http://muscularstrength.com/profile-videos

The link I just posted is for the videos I recorded today of my current physquie and just my form on the Flat and Incline bench press. When you see my peforming the incline Bench press (I know you cant see the weight) the weight is 135lbs and thats usually heavy for me and I can never increase it no matter what I do and im not sure if it is cause of my width on the barbell or if my arms are flaring out(if they are). I am having the same issue with the barbell flat bench press with me being stuck at 175-185lbs on it. I would go up in weight but then I know for a fact that my form would be so shitty and thats why I don't want to go up in weight even though I want to do progressive overload. 

I am currently on a lean bulk with my calories being 2,609 and that is 320 calories over maintance. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong cause I would like to believe that I am training correctly and eating right while eating in a calorie surplus. I started this lean bulk about 4 weeks ago and at first I thought I gained around 3lbs but was wrong cause my weight started dropping and going back up so I tried getting the most accurate weigh in I can so the past week I took all my measurements I did first thing in the morning right after peeing and here are the numbers.

Day one: 160.2lbs

Day Two:161lbs

Day Three: 159.8lbs

Day Four: 160.8lbs

Day Five: 161.6lbs

Day Six: 161.6lbs

Day Seven (today): 161.0lbs 

So I added up all these numbers and divided by 7 which gave me 160.8lbs

After 4 weeks I went from 159lbs to 160.8lbs which in my view too little cause if I remeber right we want to gain roughly 1-2 lbs every 2 weeks and I seem to be under that.. Correct me if I am wrong. I was thinking of upping my calories maybe another 100-200 calories. 

Anyways the video of my posing it in is today and is just what I look like as of right now cause I want to really build up my shoulders and chest cause they are my lagging body parts right now. Any ideas of what I could be doing would be great! Mainly why my bench press is not increasing and why it seems like I am putting fat on over muscle. Thanks!

Hey Matthew.

All of the videos you uploaded are set to private, so we can't see them :-/

Make them unlisted on YouTube, then post the links in this @forum post if you want. Once we have given you some feedback, you can take the videos down if you don't want anyone else to see them :-)

As for your slow weight gain.. there are two things..

1. You're probably just not eating enough. Simple as that. If weight is going on super slow, it means you are in a surplus, but not a big enough surplus. You probably need to increase it.

2. What are your current macros? You will gain some fat while in a surplus, but if you feel like you're gaining too much fat compared to muscle, it could just be because of the way your macros are set up.

Let us know :-)

Scott_Herman,

I apolgize about the videos being on privte, I just changed that and you should be able to see them now.

Heres a link to the videos Scott.

https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U

1. I did just recently add caloeires from 150 to 320 calroies iof a suprlus so I will be trying this out but yesterday for the super bowl I did have a really bad cheat day. I had wings, fries, brownies. I havent ate like this in forever so I think I overindulged cause I went from 161lbs to 163.4lbs as a weigh in this morning but this could be too a lot of water weight or my body still trying to digest all the food.

2. My current macros are

Protein: 172.5g

Carbs: 296.5g

Fat: 81.5g

Calories: 2,609.5 Calories.

Thanks for replying to my post Scott!

Still cant see the video. Like Scott said you may not be eating enough, but also there are more ways of progression then just adding weight. Depending on my routine if it's a heavy low rep one I progress on weight with a little longer of a span but I try every week to progress in some way whether it's more reps. more weight or less rest time between sets. I would like to see the video and your form. Make sure you keep your elbows at 45 degrees and push through your heels as you push the bar up but don't let your butt come off the bench.

185lb Bench Press: /Users/MattCosta/Desktop/185lb Bench press.mp4

135lb Incline Bench Press: /Users/MattCosta/Desktop/135lb Incline bench press.mp4

175lb Bench Press: /Users/MattCosta/Desktop/175lb Bench Press.mp4

My flexing: /Users/MattCosta/Desktop/Update .mp4

OK I found your videos now :-)

Your bench press form looks good. One thing that might help you push past your plateau is...

