Hi Tom,

A 265 bench at 56 years old is pretty impressive. Is that a 1RM? Have you tried increasing intensity rather than volume?

I moved about a year ago and was only able to use a Smith machine for a couple of months and then I dropped my weight to about 164 from 170. Once I started back up with barbells my bench then stalled. But it had also begun to stall before I moved. What I did during the summer was to add in an extra intensity day for bench and OHP. So on week 1, Monday I would do Wendler bench and then on Thursday which is Wendler OHP, I would throw in some intensity bench. 2-3 sets at 2-3 reps, working probably at about a 9 RPE. The following Monday bench day I would add in the same program for OHP. Then the following week on Wendler week 3 for OHP I would add in the bench intensity program. So during the month I would get 2 bench intensity days and 1 OHP intensity day. I did this for about 3 months. I hope that’s not too confusing.

Jim Wendler makes the point that at a certain point its extremely hard to increase bench unless you gain more mass. I only want to gain mass if it’s muscle. So I reevaluated my protein intake and found that for my age it was too low. I upped my protein intake to at least 120 g/d. See my post on protein intake here.After a couple of months my bench increased by about 10 pounds. I’ll take that. My 1RM on bench is slightly more now than it was 2 year ago at 170 bw. So this 2 pronged strategy seemed to help get me unstuck.

BTW all my lifts increased once I did the above. I’ll be 63 this month. My bench max is probably around 190, DL 305, OHP 110, squat (don’t laugh) 200. Considering I started lifting at 57 after a 25 year battle with CFS I’m pleased with my results.

Blessings,

John