Why am I suffering a gradual loss of strength whilst training?!
Question: Why am I suffering a gradual loss of strength whilst training?
I train by doing 3 sets of 12 in different exercises and in the past I would increase the weight I was lifting in each exercise regularly without decreasing the repetitions. For the past 12-18 months I have been unable to complete my normal 3 sets of 12 (normally a set of 12, 8, then 6) despite not increasing the weight.
I have tried reducing the weight to ensure I do my full 3 sets of twelve but this only seems to work for one week and then I suffer the same problem again but with a lesser weight!
I'm training for shape/definition rather than size, I don't have any ambitions to get a body like a rugby player, more like a light weight boxer but whatever my problem is has now caused me to be lifting considerably less than I was two years ago.
Has this happened to anybody else?
Any help / tips / advice?
Thanks
Answers:
You may be over training. It's the most common problem in bodybuilding. You didn't say how often you train individual muscle groups but it is probably more frequently than it should be.
If you've been training for 8 years you should be allowing 4-6 days of rest between workouts for each muscle group. In other words, if you do upper body pulls on Monday, don't do them again or work those same muscles in any other way until at least Saturday, leaving 4 full days of recovery time between workouts.
Watch this video --> http://www.youtube.com/user/scooby1961#p…
What Scooby doesn't tell you in the video, is you can check for over training by paying close attention to the first set of each exercise. You should improve something on each workout. For example, you should do one more rep or a half a rep or use more strict form. If you don't make any improvements for three consecutive weeks, you're probably over training.
You may also be suffering from an adaptation plateau. If you're done few variations on your exercises for a long period of time your muscles may have adapted to the routine leaving little room for growth. It's important to vary your exercises often. For example, if you're just doing bench presses, start doing incline and decline presses to more fully work the pectorals. Then mix the presses with flys and then go back to your original chest routine, etc, etc. Just mix it up often and include some eccentric exercises (negatives), high rep warm ups (flushing), and muscle saturation (bombing) by heavy weights, low reps, and keep doing them until the weight is so low you can't lift anything with no rest between sets except to change weights.
Finally, make sure your diet is in order. Don't take supplements but eat a diet of high quality, varied, and nutritious food making sure you have at least 60 grams of protein per day.
Good luck and good health!!
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I had a similar issue, just loosing the power to maintain your level, and it turned out I had an acute mineral deficiency, so you could look into that, and get some supplements, to get your minerals back up.
Not very sure. but it could be that you're not getting the right diet for your muscles to replenish itself after your workout. Because during the workout your muscles are used and thus onyl after the workout will it replenish itself by even more and in a way increase ur muscles..
Or maybe ur not getting enough rest for ur muscles to replenish itself. you do one intensive wrkout, muscles gone, needs time to replenish, and yet before it does so, you work out AGain, SO IT doesnt replenish..
Never push urself too hard. once u feel that you have to stop, stop.
Words from an unprofessional