1. To get a spotter to help you lift more weight with forced reps.

2. To bring your feet back a bit more to help you push through your legs more.

The video below might help with that. Open up those hips :-)

For your macros, they look OK. And you are gaining weight, which is good. I guess in one month you gained almost 2lbs. So over the course of a year, that could equate to almost 20lbs. Which is really good. Obviously all of that isn't going to be muscle, but it's not too fast, and not too slow really. When I looked at it before I though it was only 0.8lbs, but 1.8lbs in one month is fine.

And judging from your physique, you aren't fat, so your bulk is going just fine I would say :-) The main thing with your bench is just trying to find a way to get that progressive overload - like I said, forced reps are good, or you could start doing more sets, reps, shorter rest periods, or more time under tension (TUT).

Hey Scott_Herman,

I just read your reply cause I have been super busy with crap at work, studying and sceduling test's.

1. This past week I actually been having my brother come to the gym just to spot me and it has been helping a lot. Its actually pretty funny how your mentally works cause when you dont have a spotter it seems like my mind isnt as focused on the weight compared to when I have a spotter cause I guess when the dude is spotting me I dont want to drop that shit on my chest and make myself look weak. Its weird but I guess spotters are a motivation without even knowing it.

2. Im actually working on right now trying to bring my feet back a little more but its just tough right now due to poor flexiability. I have been strecthing daily too try and increase.

Scott I appreciate everything you wrote and Yes sir if I only gained 0.8lbs in a month then I would be greatly concerned. Im watching your video now and I am going to incoorpate your tips into my next bench press session.

Thanks again Scott!

Sounds good Matthew!! Hopefully it all helps you get that bench press up :-)

Keep training hard and let us know if you need anything else!

Will do Scott!!! Thanks for always replying back with the advice!

 Hi @NYCBorn,

In addition to the awesome advice @adawg38 and @scott_herman have provided regarding food/macros and form another thing you may want to consider is focusing on doing a few compound lifts/Calesthenic Exercises that will help increase your Bench Press/Incline Press such as;

1. Seated Barbell Shoulder Presses
2. Close Grip Barbell Tricep Presses
3. Push Up with a Clap (To promote a faster muscle contaction overall when you go back to the Bench press)

I hope this helps you increase your Bench real soon :)

Whats up Time_is_Muscle

Its really interseting that you have metioned those other exercises cause my Seated Barbell and even Seated Dumbbell shoulder press are pretty weak. I usually struggle with 60's around after 5 reps while I see these dudes on youtube who are lknocking out 85's-100's with no problem at all.

I will give all these exercises a try and maybe have my brother come to the gym with me for now on so he can spot me to help get those extra reps. I appreciate your advice man!

@nycborn Your Welcome man. Be sure to give some time on focus on those exercises and let me know how they work out for you and how they impact your Bench press in due course :)

Sometimes you'll plateau and one way around that is to drop the bar weight by 10%-15% of what you're presently lifting and increase your your reps by 50% to 100% for a week or so. Say you're stuck at 200lbs with 10 reps for five sets, drop the weight to 180-170 and increase your reps to 15-20 for the five sets. After two or three sessions, jump the weight back up to 200lbs and you'll probably find it'll feel light and you'll probably be able to do your routine five sets at an increased weight of 205-210 lbs.

Like Arnold says, you have to sometimes fool your body in what you're going to do next.

As scott had in one of his videos the reverse grip bench press has shown to have 25% more activation for the upper chest when compared to incline bench press. Maybe add this to your routine.

One thing ive thought to myself in regards to the reverse grip bench press and its comparison to the incline bench press when tring to target the upper chest is why a reverse grip incline bench press is not utilised? What type of muscle activation could i expect from this type of variation?

You got it bro! I will def keep everyone posted. I actually just got up 225lbs on the bench yesterday at work for 1 rep so I think im going to change up my routine a little by doing 5-6 reps of 85% of my max. Ill let you know if this helps increase my bench at all. Thanks again dude!!

Hey samauriz,

Dude thanks for replying to my post and its funny you mention that video cause I always watch Scotts videos cause he always puts out such great material and information. When I peformed the reverse grip bench press I had really really bad wrist pain and I had to decrease the weight to just 25's on each side of the bench cause the pain was just so unbearable. I gurantee that it probably does activate the upper chest a lot more then the incline, just the pain keeps me from going real heavy on them.