Bench plateau

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imported_etothepii

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I'm doing Rippetoe 3x5, and am stuck on the bench press. I'm doing it with a 15 degree incline, like I use for HST. My 5rm is 150 lbs.

I tried 153 last time. I got 5 reps, rested, then did 4 reps and failed.

Should I keep doing 153 lbs, in a 3x4 scheme for a while? Then work up to 3x5 from there?

Should I go back to 150 lbs and stay there?

Would there be any benefit to switching to flat bench?

BTW, my squat and deadlift is increasing nicely, and I feel I can do more each workout ... I'm patiently sticking with 5 lb increments per week though.
 
I think that either staying at the higher weight and letting reps catch up or backing off and working back up could be viable options. But instead of listening to me, I recommend you read this post which quotes some advice from a real expert.

Specifically it addresses squats, but I think reflects his general methods.

Lots of good ideas there.
 
Do 5x3. The next workout you should get the 3x5. My bench goes that way. When the weight gets heavy I'll just do 5x3. The next workout I usually get the full 3x5.
 
My 5 rm went from 150 to 200 this season. If I worry too much about getting a certain number of reps before I increase the weight, I don't progress. The way I make progress is too slowly but steadily increase the loads no matter what. So continue with the 153 until you can do 3x5, it won't tkae long at all, and then progress some more!
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(liegelord @ Oct. 21 2006,00:33)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Do 5x3.  The next workout you should get the 3x5.  My bench goes that way.  When the weight gets heavy I'll just do 5x3.  The next workout I usually get the full 3x5.</div>
yeah this sounds good,i have found that when i hit a plateu on bench(which usually happens around the 8-10 rep range for me)i tend to concentrate on increasing my 15 rep max ie:push more high reps,then as i come back down i find i can hit the target with the low reps.

so in your case do an extra set at the heavy weight but cut the reps for a while.
 
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