Creeping fatigue

[Mr.City]

So in the last week or so, almost all my lifts have come to an ass-grinding halt. I've went from missing the last couple reps of my presses at 130 lbs to failing to achieve a single rep for two session in a row. My last deadlift session was a failure at 0 reps at 350 lbs. I just started to miss a few reps on my squat (315), which is really bad since I'm about to finish deloading my squats.

It's obvious I'm overtrained, but I don't know what's causing it. I get a decent amount of sleep (7-8 hours), and all my meals at the university dining hall are piles of meat with a glass of milk and whatever non-starchy veggies being served. I only deadlift every 5th workout and I've programmed light squat days on Wednesday, so I'm pretty clueless to what I'm screwing up here. I can't be finished with linear progression since these lifts are pretty lacking at 240 lbs. What could I be messing up?

[stronger]

what's your daily caloric intake?

[Mr.City]

No clue. I eat meat and vegetable until I'm full. I eat at a buffet style dining hall everyday, so I got plenty. My weight's stayed around 235-240 (water weight fluction I'm assuming) so I can't be eating on a deficit.

[nisora33]

Talk to us about your generalized stress level. Think outside your training for a second and consider what, if anything, might be affecting your recovery otherwise. Constant low level stress could be the culprit here, in addition to whatever stress you're applying via lifting.

-S.

[stronger]

what does everyone think about ye olde "taking a week off"?

[stronger]

My weight's stayed around 235-240 (water weight fluction I'm assuming) so I can't be eating on a deficit.

but you also can't be eating on much of a surplus. I'm not sure if caloric intake is the issue, but I've always found that eating an extra thousand calories will help me push through a plateau or what I perceive to be a plateau on the horizon, i.e. nipping it in the bud.

[nisora33]

Question: although your getting 7-8 hrs. of sleep, are you waking up feeling refreshed? Is this sleep pretty much unbroken?

This next question is going to sound creepily personal: when you wake up, do you usually ever wake up with "morning wood?" I've heard this is response to testosterone levels peaking during the latter part of your sleep, and if you're not waking up with this tell-tale sign of restorative sleep, maybe you're not sleeping as well as you think. I remember a time last year when it dawned on me that I'd gone at least 4 months without waking up with "wood." Seriously.

-S.

[nisora33]

what does everyone think about ye olde "taking a week off"?

I think the full week off is good for some, bad for others. I know folks who swear by it, but when I've taken a week off in the past, I feel rusty, out-of-the-groove, and no stronger usually. I also get really stiff, so much so that getting started again isn't really worth the time I've taken off. That's just my personal experience, and like I said, plenty would disagree with me. Whether you fall into the former or latter category, I imagine to be an individual thing. I suppose you have to try and see.

-S.

[Mr.City]

Nisora: I've started school, and I'm involved in a lot of projects, both academically and some personal stuff on the side, it can be stressed, but I don't feel freaked out. I'm taking a full course load and that's been causing to feel like tired sometimes.

I haven't check for morning wood, but I will now. I usually wake up with a sore shoulder ( I tried to do a lateral raise with 40 lbs a few weeks ago, and it's still sore when I sleep on it) and a sore back, that's been there since I did a series of really, really slopply cleans a week ago. Speaking about those cleans, the night of that session, I had a hard time sleeping and I felt like someone beat the shit out of me the next day. I usually feel like staying in bed when I wake up, although that may be a college thing.

[nisora33]

Nisora: I've started school, and I'm involved in a lot of projects, both academically and some personal stuff on the side, it can be stressed, but I don't feel freaked out. I'm taking a full course load and that's been causing to feel like tired sometimes.


This could be part of the problem, dunno.



Speaking about those cleans, the night of that session, I had a hard time sleeping and I felt like someone beat the shit out of me the next day.

Watch out for more nights like these. This happens to me a lot after a particularly grueling training session, and I, too, get the "beat the shit out of me" feeling the following day, EXACTLY like you described. Too many nights like this could mean a sign of bad things to come. I'm sort of a connoisseur of overtraining (is that even a phrase?).

[stronger]

I think the full week off is good for some, bad for others. I know folks who swear by it, but when I've taken a week off in the past, I feel rusty, out-of-the-groove, and no stronger usually. I also get really stiff, so much so that getting started again isn't really worth the time I've taken off. That's just my personal experience, and like I said, plenty would disagree with me. Whether you fall into the former or latter category, I imagine to be an individual thing. I suppose you have to try and see.

-S.
I've had mixed results. I took last week off after missing a 1rm deadlift attempt and mildly straining a lat. Today I lifted and was as strong or stronger (depending on the lift), and I have also been sleeping extremely well lately. I upped the calories over the week off and this has probably made a difference.

