Okay, so eating at maintenance and eating adequate protein (200g) should be enough to still see me make gains?
Weights - rate of progression
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Okay, so eating at maintenance and eating adequate protein (200g) should be enough to still see me make gains?
Stop mixing it up. Aim to do your working sets at 1 weight. If you do all your reps at that weight then the next session put the weights up.
See how that goes for a few weeks.
I don't think you are benching too much personally, you aren't having an intense workout every session, just 1 working exercise.
If after a few weeks you are still stalling then it might be worth looking at a more specific routine
This is what I've tried to do, but it's just too difficult/progress isn't fast enough for it to work.
For instance, bench press, I can do 3x5 x 60kg and did so for 2 sessions about a week apart. Next session, I add 1.25 each side, and most I can get on my first set is 4 (had 3 attempts at this now on separate sessions)
From what I understand I should be able to slap on 2x1.25kg to exercises each week no problem, leading me to think I my diet might not be adequate etc
No, diet is absolutely not going to be the limiting factor in that kind of stall on a linear progression. Adding 5% in a week is a lot if you're at your limit; you wouldn't be suggesting that the only reason that the strongest guys can't add 5% every week is their diet, would you?
Deload by 20%, look at your form and work back up.
Deload by 20%, look at your form and work back up.
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This is just my opinion so no flaming, everyone trains differently right? 
Train your chest using the bar one week, make sure to hit flat, incline and decline, this is going to put stress on all the muscle fibers in the chest rather than just flat and some incline at the end which i see most people do.
The next week use dumbbells with flat, incline and decline.
On shoulders I do the same using an Olympic bar then the next week switching to dumbbells.
I don't know how you could possibly fit both in one week without burning out. Which in return would lower your maximum lift.
Same as legs, I squat one week, then machine press the next. Dead lift one week then pullups and machines the other week.
Train your chest using the bar one week, make sure to hit flat, incline and decline, this is going to put stress on all the muscle fibers in the chest rather than just flat and some incline at the end which i see most people do.
The next week use dumbbells with flat, incline and decline.
On shoulders I do the same using an Olympic bar then the next week switching to dumbbells.
I don't know how you could possibly fit both in one week without burning out. Which in return would lower your maximum lift.
Same as legs, I squat one week, then machine press the next. Dead lift one week then pullups and machines the other week.
That might just be your opinion, but it doesn't make any sense. I'm certainly of the opinion that there is no one right way of doing things, but there a certainly wrong ways.This is just my opinion so no flaming, everyone trains differently right?
Train your chest using the bar one week, make sure to hit flat, incline and decline, this is going to put stress on all the muscle fibers in the chest rather than just flat and some incline at the end which i see most people do.
The next week use dumbbells with flat, incline and decline.
On shoulders I do the same using an Olympic bar then the next week switching to dumbbells.
I don't know how you could possibly fit both in one week without burning out. Which in return would lower your maximum lift.
Same as legs, I squat one week, then machine press the next. Dead lift one week then pullups and machines the other week.
Firstly, your benching advice. Working different areas of your chest with incline/decline is conceptually false. You'll get different shoulder positionings, but there are only two muscles in your chest and one sits on top of the other. Your periodisation with bbell and dbell is fine, but offers no advantage compared to otheways of organising it.
The amount you can cram into one session will depend on your total sets, reps, and load, not the amount of exercises.
Alternating between leg press and squats makes no sense, and deadlifts and pullups/machines is even worse.
I don't understand how you're doing enough in a single session...
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Wow, you clearly are an elitist and only your way is correct bro! The only thing I agree with you is "The amount you can cram into one session will depend on your total sets, reps, and load, not the amount of exercises."
How do you know without me even telling you my full routine that I am doing to little or even too much for that matter.
Get off your high horse mate, I'm seeing gains, and I bet other people see great gains also through other ways of working muscle groups.
How do you know without me even telling you my full routine that I am doing to little or even too much for that matter.
Get off your high horse mate, I'm seeing gains, and I bet other people see great gains also through other ways of working muscle groups.
Kindly explain, then, the scientific basis for anything you've said? Something a little more rigorous than "I'm seeing gains" would be ideal.
I guess i was assuming that in order to grow bigger/I'd need to be on a decent calorific surplus/gaining weight each week. Is it really possible to add 5% each week as a beginner/intermediate whilst eating at maintenance?
No, you will need to be in a sensible surplus.
But there are other factors that have a much greater influence on your progression. I'm betting in this case it's getting sufficient training stimulus to the right muscles. It's very common for beginners to make large compromises in their form when they near their maxes, which results in a poor distribution of training stimulus across your sessions. It could also be the case that your form promotes a very bad strength curve throughout the range of motion of the rep; for example, bouncing bench reps off your chest.
But there are other factors that have a much greater influence on your progression. I'm betting in this case it's getting sufficient training stimulus to the right muscles. It's very common for beginners to make large compromises in their form when they near their maxes, which results in a poor distribution of training stimulus across your sessions. It could also be the case that your form promotes a very bad strength curve throughout the range of motion of the rep; for example, bouncing bench reps off your chest.