Break Through Strength Plateaus

If you've been stuck on the same bench press or squat number for months, the usual advice is to push harder or add weight. Anthony Coffey, an online coach and one of Dr. Joey's friends in the training space, took a different route. He got past his own bench plateau by changing how often he trained the lift, not how hard he trained it every time.

Why Strength Is a Skill, Not Just Muscle

Most people who say they want to get stronger really mean they want to build muscle. The two are related, but they aren't the same thing. Strength on a particular exercise is a skill your nervous system has to learn: how to handle heavy loads, how to contract muscles hard, and how to do it efficiently.

It really is more neurological than anything else.

Dr. Joey uses a basketball comparison. Players shoot hundreds of free throws a day, usually well below their maximum effort, because the skill improves with repetition. A heavy lift responds to practice in a similar way, which is why frequency matters so much once you're past the beginner stage.

What Higher Frequency Looks Like in Practice

Anthony started benching three days a week, out of four total training days. That sounds like a recipe for burnout, until you look at how the three sessions were built. They were not three max-effort days.

Because two of the three days are easy on purpose, recovery stays manageable while the movement gets practiced far more often. That is the core idea: practice often, but only go hard when it counts.

How Often Is Too Often?

Anthony's working ceiling for the bench press is about three to four sessions a week. For the squat and deadlift, he puts it closer to two to three, since they cost more recovery. Your own limit depends on how well you recover.

If you're only benching once or twice a week right now, you don't have to jump straight to the maximum. A simple first step is to take one of your existing sessions and make it deliberately lighter, cutting the weight in half or removing 30 to 40 percent from the bar, and using that day to focus on tempo and technique. Dr. Joey agrees that this single change gets most intermediate lifters to the next stage.

Letting Go of Your Ego Is the Hard Part

Anthony says the gap between intermediate and advanced lifters often comes down to willingness to lighten the bar and get better at the movement. Lifting less weight on purpose feels backward, but it is how the skill gets sharpened.

Dr. Joey adds that none of this is rigid. Volume, intensity, and frequency can be combined in many ways. Some lifters squat very often by keeping most sessions at a moderate effort and saving one day for a high-intensity effort. The structure matters less than keeping total fatigue in check.

Strength Work Versus Muscle Growth

It's worth separating the two goals. Benching three times a week will likely raise your bench press, but it doesn't automatically build much more muscle than a plan with more variety. Dr. Joey, for example, uses a barbell bench on one upper day and an incline dumbbell press on the other. If he swapped to flat bench twice a week, his bench might climb, but he wouldn't expect noticeably more growth, because the incline press has its own benefits.

So match the method to the goal. For a bigger number on one lift, frequency on that lift is a strong lever. For overall muscle size, a wider range of exercises usually serves you better.

Choose Accessory Lifts for Your Sticking Point

Once frequency is in place, Anthony suggests picking secondary movements based on where the lift actually fails. A stall off the chest and a stall near lockout call for different accessories. Identify the exact point where the bar slows down, then choose assistance work that is similar to that portion of the lift.

A plateau is rarely a sign you need to try harder. More often it means the lift needs more quality practice and fewer all-out efforts, which is a smarter use of the same training week.

Frequently Asked Questions