Pressing / Bench 3x8 vs. 3x5 ?

[Soda]

My press and bench press seem to be stuck and I'm wondering if I should deload and try 3x8. Don't the presses generally respond better to increased volume? It seems like they do. Background info: I was trying drop sets/reverse pyramids for a couple of months and that seemed to have worked well moving things up for a bit but then I got stuck, so I attempted to go back to 3x5 with a slight reset but I think I'm stuck again. I was also benching 2x/week and pressing once/week, but decided to reverse that last week.

Currently eating about 13xBW (245) for calories (3200), according to the recommendation in Jordan's blog article. On Friday I did 138 for 5,5,3 but yesterday I crashed and burned. With the BP I just can't seem to get over the 204x5 barrier at the moment.

[Sean Herbison]

Don't the presses generally respond better to increased volume? It seems like they do.

Try it and see. In my experience, presses usually seem to have more individual variation than the other lifts. That is, some people will instantly respond to more volume, while others may be better off adding some weight and doing push press for a while.

[Cody]

My press and bench press seem to be stuck and I'm wondering if I should deload and try 3x8. Don't the presses generally respond better to increased volume? It seems like they do. Background info: I was trying drop sets/reverse pyramids for a couple of months and that seemed to have worked well moving things up for a bit but then I got stuck, so I attempted to go back to 3x5 with a slight reset but I think I'm stuck again. I was also benching 2x/week and pressing once/week, but decided to reverse that last week.

Currently eating about 13xBW (245) for calories (3200), according to the recommendation in Jordan's blog article. On Friday I did 138 for 5,5,3 but yesterday I crashed and burned. With the BP I just can't seem to get over the 204x5 barrier at the moment.

3x8 is 24 reps, 3x5 is 15 reps. 5x5 is 25 reps, comparable to the 3x8 schema, but lets you a higher intensity. I would rather do 5x5 if you want more volume since dropping the weight for more reps is less effective in my opinion.

[Briks42]

What program are you running?

[Adam Skillin]

3x8 is 24 reps, 3x5 is 15 reps. 5x5 is 25 reps, comparable to the 3x8 schema, but lets you a higher intensity. I would rather do 5x5 if you want more volume since dropping the weight for more reps is less effective in my opinion.

Yup. This way you can volume up without intensity-downing quite so much.

[Soda]

What program are you running?

This is my current program:

Monday

Squat 3x5
Press 3x5, 1x8 (80% of 3x5)
Pulldowns 4x8


Wednesday

Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5, 1x8 (90%)
Barbell Rows 4x8


Friday

Press 3x5, 1x8 (80%)
Deadlift 1x5, 2x8 (75%)
Pulldowns 4x8

[Briks42]

I think I'd just reset 10% from your last stall, then use the Greyskull Linear Progression method of doing 2 sets of 5 and then an AMRAP on the upper body stuff, then still do the 1x8 backoff you've been doing. Adds a little volume without making a huge change. See how you like it after 6 weeks or so. I'd also alternate bench and press every workout rather than picking one to do twice a week every week. Unless you are a powerlifter, in which case I'd bench twice a week.

[bugbomb]

Yup. This way you can volume up without intensity-downing quite so much.

+1 for volume-upping without intensity-downing.

[Soda]

So maybe reset by 10% and switch to 5x5 on the Press/BP ?

[gtl]

Curious why you squat back to back and only bench once? Seems like I'd rather Squat, Bench, Row - Press, DL, Pulldown - Squat, Bench, Row/RDL/something