Resting only “1 - 2 minutes” between sets is not long enough
See “question 1” here
The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe
Resting only “1 - 2 minutes” between sets is not long enough
See “question 1” here
The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe
Eat
Eat
Eat
It's simple - the bigger you are, the more you can bench. And the more you can bench, the bigger you get. And the bigger you get, the more you can bench. And the more you can bench, the bigger you get, etc etc.
You gotta gain at least 20-30 pounds to reach that "tipping point"
Thanks for the replys guys, I appreciate it.
I understand that in order to progress, I have to gain some weight. That's obvious to me.
But gaining 70 pounds isn't going to happen over night, nor will 70. What I'm trying to ask, is how much should I bench in the meanwhile? I mean, yeah, as I gain more weight I should bench more. But for now, for the next couple of workouts - should I bench the 52.5 kg and complete the full 3 by 5, or should I try and go for the 55 kg again and again? Failing the last rep until I gain enough weight?
Also - I will rest more between sets from now on, as you recommended.
Increase your bench by 2.5 pounds/1 kilo using micro-plates - which are really cheap for how useful they are - or using 2 inch washers (or whatever the metric equivalent is). If you don't get 3x5 don't increase the weight and repeat the workout. Progress tends not to be gated by a specific weight. It isn't like you won't be able to make progress until you hit weight. The point is that you need to be gaining weight. Progress for underweight individuals tends to continue as long as they are gaining weight.
All of this is funny and true.
To help you gain weight I recommend you go to my fitness pal or a similar app and start logging your food and target for moderate weight gain to start.
Folks who are underweight are notorious undereaters. You may feel full but you probably didn’t eat enough. In fact, You didn’t eat enough or you wouldn’t be so underweight.
Micro plates. Order them, use them. You should be able to maintain a steady LP for a long time with so much weight to gain if you gain the weight slow and steady. As you get stronger and bigger the food requirements slowly go up.
I didn't start out skinny, but until this week when I hit 240 squat, eating enough was the hardest part of this program.
You're not eating enough. You should be gaining 2 lbs/week. In order to do this while training 3 days a week you're going to have to eat until you can't eat anymore. Then eat more anyway. You will be over stuffed and uncomfortable most of the day. The other parts of the day you'll just feel sick. I ate until I vomited one day on this program and I still didn't gain weight that week.
Buy some peanut butter. Two tablespoons is probably a lot more than you think. Do GOMAD.
How much weight have you gained since starting? You should have been gaining close to 2lb/wk when first starting the program. After about a few weeks of this, it will drop to closer to 0.5-1lb/wk. If you are not doing this, then you know where to start. Regardless of this, you should do a form check. I personally stalled around 155lbs due to form. Once I had the form ironed out, my bench started progressing as it should have.
If you were sick for 2 weeks, you should have done a deload. Probably something like 10-15% and gone back to your NLP. If you mean that it took 2 weeks to clear out your congestion from a cold, you should have been training. Really, the only reason not to train is that you have a fever or you are contagious and can spread it to other people. Otherwise, you should train.