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Bulking up and working your muscles can be one of the most rewarding things you do on a regular basis. But it can also be one of the most frustrating endeavors you take on if you are experiencing regular failure. From novice gym goers to experienced bodybuilders, everyone should have specific goals set in place to work towards in their weight lifting program. And if you can't succeed in reaching some of those goals you've set in your program, then things can get fairly frustrating in a hurry. More specifically, some people have trouble progressing beyond a certain weight in their bench press even though they are capable of it. Here's some information to help you get past a bench press plateau.
This may seem contradictory to the problem at hand, but don't try putting up more weight as the answer to your problem. This will either lead to muscle strain or more frustration! Before you try taking on too much, try and figure out how much you've been working out and when the last time was that you took off any significant amount of time. You should also analyze your training routines to see if you have been working the same ones for too long. And another key area to ask yourself when consider your bench pressing ability is if you're straining your chest by working too many chest muscles.
What does all of this boil down to? It's a matter of whether or not you are stressing and straining your muscles through lack of rest. There's definitely a balance to be maintained throughout your working out. Every time you work out, you actually break your muscles, and with healthy rest periods and a proper diet, those muscles will rebuild to be bigger and stronger. But without that crucial balance of working out and resting, then your muscles will fail to rebuild as well. Not only will they eventually fail to grow, but they will fail to even maintain their current size, leading to a gradual breakdown through extreme rest deprivation.
Aside from making sure your muscles get the best balance of rest and working out possible, you should also consider changing up your workout routine. After a few months, your muscles will acclimate to your workout program through muscle memory and will fail to grow at the same rate they used to. Look to significantly change your workout program in order to address this.
