I can curl 85lbs on a preacher table, squat 250, 75lbs skull crushers, leg press lbs, but for the life of me I can't bench 160+lbs I don't know why? I'm 26yrs old, 215lbs. I take pre-workout energy drinks, whey protein 2-3 times a day, and nitric oxide pills. I go to the gym 4-5 times a week up to 3 hours. All forms of bench pressing incline, flat, decline. All of which I do pitiful weight..?? I practice, train and no solid results please help. Thanks
Impressive numbers on the other exercises, congratulations. 3 hours seems a might long to be in the gym, but if it's working great. Now, don't get me wrong on this, but when you hit the plateau on the bench press, did you ever consider dropping back the weight. Say you have tried 160 3 or 4 times, and went to 170, but hit a wall. Well, next time time try 150lbs in a few workouts, with more reps than you did with 160, and than go back to 155, 2 workouts, 160, 2 workouts, and 165, 2 workouts. We all hit a wall at one time or another, and the hardest thing for us to do, is drop back weight. One other side note, throw in a few extra dumbbell presses. This may have sounded corny to drop weight, but it does work. Good Luck
You can't put balance aside, because that's the very thing that separates the two. And your muscles definitely know the difference. The bench press is a free weight exercise, and any free weight exercise is more effective in building muscle for two reasons. One, because it incorporates stabilizer muscles to assist in the movement, meaning more muscles being worked. Two, because the human body responds better to movements it would do naturally. That last part basically means your body grows better when subjected to something heavy, rather than machines, which are merely hard. This isn't to say that you should give up the machine, and it certainly isn't for wusses. Machines force proper form, and isolate the muscle you are trying to work. Do the bench press first in your workout, and the machine press toward the end, when you're tired.
