Strength gains

[star61]

@hemann

I’ve been struggling to make gains in the weight room. Im pretty lean and strong for my slim frame…

6’5 212
BP- 250-265
S- 325-335

My squat is coming a long very nicely, but I can’t seem to bump up my bench press unless I put on some body weight. The last time I went up (from 215 to 250) was over a 3 month period that I gained 10 or 15 pounds body weight. I used a hypertrophy style 4 sets of 12 with quite a bit of volume.

I play football and a strong bench press has always been a goal of mine. I’d like to see that number up at 300 by the end of summer.

So my question is, Do I need to do hypertrophy work to add some mass? I have ALWAYS struggled to make gains when I use the 5-3-1 or other various near maximal training methods. But I didn’t gain weight during those times either…

So again, I gained body weight during my last bench press gains, so was it the body weight gain that led to increased muscle size and strength? Or was it the program? Obviously it could be both but If I gain 15 pounds of body weight, will i see the same results whether I use 4 sets of 10 or 3x3 style?

Hemann, the thread got away from you and you may not have come away with anything you can sink your teeth into. Sorry if I contributed to that.

Below is an article from The Strength and Conditioning Journal that explains in more scientific terms some of the reasoning that I was trying to get across. Pay particular attention to the reference list, as there are many good articles that cover this topic.

http://trainingcomp.com/ciencia/10_Repeticiones_e_hipertrofia.pdf