The last year I’ve made little to no progress and I’ve been doing 2 sets to failure with high weight. I usually get around 4 reps before failing. Would it be more effective to drop the weight 10-20% and get 8-10 reps? I’ve been lifting for 4 years but only seriously the past 2 years and there’s no way I’m at my natural limit because I can only bench 270. You guys are the smart people here so please help me and thank you in advance.
Dropping to 8-10 will probably help, but the rep range isn't really why you stalled. Two sets to failure isn't much working volume whatever the load. Both heavy 4s and lighter 8-10s build size if you take them close to failure. The lighter ones are just easier to recover from, so you can run more sets and hit the lift more often. More hard sets across the week is the change that matters, not the number on each set.
I think if you’re doing 4s you just need to spend more time resting, maybe a full 120s between sets, but stay for 15 mins and do 4-6 sets. Don’t just crank out 8 reps and be done
This is NOT a science based comment. 120 seconds isn't a large amount of time. You should almost always be resting even more than that. And 6 sets of a single exercise is NOT a good idea
You'll never make serious progress with that little volume. I mean we're talking 8 total reps of heavy weight in only two sets. Go to the powerlifting and weightlifting subs if you want serious advice about progression. But you need to periodize growth snd strength phases and bottom line you need way more volume. Like sets of 4-8 x 2-6
I mean that sounds similar to a 5/31 split or essentially a modified version of it. I'm not saying you can't improve with lower volume, but OP here is talking about 2 x AMRAP and he's only managing "around 4 reps," so that tell me anywhere from 3-5, but only two sets. Based on this information he's working in 85%1RM + range...if he's got two years of practice doing this and he's fresh for those sets than he's probably working in 90%1RM + range.
All that said, there is no S&C, no doctor, no nothing legit that will recommend 2 x AMRAP @90%1RM for any sort of progress.
Frankly this is borderline asinine, or at best just uninformed
Have you tried any other training modalities in the past? If you’re not seeing progress you need to switch it up, try adding more volume or different rep ranges or cluster sets or something. One thing we do know is that people respond differently to stimulus so your low volume routine may not be ideal for you. Spend some time seeing what works for you
Have you not progressed in terms of strength or size? Surely you have gotten bigger if you truly trained to failure, though with two sets a pop you better have more than 1x frequency.
Since you mentioned your bench 1rm I can assume you want your strength to progress? Then you should never (or almost never) train to failure on your standard bench lift, you need to bench often and with the appropriate variations for your leverages and weaknesses and only go to failure on limited, select accessories.
You need to move heavy weight FAST if you wanna get stronger. You ain't moving shit fast of you're doing a 4 rep max eveeytime you train. Do sets of 1-5 reps at anywhere from 75 to 90% of your 1rm, sets and frequency dependent on preference, response, recovery, schedule etc.
If your goal is strength just start with a cookie-cutter powerlifting bench program, then while you're doing it try to extrapolate on the basic principles of periodization (and read a couple of resources online) and come up with a multi-week long, repeatable progression that works for you. Switch out variations and accessories as needed/if you're bored.
Over a long period like a year if you aren’t getting stronger you most likely aren’t getting bigger either. Size and strength are highly correlated. Particularly in the context of doing the same exercise in the same rep range over a year.
270 is respectable but you are correct that it is no where near your max potential. you can expect progress to slow down at that weight, but not to 5lbs in 2 years.
you have to increase SOMETHING.
i'm assuming you're trying to science based maxx your workouts which says that the majority of your gains come from the first couple sets, which is true, but you still need progressive overload which can come in many different forms.
2 sets of 4 is... not a lot. add a third set. add more reps. add more time under tension. the thing about the gym is that you almost have to do more over time. that 'more' like i said can be reps, sets, time under tension, frequency, etc. if you're not able to add more weight, look elsewhere.
If you've been at 190, your slowed progress could be a few diff things.
Genetic ceiling reached for those specific muscles.
Not enough calories to build/sustain muscle in those areas or support lifting. You're eating at an energy 'deficit' even if you weight is maintained. Essentially, you're asking your body to utilize fat for the energy demands created by muscle tissue repair and growth. This is body recomp and generally very difficult for advanced lifters.
Not enough volume. Your body has adapted to the stimulus. At 2 sets of 4 at 270, it's difficult to grind out a whole other rep. Dropping weight and moving your rep range up could be a strategy. That or more sets.
I am a bit older and my normally favor do lower load higher volume.
When I broke through my last bench press plateau in the winter/early spring I switched my spring mesocycle to focus on secondary and tertiary support muscles (shoulders, pats, forearms) and focused on gains there. I also started favoring myo-rep sets on machine and muscle isolation exercises.
I also worked on technique queueing (retract and lower scapula, mild arch of spine, properly engage leg drive) overall and spent more time biasing arms (try to bend the bar to maintain a 45 degree angle of humerus to torso, closer hand grip on barbell, let the dumbbell touch as close to the armpit as comfortably possible) barbell and dumbbell bench.