I've also noticed that a week off when I was a weakling was much more detrimental than it is now, where it is beneficial. Just an observation

OP: you might want to keep a week off in your box of tools. You know your body best though

[misspelledgeoff]

I wouldn't rule out that your body is ready for intermediate programming. Going intermediate doesn't mean you are done progressing, ya know.

[Mr.City]

True, intermediate programming could be on the horizon, but I feel at 240, my lifts aren't really intermediate stuff

I got a squat of about 315-320, a deadlift of 340, a press around 130, a bench around 225, and a clean around 155-160.

[PVC]

True, intermediate programming could be on the horizon, but I feel at 240, my lifts aren't really intermediate stuff

I got a squat of about 315-320, a deadlift of 340, a press around 130, a bench around 225, and a clean around 155-160.

I don't know if this is the correct way to assess whether or not you're an intermediate.

At a certain point linear progression runs out, and this will depend on your recovery and your genetics. Assuming that you're eating enough and sleeping enough, your genetics would be the limiting factor. Just because you weigh 240 doesn't mean your squat has to increase past 315 on linear progression...

...I think. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can help out...where's Stacey when you need him?

[Mr.City]

Maybe I'm being bullheaded, but it just seems like many novices around my weight range (220-250) get away with a mid-to upper 300 range squat and at least a 400 ish deadlift.

[PVC]

Yeah, I guess that's reasonable. Why don't you ask Rip? He should be back in town soon.

[Mr.City]

That's a good point. I actually forgot about Rip, who was the reason I joined this form in the first place. Part of me wonders if ass form is holding me back and fatiguing me

[slughammer]

How heavy do your warm up sets feel? When my warm ups are feeling heavy a few workouts in a row, I can tell that I'm hitting the wall. My other signal that I just realized recently is my eye twitching. I was getting signals for a long time, the hard part is learning to recognize them.

[IWillLiveFreeOrDie]

what does everyone think about ye olde "taking a week off"?

I would prefer to deload, and work on form than to take an entire week off. That way you don't feel rusty the next week. Every one of my stalls last year began with a week off due to work/vacation.

Last week I dropped the weight on my squats to get used to using shoes and a belt. I was also nursing two sore shoulders so my bench and press were very light sets of 25 reps. This week I came back full force Monday morning and hit a new PR of 325X5X3 on my squat, and the weight felt easy.

Stacey, good suggestion on morning wood. I've been waking up at 4am to feed a newborn, and my sleep patterns are definitely hindered. I've noticed a lack of said wood.

[Mr.City]

My warm ups have felt just fine. I've been noticing a disturbed sleep cycle. I usually wake up around 6 or 7 am and then fall asleep until 8 to 8:30. Nothing much in terms of morning wood though, so it looks like Stacey is right. The week off is looking very appealing since my back is still bothering from yesterday's squat session.

[Aslin]

I would deload, or do a week of heavy ass sets for 2/3 reps... say 110% of 5rm.....

[Brenden]

Back when I didn't know what the hell I was doing (doing a 5x5 weekly progression as a rank novice), I took a week off, and found that my strength increased over that time. Granted, my squat was around 140-150 at the time. This October, after 6-8 weeks on SS, I took a week off after noticing decreasing strength on the DL and squat, and found that I did not feel any stronger afterwards. In Practical Programming, Rip recommends taking off one "progression cycle", meaning one workout for a novice, one week for an intermediate. So you might try just skipping a single workout and seeing how you feel after that. It's lower risk/cost than taking a whole week off, in that if it doesn't help, you at least won't have regressed as far. I just did that due to not having time to lift for the past four days, and my DL, which had been getting really challenging, felt light and easy.

[zepled37]

I used to think a week off was ok and I don' think it is a disaster necessarily, but I would much rather just lighten the load and reduce the volume as much as I need to. I think this helps prevent some detraining and aches and pains from creeping in.

Though I think it is better physically, sometimes mentally a week off completely helps more.

[Mr.City]

Welp, I'm taking the rest of the week considering the miserable stall of my deadlift and press, I'm missing reps on a squat deload, and I'm currently on a bench and power clean deload. It's clear I'm overtrained, and I've done this before when I insisted about getting my deadlift to 300 before cutting down the frequency (stupid I know).

I also believe that I'm not eating enough. I got worried about my gut and ate until I didn't feel like eating anymore. I decided to sit down at the dining hall and eat until the point of discomfort. Know what? I feet bloated for maybe 10 minutes but now I feel jumping jack flash. I gorge myself to a 400 lb squat, and should I become a 270 lbs behemoth at the end, so be it. Certain dieting methods can be administered later.