How do you increase your 1RM?

[lazyhanger]

I've been benching/squatting now for about half a year and my current bench press max. is still at 1x bw (about 85 kg), squat is a little bit higher at about 120 kg. I have tried all kind of shit in my workout, 3x8, 4x6 and even the 5x5 worksets. Nothing seems to work for me as I'm still weak as a motherfucker (could also be the weed though :P). Some guys here on the forum - like kingsnake - have had great success in lifting. I wonder what's your routine guys. What set/reps scheme do you recommend to obtain the best results in strength gain? I read about a strongman Magnus Samuelsson who merely does pump sets for warm up and then two doubles for his work set. To me this seems not to be enough, on the other hand Samuelsson is strong as hell.
I'm lookin' forward to reading your input!

[steadyasitgrows]

I have been lifting on and off a few years now, and whenever I hit a plateu I usually try to change things up.
Example if I struggle to increase my benchpress, I do lots of other exercises that works the same muscles - like shoulder press, incline/decline bench, small grip bench, triceps and flyes etc..
I also vary the weights and reps each week, like 1 week goes 3x8 - another 4x6 - 3x10 etc.

I probably dont have to mention this, but be sure to let each musclegroup get enough recoverytime - usually 3-5 days when u work them hard

[jdhunter]

Yo LazyHanger, found this routine online by Shawn Phillips here (http://www.weightrainer.net/spreadsheets/add50.html) , I used a similar routine he had back in 1999, and was able to up my bench by 25 lbs, hope this helps.

Definitely help me get out of the plateau.

[lazyhanger]

Thank you very much for the replies.

I probably dont have to mention this, but be sure to let each musclegroup get enough recoverytime - usually 3-5 days when u work them hard
So would you say that 1 hard chest workout per week would be ok? I'm doing 2 right now (only flat/incline bench press) with two days rest in between. Well, maybe I don't give my muscles enough time to recover plus I also don't take any supplements like protein or creatine. Just don't have the cash for it right now...


Yo LazyHanger, found this routine online by Shawn Phillips here , I used a similar routine he had back in 1999, and was able to up my bench by 25 lbs, hope this helps.
Hey jdhunter, thanks for the link. The workout looks very promising. Only problem is I don't have dumbbells atm because I'm working out in a "private" gym where they only have barbells. As soon as I move to my new place I will get a gym membership and hit the db's hard.

[MAXAMEYES]

Negative reps; they hurt like all holy hell, but they'll give you strength gains like nobody's business. At 275 I got up to about a 420 bench for 3-5 reps on a good day before my first car wreck knocked my dick in the dirt. Never did break the 450 I wanted.

If you've never gone to negative failure before start off slo-o-o-w! And stretch after every set.

[Medicating]

I'm gonna try negative reps next week on my arms.