Stuck on bench and failed press, advice needed

[sgarciac]

Hello, i need help, I haven't been able to progress linearly in bench press as I do in the other exercises, the highest weight I've done it's 57.5 kg for 5 reps, due to a trip I did few weeks ago I did a deload on every major exercise, I already catched up in the other exercises (squat, deadlift and overhead press). I'm following Starting Strength, last Workout A (bench day) I did 55 kg, it was on Friday, on wednesday I was hoping to do 56.5kg but in the first set I could barely complete 4 reps, so I lowered the weight to 55kg for the two following sets. I don't know if there's something I'm doing wrong, any advice on how to improve my bench would be appreciated.
Also, today I was doing press, and also failed, on saturday I did 35kg across the five sets, the last rep of the 3rd set felt pretty heavy, today I started my workout with 36.5kg but felt super heavy, I was able just to complete 3 reps in the 3 sets. I don't know if it could be a recovery issue or something else.
Btw, I'm 16 y/o, 135.3 lb and 5'8".
Thanks.

[Satch12879]

135 lbs and 5’-8” is your primary problem. Start eating.

You are swimming in testosterone; it’s best to take advantage of that.

Read this:

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

And this:

A Clarification | Mark Rippetoe

Get us some videos of your lifts so we can help your form.

[sgarciac]

135 lbs and 5’-8” is your primary problem. Start eating.

You are swimming in testosterone; it’s best to take advantage of that.

Read this:

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

And this:

A Clarification | Mark Rippetoe

Get us some videos of your lifts so we can help your form.

Thanks man, I read the two posts and may found that a problem might be my diet, I'm gaining weight, around 0.5 lb per week, but that seems to low, the thing it's that I don´t want to put a lot of fat, there should be a middle point.
Next workout will try to record myself doing the exercises and post them here.
Thanks man

[DeanT]

Hello, i need help, I haven't been able to progress linearly in bench press as I do in the other exercises, the highest weight I've done it's 57.5 kg for 5 reps, due to a trip I did few weeks ago I did a deload on every major exercise, I already catched up in the other exercises (squat, deadlift and overhead press). I'm following Starting Strength, last Workout A (bench day) I did 55 kg, it was on Friday, on wednesday I was hoping to do 56.5kg but in the first set I could barely complete 4 reps, so I lowered the weight to 55kg for the two following sets. I don't know if there's something I'm doing wrong, any advice on how to improve my bench would be appreciated.
Also, today I was doing press, and also failed, on saturday I did 35kg across the five sets, the last rep of the 3rd set felt pretty heavy, today I started my workout with 36.5kg but felt super heavy, I was able just to complete 3 reps in the 3 sets. I don't know if it could be a recovery issue or something else.
Btw, I'm 16 y/o, 135.3 lb and 5'8".
Thanks.

I have twin 16 year old boys that both lift. Many of their friends (same age) come over to lift and I help them all. I have several lifters that are the same height and weight as you. Most of them start failing because they have form issues with the most common on bench being: no leg drive, lack of arch, poor grip, improper bar path and lack of tightness in the shoulder girdle area. You have room to gain weight but keep in mind that with any weight gain comes fat gain. Getting strong is a multi year process...and you don't have to get sloppy by gaining weight excessively fast. A .5 lb/wk weight gain is a reasonable amount of weight to gain that will result in a higher percentage of that additional weight being muscle vs fat.

I have one son that really struggles on the bench press. When he was on LP, he stalled many times. He was eating well and gaining weight. He really didn't start progressing until I transitioned him to intermediate and had him benching 3-4 times per week. My other son (much better responder to stimulus) flew through LP with only one reset on bench. His bench was 60 lbs over BW by the end of LP. Every single person responds differently.

Get your form dialed, keep eating as you are (make sure you are getting 30-40g of protein per meal) and next time you fail, start looking to move your bench to alternate programming. You may need more stimulus to drive progress.

[sgarciac]

I have twin 16 year old boys that both lift. Many of their friends (same age) come over to lift and I help them all. I have several lifters that are the same height and weight as you. Most of them start failing because they have form issues with the most common on bench being: no leg drive, lack of arch, poor grip, improper bar path and lack of tightness in the shoulder girdle area. You have room to gain weight but keep in mind that with any weight gain comes fat gain. Getting strong is a multi year process...and you don't have to get sloppy by gaining weight excessively fast. A .5 lb/wk weight gain is a reasonable amount of weight to gain that will result in a higher percentage of that additional weight being muscle vs fat.

I have one son that really struggles on the bench press. When he was on LP, he stalled many times. He was eating well and gaining weight. He really didn't start progressing until I transitioned him to intermediate and had him benching 3-4 times per week. My other son (much better responder to stimulus) flew through LP with only one reset on bench. His bench was 60 lbs over BW by the end of LP. Every single person responds differently.

Get your form dialed, keep eating as you are (make sure you are getting 30-40g of protein per meal) and next time you fail, start looking to move your bench to alternate programming. You may need more stimulus to drive progress.