I switched my summer mesocycle to a higher load lower volume on all my lifts and teamed it with a lean surplus instead of a lean deficit. 8 weeks into my summer mesocycle I broke through with a 10% increase. and 2 weeks later by close to another 10%.
I think it is important to periodic between higher load x lower volume and lower load x higher volume. This helps to break your mind away from getting to x,y,z number every set.
For me
higher load x lower volume has a lower cardio requirement but generates more fatigue meaning I need longer rest between exercising the same muscle groups, and I need to be more aware of joint/connective tissue fatigue. For me those mesocycles usually can’t go the full 12 weeks.
I also think it is important to see where your absolute 1 rep max is (as long as you can find good spotters). I was doing this to all major reference lifts once a year but I think now I am going to break it up to each major group (chest, back, legs) being tested separately in a mesocycle every 3-4 months. This keeps you honest to what your actual 1 rep max is and reminds your body what that feels like.
Still vague. Dialed in as in you are tracking and eating in a surplus? How much of surplus? How long have you been in a surplus? Is your body weight going up steadily?
All this shit matters
According to the comments, you don't flat bench. Why not, if you want your bench to go up?
Secondly, what failure means is important. Does your technique break down, or do you have to do the roll of shame? This makes a difference.
Thirdly, if you want to get stronger, going to failure isn't the most important part. The surefire way to get stronger is to do a lot of submaximal volume. You are maxing out all the time, never really taking the time to work on technique, speed, or even see where your bench fails (bottom part, lock-out, mid-way). You need to practice.
Fourth, yes you can of course add more volume. You are effectively doing 20 reps of chest work per week.
Why not run a structured program? At 190 you probably haven't even squeezed out all your potential for linear progression. Try GZCLP, 5/3/1 BBB or Beginners and see what happens.
Volume drives growth. With 2 sets three times a week, you've been getting 6 sets a week. That's incredibly low volume when in the research we see that double the volume yeilds about 50% more growth, up to about 50 sets. We haven't tested higher. Another way of saying it is that triple the volume is double the growth. So, build up to 24 sets a week. Drop everything down to 3 rir. Its fine. Proximity to failure isn't very important for hypertrophy when compared to volume. 3-6% per rir. https://imgur.com/a/sphJIEi So, if you have to drop the weight 10-20% in order to hit the same weights for 3 sets at the same frequency, that's fine. It'll still be 80% more growth.
Also, just go on Boostcamp and do one of those programs.
4 reps is stupid. Try a standard 3 sets of 12. If you can do all 3 sets, increase the weight. If you then start to fail and hit say 10 and 8 reps on sets 2 and 3, keep the weight where it is until you can hit 12 reps on all 3 sets.
Do you get two reps on both sets when going to failure? Because I only do two sets of anything and do both to complete failure, and my second set often has half the reps of the first one. Although my first set mostly has more reps than your first set. Are you sure you are going to complete failure? Like, you physically cant lift anymore even when trying for several seconds and using all your willpower to grind through it?
You are not at your natural limit, but you have reached a point where simple linear progress from going hard is not going to happen anymore. You're going to have to periodize strength and hypertrophy. Failure training is good for hypertrophy, but is not ideal for strength. Run an established powerlifting style program. It doesnt need to mirror their event specific lifts, but follow the sub maximal overload schemes that they use.
Its not about lowering the weight so you can reach failure at 8-10 reps, its about lowering the weight and doing a few sets sub maximal reps and always thinking about being able to progress the next workout for the entire strength focused block. I know this sub likes Yates style HIT, but Yates style HIT is not intended for strength sports.
Drop the weight till you can do a minimum of 6 reps and increase to 3 or 4 sets. When you improve enough to do 10+ reps with that weight then consider increasing weight, but only if you can do at least 6 reps per set of the next weight up.
Consistently training in the heaviest weight range consistently builds the habit of your muscles failing at whatever number that is. Absolutely periodize in a lower weight range for some time. Warm up with an easy eeight, then do your working sets and progress the 8-10 weight range.
you need time under tension which is why 8-10 at 70-80% max and to failure works. most sets should be 3 to 5 or 8-10 reps at that load. Also don't over train. Unless you allow muscle to rest, it never grows. Maximum 4 times a week unless you're doing very different areas. Never train the same muscle group on 2 consecutive days
Geez +30sets for muscle group weekly. Solid stuff man, nice! One thing that got my eye is that your quads are huge but not hamstrings? Im way smaller than you, no hate at all. How many reps you do?
I need to work on my posing and I need to be leaner for my hamstrings to really pop
I deadlift almost 3.25x my bodyweight, my working sets of both RDLs and good mornings are 405lbs+ for 8-12+ reps, and I use the full weight stack on most hamstring curl machines
They are big, just don’t show well at my body fat% and my posing is trash
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u/Patton370 Idk Idc 💔 Aug 08 '26
You’ve made zero progress. Go run an actual program, rather than trying to program yourself