@polarbearwear You're clearly having recovery issues if a WHOLE MUSCLE GROUP'S LIFTS aren't progressing. If it were something like one lift it could be form or something else but this is a slap in the face of information that can't be followed up without intelligent retaliation.
Lower your output (intensity, volume, stimulation per movement) or change your frequency.
But remember that whatever you change there will be artifacts from your previous errors aka the first few sessions will kind of be shit still as you drag yourself out of your plateau.
@polarbearwear You say in your comments you are also gaining weight which is good if youa re trying to gain strength. I would advise trying different kinds of lifts for chest
@polarbearwear I don't feel barbell bench press in my chest very much. Never have. Dumbells at a slight incline and weighted dips helped me. On fly movements, really stretch the chest and bring your elbows together at the top instead of your hands. If you find movements where you can really feel your chest and progress those, then you should be golden.
@polarbearwear You could try specializing for a bit. Ramp up the volume every week and drop your other lifts to maintenance. Are you doing the cable flies with a bench? If not, start using one, and throw in long length partials once you're near failure. Try focusing more on flies if presses aren't currently doing the trick. Find your best fly angle that lets you do the highest weight in the stretch position.
@polarbearwear I had lagging chest and what worked for me was ditching barbells completely only doing dumbell pressing and dumbell and cable flys. I got great results when I started to go really deep with the stretch, RP style. I thought it would hurt my fragile shoulders but it actually made them healthier.
@polarbearwear I have been training for 10 months now and have seen better chest progress by following PPL 6 day split.
I think you should increase your training frequency by switching to this split.
Also be in a slight calorie surplus and hit your protein goals to ensure growth.
Your training style looks perfect.
@polarbearwear For me, there's definitely a magic formula that starts with a caloric surplus. After that, it's training and I actually do three chest sessions (with other upper body stuff as well) in an 8 day micro cycle, with the bulk of volume skewed towards the first two days.
Point here is that it's unique and you might have to tinker to find what works for you instead of seeking an answer from the subreddit.
@polarbearwear Approximately 5 sets per week sounds very low. I would double the frequency. If you want to focus your bench for a month or two you could even go 3x weekly.
@polarbearwear Too little Volume, too high RPE. Training to RIR 0 leaves Zero room for improvement. Limit RIR 0 to Isolation. Train your presses at 8-9 RPE. Double your Volume.
@polarbearwear These are all compound movements except for the cable flys you do at the end. On compounds you're only as strong as your weakest link. You might have a tricep or shoulder weakness holding you back. Do you feel your chest much when you do pressing movements? Is it really your chest going to failure on pressing movements? Or your triceps or shoulders? Does your chest ever get sore?
@polarbearwear Try adding in some shoulder therapy exercises and seeing a physical therapist. My chest sucked for years, i had decent strength but just couldnt get it to progress like everything else, and come to find out I had alot of instability and weakness issues around my shoulders. Also just getting regular dry needling, massage, cupping, etc. can really help break up tightness and knots that can be affecting your mobility and performance.
@polarbearwear What's your mind muscle connection like, do you feel a pump in your pecs after doing these exercises? Also do you ever get DOMS in your chest?
@polarbearwear Maybe try training triceps first, is it possible they're messing with the pushing movements?
I tore my shoulder last year and when I got back to chest I noticed my tris took over to protect my shoulder I think, so I pre exhaust those first and it's worked great for me
