Are you sure about these methods?

[Jason Rbns]

Hi. I just happened upon these forums about a week ago and picked up a new routine on one of the threads. This is it:

Monday:
Bench 5x5
Rows 3x8
Tricep push downs 3x8
Tuesday:
Squat 3x5
Calf raises 3x8
Curls 3x8
Thursday:
Military Press 3x8
Pull-ups 3x8
Lat Raises 3x8
Friday:
DL 3x3
Leg curls 3x8

So I did that last week. Reason I switched originally was because my bench press plateaued at about a max of 155 6 or 7 times... I also wanted to start including other lifts in my routine, as my old routine was this:

A-Day: Bench 3 sets to failure
Lat Pull Down 3x12
Tri Push Down 3x10
B-Day: Military Press 3 sets to failure
curls 3x15

And as I said my bench press plateaued. So the first day of this routine(monday last week) I did my bench press and used 155 and got 7, 4, 3 and stopped there because all those reps were all I could get out... So I came back today and put 145 on and began to go for the 5x5 scheme. What ended up happening was on the very first set I struggled to get the 5th rep, and that was using pretty bad form to begin with... So I ended up like this 5x5,5,5,5,3 and on the last set a spotter helped me with 2 extra.

So my overall question here is why was my bench press' weight soo much lower? From 155x7 first set to 145x5? Please help, this is really depressing me, and I want to know if this is just a bad routine before I continue with it. Thank you for anything your experience might be able to offer me!

[Meat_Head]

Tuesday:
Squat 3x5
Calf raises 3x8
Curls 3x8

You should be squatting today, that's the problem.

There's no point in bench pressing 2 days in a row. Your muscles and CNS haven't recovered from yesterday. Just perform that routine exactly how its listed, its a good one. Give it some time and I guarantee you'll make progress.

[Jason Rbns]

Tuesday:
Squat 3x5
Calf raises 3x8
Curls 3x8

You should be squatting today, that's the problem.

There's no point in bench pressing 2 days in a row. Your muscles and CNS haven't recovered from yesterday. Just perform that routine exactly how its listed, its a good one. Give it some time and I guarantee you'll make progress.

I was benching today because I didn't yesterday... I was just going to bump the whole routine down a day for this week bacause I didn't want to go without bench... I already feel like I'm hardly working it compared to my old routine...

[Meat_Head]

I was benching today because I didn't yesterday... I was just going to bump the whole routine down a day for this week bacause I didn't want to go without bench... I already feel like I'm hardly working it compared to my old routine...

Ah whoops I misread your post.. I thought you said you benched 155x7 yesterday. How long have you been doing flat bench presses? It might be time to switch to a different exercise. I still think that if you stick to 5x5 for a few weeks you'll start getting stronger though, you might've just had a bad training day yesterday(we all have em).

[Skinny Fat]

Um...

155x7, 4, 3 = 14 reps

145x4x5
145x3 (+2)
=23 reps

Why is that so hard to understand? When you can 155 5x5, you're going to be doing a lot more work than some weird-ass 7, 4, 3 program.

[Songsangnim]

It takes time to adjust to a new routine. And like someone said, you might have just had a bad training day. We all have them now and then, no biggie.

Give it a few weeks (5-6) and see how you are doing...but stick to the routine. The only thing I would change are the Monday and Friday workouts (I'd switch them around), because Deads are more demanding than bench press. I'd want a good two days of rest for those.