Weak Bench Press

[SunsetRunner]

I did 3 sets of 10 bench press the other day and was near failure at the end of the last set. Yesterday I did the same amount of weight and only got through about half of the 2nd set before failure. Just wondering what might cause this. Other than decreasing the weight, what can I do to finish the set? I did finish the set once so it doesn't make sense that I can't do it again...

[charleskn]

I'm not sure what would constitute a "weak" bench press. I find it best to leave the ego and judgement at the door of the gym. The goal is improvement, not perfection. It sounds to me like you're jumping in too quickly, and expecting too much, out of the gate. That said, here are some thoughts:

• If you're just jumping back into things, give your body some time to adjust to the new exercises (a couple weeks) before amping things up
• Most major strength raining requires a rest day in-between strength sessions, such as chest work. Do our chest workouts every other day, at most.
• Once you've established a workout routine, worry less about numbers, and maxing each set to failure. Take your time with the movement, and try for about 60 seconds worth of movement, and 10-12 reps. The word to check out is hypertrophy.
• Mix up the types of chest exercises, and don't forget the other components that contribute, such as triceps and shoulders.
• Once you're making some gains, look to mix things up with supersets or drop sets.

There are many good online sources of information. One I like is Athlean-X.

Good luck.