That 5x3 method at your stage of fitness and physique wont be helpful. When i say rounding your shoulders i mean at the top when you lock out you also lift up your shoulders nothing should move from A to B except your arms up to right before lockout and back down, squeezing the chest the whole time. See what you are doing is just lifting the weight, you are not connecting to it and feeling that mind muscle connection on every rep for every set. Just lifting up and down will yield little to no results. You need to learn how to squeeze and feel the muscle you are working on for every rep.
@Passive Jay think of the squeeze as simply flexing the muscle you're primarily hitting during the rep. so on a bicep curl I focus on the stretch of the bicep on the way down & the squeeze of the bicep on the way up. the pump will be much better & the gains will come faster
personally, I rarely do less than 8 reps for anything on purpose, the exceptions are mostly for compound lifts or when my ego acts up, but all rep ranges have their place. If you're trying to put on muscle, 8-12 reps seems to work the best for the most amount of ppl, it's certainly worked best for me, this goes into why The Rep Range That Builds the Most Amount of Muscle
My man if i can just add some perspective to this. You are super super skinny with no real muscle yet, so the way you are lifting isnt going to get you anywhere. 8-12 reps still wont get you anywhere. Try bench pressing weight that you can do 40 reps with and do 40-30-20-15 and then come back to me.
I wont argue with you since you obviously know what you are doing (I have seen the pictures) but that is WAY different advice than I have gotten so far. Would you recommend that for all of my lifts or just bench press?
Of course its different advice, because its not the "norm". To really build muscle you need to do just that BUILD it, but you cant just start lifting and go from A-Z. You need to build a foundation. You need to learn your body, get stronger by achieving certain things while lifting, and your body needs to be able to have a starting point to build from. Lets start with bench press. You lift the bar 40 times no problem ok cool then you put a pair of 25s on each side and do it for 30 reps, then maybe put a 10 on and get it for 20 reps and then another 5 or 10 lbs for 15 reps. NOW once you start pressing all these weights pretty easily now your body says you are ready to take it up a notch. Go slow, learn your body and how it responds to certain things. Dont forget one thing your body has NO IDEA, NO IDEA what 8 reps is or 12 reps it knows when it is being pushed.
Not even just injury but it gives your muscles time to grow and adapt and look the way they should.
Man if you gave me 6 months with diet and training i could have you looking like a totally different person.
That's actually ok for a bulking phase starting out how you look
I have a trap bar! I use it for deadlifts.
