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A: Stuck in 100kg 1RM, how to improve

David ScarlettIf you've been training for 10 years and have progressed from benching 40kg to 100kg, then there's a real chance that you've just reached the limits of your genetically potential. There are some things you can try to break through this plateau, like benching more often (especially if you happen t...

I don't wanna lift heavier. I want to have more volume given the current weight I can maximally lift at the moment. I don't think this answer matches exactly my question.
@user8469759: when you are able to do more reps of 100 kg that also means that you are getting stronger. Which means that if you had wanted to you could have lifted more than 100 kg. The number of times you can lift 100 kg and the max weight you can lift are two different ways of measuring the same thing (as long as the number of times you can lift 100 kg is less than 15).
@user8469759 when you say more volume, do you mean being able to do more reps at the same weight, or more sets? If you mean more reps, then as Andy says, that's effectively the same as getting stronger. If your genetic limit is one rep at 100kgs, then unfortunately you're not going to be able to get to 5 reps at 100kgs.
I totally disagree about 100kg being the limit of anyone's "genetic" potential.
@NikeDattani there are powerlifting weight classes in which the bench press world record is currently less than 100kg. 100kg absolutely can be the limit of one's potential.
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@DavidScarlett are you talking about the men's age 75-79 age category and 62kg weight class in which there simply hasn't been enough competitors for the "records" to be meaningful? Are you also conflating powerlifting competition standards (in which you have to wait for a command before you start lifting, and have to follow other rules) vs amateur lifting in a gym? I am extremely disappointed that you would tell someone that barely knows anything about powerlifting that they have reached their "genetic" potential after benching 100kg!
@NikeDattani No, I was talking about women's open-age categories.
@DavidScarlett why don't you tell us precisely what type of human in an open-age category, without a serious disability, is "genetically" in capable of becoming strong enough to bench press more than 1 rep of 100kg mass in a gym?
Well, OP, for starters, evidenced by the fact that he's been training for 10 years and still hasn't gotten past 100kg. And then just anyone else with long arms and/or more proximal pectoral insertions than average. If you're insisting that I guess, I'd probably put it at around a quarter of human beings.
@DavidScarlett so you admit that you were wrong about female world records? About OP: the OP went from 85kg to 100kg in just a few months. Why would you say something so insulting about their genetics or discouraging in general? Powerlifters reach sticking points and overcome them all the time. You used extraordinarily low (and non-existent?) world records to explain why you think it's impossible for OP to lift any more than they currently can after just a few months on this program, but world records in powerlifting have got shattered many times in recent years. Please don't look at them.
The OP went from 10 reps at 85kg to 1 rep at 100kg. That is not indicative of an increase in strength.
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You have a different definition of strength compared to everyone else, and haven't analyzed OP's original post thoroughly. Something did improve in the last few months and it wasn't endurance.
-1 for suggesting to give up without sufficient reason. I agree that benching more often is a good idea.
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@DavidScarlett not gonna lie... but you're answer depresses me a bit.
@DaveLiepmann my suggestions were to try increasing training volume, working on technique with a coach, and even deliberately gaining weight to break through the plateau, and that only if all of those failed was this likely the strongest that OP was going to get. If a failure of all of those things is not "sufficient reason" to accept that you're not going to make further gains in this regard, then what is?
Isn't benching too often counter productive? And how many would you suggest (per week)? 2 you said "only" which sounds like not enough. But given that you should rest a specific muscle group at least 1 day I don't think doing more than 3 times eventually is a good idea.
@user8469759 I don't think that too much frequency can be detrimental, but too much training volume (in terms of number of sets per week) can either stop producing additional benefit, or even be mildly detrimental. So there's no reason to believe that doing 2 sets of bench press every single day is worse than doing only 2 sessions per week, but 7 sets per session. Either way it's the same amount of volume, you'll just be able to recover from the 2 sets per day sessions much quicker than the 7 sets per day sessions.
@user8469759 whereas if your frequency is too low, then that means you're trying to craw an entire week worth of training into one session, and towards the end of it you'll probably be so fatigued that your training quality will have decreased to the point of uselessness. Spreading the same volume out over the week allows you to do more training when you're fresh.
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"If a failure of all of those things is not "sufficient reason" to accept that you're not going to make further gains in this regard, then what is?" Why are you assuming that it's possible for 100kg to be a limit in the first place? Even if it were a 50kg woman? Even when Eddie Hall deadlifted 500kg, no one would believe that he would never in his life be able to do 501kg due to "genetics". OP has literally done 3 reps of 100kg before: anyone with experience in competitive powerlifting will tell you that 100 is not his best potential 1RM if he can do 3 reps (especially based on his/her story).
No non-steroid-taking woman under 50kg has ever benched 100kg, which includes 44kg and 48kg categories. And those of the world records - the people that are the most genetically advantages to be able to lift a lot of weight. The idea that any random woman off the street could get her bench up to 100kg is frankly delusional.
But no woman under 50kg has even really tried yet. The idea that a "random" woman off the street cannot work their way up to benching 100kg is frankly delusional.
@NikeDattani: I agree with David in that going from 10 reps of 85 kg to 1 rep of 100 kg is most likely NOT an increase in strength. According to the Brzycki equation he should have been able to lift 113 kg for 1 rep those months ago. And the Brzycki equation has been experimentally verified to give a good estimate: researchgate.net/publication/…. Leaving some margin I am pretty sure he could already have benched 100 kg for one rep those months a go.
@Andy you're not using the formula correctly, and even if you were, you're saying that he could have lifted way more than 100kg several months ago, which would be evidence that David is wrong about what he has been arguing in the answer and all comments. You have picked the one minor detail from me with which you disagree and you've said "I agree with David".

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