. I might throw in a new exercise, but it can be as simple as varying your grip, decreasing your rest period, changing your tempo, varying your rep scheme (i.e. 3x10, 5x5, 10x3, etc.). It's easy to get stuck in a rut, but small changes can produce dramatic results--in lifting as well as in life!!
All the best!
H

I sometimes hit that wall you are hitting. I'll usually take 2-4 weeks off of lifting, and do bodyweight workouts, cardio and yoga instead.

When I get back to lifting after that break, I tend to break my plateau in both size and strength.

People have to realize that you do NOT grow in the gym, you grow in the kitchen and bedroom where you feed and rest your body. I work one body part a week very hard and then give it a week to rest, repair, and grow. An over trained muscle will not grow to its potential.

I run my routines about 6 to 8 weeks. I stop when I either see I've stopped making progress or feel my body breaking down.
I will take a week off then come back with a different routine and start over. Seems to work for me.

First off you need to work the chest from different angles. Get rid of the flat DB presses and replace with DB inclines and go 3 sets of 10-12. Another thing is that if you're doing dips and you're positioned on the bars to work the chest, then do those on your chest day at the end if you want to keep them from compromising your bench numbers. Doing dips the day before chest makes it hard to recover for chest the following day.
Goals will determine training principles, especially for chest. If you want to increase bench numbers you'll train differently than if you want your chest to grow. BB Benching is not one of the best chest builders and especially for a lot of people with compromised shoulder anatomy, this exercise can do more harm than good.

If BB bench numbers are your goal then look into accessory exercises and work on your triceps.