I feel like I’ve hit a wall in strength. Particularly bench press.

I think sometimes you just aren’t going to bench more unless you gain weight. I’ve essentially benched the same for 3 years. Maybe if I went with a bench program only, I could improve it through technique improvement, but that’s not my goal. I want to be well rounded

Up your dose, baw.

So many things it could be. Sticking simply with a program change type of suggestion, I would get away from the bench press, pick a similar movement, and run that block for 8-12 weeks, trying to peak that. Then perhaps go back to your PPSA program (I am unfamiliar with those) and run it on the BP, hopefully the strength you gained on the new movement translates to gain on the BP, it should. This is a Westside Barbell type of approach I find that works. Figure out your weak spots and perhaps tailor it that, for example if your triceps/lockout is the problem, run the new block doing closer grip bench presses vs. regular.

This works well for me. I've been training powerlifting/strongman this way for over 35 years. At some point the law of accomodation kicks in, and your body gets used to the constant stimulus of the same movement pattern. I rotate variations of the compound movements every other week. Matt Wenning is a big fan of this due to what he calls reducing mileage, repetitive stress, etc.

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I would get away from the bench press, pick a similar movement, and run that block for 8-12 weeks, trying to peak that. Then perhaps go back to your PPSA program (I am unfamiliar with those) and run it on the BP, hopefully the strength you gained on the new movement translates to gain on the BP, it should.

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We did this in high school in the spring workouts one year. We had a powerlifter as our new S&C coach, and he told us he was going to increase our max bench over 8 weeks without doing actual bench press one time. I remember lots of chest fly, triceps work, shoulder work, etc. Sure enough mine went from around 185 (I was a skinny little runt in high school) to around 215.

We also did a STUD (Squat 'til U Drop) workout every Monday. Everyone maxed out in bench and squat the first of January, and that was our baseline for the next couple of months of workouts. Squats were some percentage of your max, and you would do sets of 10-8-6-4-2 with slight increases in weight each set, and the last set, as the name implied, you kept hitting reps with that weight until you failed. Week 1 was amazing. You were so used to loading heavy and just trying to get 3-4 reps out of it, but with a spotter behind you, one on each side, and in a rack with a bar across it to catch the bar if needed, you might end up knocking out 7-8 reps until you failed. If you got more than 2 reps on that last set, the next week, add 5 lbs to each set and repeat. It was the first time I was introduced to a progressive overload approach, and it worked great.

Those days are in my past now, and I stick to dumbbell workouts and Peloton at the house, but varying up your workouts are great for busting through a wall.

Curious on your age, as this is often the moment to consider risk/benefit of pushing more. I know so many who sustained a fairly major injury driving bench beyond the breaking point.

My answers: Weighted dips, incline. Consider getting the help of a coach to help with technique tips if it’s really important to you.

Yeah I probably should ease up a bit and concentrate on just maintaining and staying overall healthy. I’m 44

lsu777 once again has good suggestions as always.

One block I do for pressing strength is I get off the BP and do an 8-10 week block with heavy dumbells. We ALL have one arm that is a little stronger than the other. BIG fan of single leg/arm work, not letting one arm compensate more for the other. Dumbells also add an element of shoulder stabilizing that provides a much different stimulus than BP. Provided your gym has DB's heavy enough for you. I won't do a one rep max on my DB cycle for safety reasons, but perhaps work up to a 5RM. I also tend to come away with slightly better chest development from the dumbells even thought I train for strength.

Yeah I work out at PF and the biggest DBs they have is 75. Which, unfortunately, is not much of a challenge for me. It’s plenty for just about everything else but they’re more of a high rep option for db bench press.

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You mean hang weights off the bench. I’ve never done that but I’ve used a camber squat bar for bench, and that’s definitely different. Just a pain in the arse to set up.

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that

or

hang the dumbells from thick bands and press the bands or attach bands to handles with DB on other end.

LINK

My upper limit was structural. I could feel my shoulder giving way and wasn't going to go any higher without risking injury. I work toward multiple rep maxes now.