Plateau on bench press

I’m not a super long time lifter but I’ve made it through a plateau before. What’s your bench/body weight ratio

 

And what kinda workouts do you normally do?

 

I would mix some plyometric/clapping pushups in with your bech sets. Something like this:
Warmup
Set 1- 75% max 8 reps, immediately followed by 8-10 clapping pushups (or what you can do to failure)
Set 2- 80% max 8 reps, 8-10 clapping pushups
Set 3- 85% max 6-8 reps, 8-10 clapping pushups
Set 4 90% max 3-5 reps, 8-10 clapping pushups

This will help develop the fast twitch muscle fibers in your chest and creat more explosiveness. You will need to allow 4-5 days of recovery after this workout. I was able to bench 245 pounds while weighing 170 after this protocol. Then got injured doing a max lift and dialed it back.

 

My current 1RM is 210 lbs and my weight is 165 lbs, so similar to you. I am an ectomorph and building muscle/strength doesn't come easily for me.

For increasing my strength, I've found low reps works best. I got to about 180 by doing 5x5. Then I got to 210 by doing reverse pyramid sets, like

5x170
4x180
3x190
2x200
1x210

Now I am doing smaller increments from set to set, like 5 lbs. I like the pyramid sets because progressive overload feels more gradual from workout to workout. That made me plateau less often then when I was increasing the whole 5x5 workout by 5 or 10 lbs.

If your chest is always sore, you might be doing too much volume. With low reps I rarely get sore (unless I stop training for a week or more).

 

Yes, if you are lifting really heavy and trying to only build your max weight, low reps are they way to go. The plyometrics mixed in with the heavy weights are the key. A great read for this training is "Underground Secrets to Faster Running" by Barry Ross. The training principles are what Olympic athletes use and apply to upper and lower body. Ross was Alysson Felix's trainer.

 

5x5 is best for me. I do 5x5 once a week at about 80% with 3-5 mins rest, adding 10 pounds to one of the 5 sets each week. So I go up 10 every 5 successful weeks. It probably takes like 8 or so weeks to get it for me nowadays. Been doing it since my max was 205, now I’m at 280 (Started at BW 175 and now at 200 pounds). For other bench workouts in between 5x5s I’ll do 3x10 ascending and sometimes an upwards pyramid as well. Also try GVT every once in awhile, idk if it works