Thanks man, on bench press I think that I need to learn to properly do the leg drive, I've been trying to do it but sometimes I loose upper back tension. The problem it's that in the country that I live there isn't any specialized coach in strength training, so basically I need to learn by my own way.
Yeah I was thinking the same about frequency, I got recommendations on doing becnh press and press in the same workout so I can keep the frequency high, but I really don't know how to implement it.
How can you combine an intermediate progression in upper body while the lower body it's still in LP?

[jjazbec]

Dude you need to eat way more than you are. Aim to gain 3lbs per week at least for a while. I'm 5'10" and was 160lbs. I've since gained almost 20lbs in a month or so. My abs are still visible. With your hormonal profile you won't be putting up lots of fat at all. I can't believe what this is doing to my bench, press. I can comfortably do working sets at what is well above my 1rm from the past (80kg as of yesterday). I also feel insanely strong, and that is a direct function of calories. if i get in less than 4500 a day I feel weaker. I'm aiming to eat above 4800. I increased my squat by 50kg to 125kg in the past four weeks.
There is a part of me that is scared of getting too fat. I usually just tell it to sod off and die and then i eat some more.
Do not do an intermediate progression for your upper body. You're not an intermediate. You're just malnourished. It doesn't show for the lower body yet because legs can push much longer than the chest and shoulders, but that will stall too eventually. Someone said the press is the canary in the coalmine. When it stalls, you're doing something wrong.

TLDR: get your calories up to 4500. trust me on this. try it for a few weeks. if Japanese ships start hunting you, feel free to stop.

[sgarciac]

Dude you need to eat way more than you are. Aim to gain 3lbs per week at least for a while. I'm 5'10" and was 160lbs. I've since gained almost 20lbs in a month or so. My abs are still visible. With your hormonal profile you won't be putting up lots of fat at all. I can't believe what this is doing to my bench, press. I can comfortably do working sets at what is well above my 1rm from the past (80kg as of yesterday). I also feel insanely strong, and that is a direct function of calories. if i get in less than 4500 a day I feel weaker. I'm aiming to eat above 4800. I increased my squat by 50kg to 125kg in the past four weeks.
There is a part of me that is scared of getting too fat. I usually just tell it to sod off and die and then i eat some more.
Do not do an intermediate progression for your upper body. You're not an intermediate. You're just malnourished. It doesn't show for the lower body yet because legs can push much longer than the chest and shoulders, but that will stall too eventually. Someone said the press is the canary in the coalmine. When it stalls, you're doing something wrong.

TLDR: get your calories up to 4500. trust me on this. try it for a few weeks. if Japanese ships start hunting you, feel free to stop.

I want to gain weight at a good rate, don't you think that 3lb per week it's excessive?
I surely will increase my food intake. How much weight do you think I need to gain to see good progress in my lifts?
But I also think that I may be failing due to the low frequency but I don't know.
Thanks man.

[jjazbec]

You are very, very skinny. If I were you, I'd get to 70kg as quickly as I possibly could, even 4 or 5 pounds a week, then continue at 2lbs per week or so. Your lifts are not heavy enough for the frequency/volume to be the problem. I am here assuming you are doing the program as written: 3 days a week, alternating press and bench, always squat. The heavy squat is important to get the right hormonal response and spur growth. That will ensure you don't gain much fat even at these high rates of weight gain.
The reality is you will always gain fat with muscle. Clean bulking is either a myth or so inefficient it might as well be a myth. But at your age it will only be 20%fat or so that you'll be gaining with the rest being lean body mass.
You're now at what, 7%bodyfat? Something like that. Assume you gain 25lbs with 25% of that being fat. that's 6.25lbs of fat. you're now 160lbs at 10%bodyfat. Still very visible abs, definition and what not. Except you'll now actually have something to look defined.

[sgarciac]

You are very, very skinny. If I were you, I'd get to 70kg as quickly as I possibly could, even 4 or 5 pounds a week, then continue at 2lbs per week or so. Your lifts are not heavy enough for the frequency/volume to be the problem. I am here assuming you are doing the program as written: 3 days a week, alternating press and bench, always squat. The heavy squat is important to get the right hormonal response and spur growth. That will ensure you don't gain much fat even at these high rates of weight gain.
The reality is you will always gain fat with muscle. Clean bulking is either a myth or so inefficient it might as well be a myth. But at your age it will only be 20%fat or so that you'll be gaining with the rest being lean body mass.
You're now at what, 7%bodyfat? Something like that. Assume you gain 25lbs with 25% of that being fat. that's 6.25lbs of fat. you're now 160lbs at 10%bodyfat. Still very visible abs, definition and what not. Except you'll now actually have something to look defined.

You know what, I will eat more and gain weight, I don't think I'm at 7% bf, maybe more like 11-12%, I hope it really is as you say that 20-30% of the weight gain it's just fat. Thanks man

[Sean Herbison]

Dude you need to eat way more than you are. Aim to gain 3lbs per week at least for a while.

Yeah, unless you're trying to increase your strength as fast as possible for something like football or shot put, don't do that. 0.5 lbs/week is probably a bit slow, but you don't need to suddenly gain six times as fast.

You're now at what, 7%bodyfat? Something like that.

Hugely unlikely. How would you even estimate that based on height and weight alone?

Assume you gain 25lbs with 25% of that being fat.

If he's gaining 3 lbs per week, much less 4 or 5, that's going to be a lot higher than 25%.