Tonight after work I decided to resume my strength training. Havent worked out since saturday (did a 5k run) so on the schedule I had: 5x5 front squats 180 lbs 5x5 overhead press 140 lbs 1x5 deadlift 295 lbs I have to perform a clean for the squats and presses since I dont have a rack at home. Tried to clean 180 lbs but couldnt get past the hips. Reduced to 175, couldnt get past the hips even if not even a week before I cleaned 175# 5 times. I then went for a 300# deadlift which I have done several times in the past, couldnt lift it. Tried 275# and it was fine. My question is, have you ever suffered from a loss of strength? Was it just a bad day or will I have to start over again because I missed like 4-5 days of training?
4-5 days of no training is nothing. strength levels come and go. cleans are also technique intensive so if you're not doing cleans all the time, you might have gone out of your groove, so to speak. similar things can happen with very heavy deadlifts if you lift with a different set-up that leaves you balanced differently to how you usually lift. it also sounds like you didn't warm-up with lighter weights first, which would have given you a good idea of what weights you were good for on that particular day. a deload can't hurt though, so i say go a bit lighter and build back up over a week or so.
I train once a week with weights. Sometimes twice a week to split the work. I got excellent results from training hefty once each 14, 16 and 21 days. I got stronger when training like that every time. IF Strength is your prime pursuit. Likely you needed more rest and less training. Strength levels last a long time. But you need to realise that rest and nutrition etc are as important as actually picking stuff up. Other work is taxing but often you may not grant it any credence for being taxing (Your 5k for example). Part of gaining suss in training is 'playing it by feel'. Commonsense should tell you the difference between laziness and 'my hamstrings feel like piano wire and I got the strength of puppy'. Knowing when to go for it and when to leave it is a skill in itself. By the way when I did 5 x 5 I hit a wall - as I couldn't do 3 sessions per week and continue to make gains - at around 1.5 bodyweight on the bar for squats. I dropped it to 3 sessions in 8 days. Made more gains went through x 2 bodyweight on bar. Then hit plateau again. Dropped it 3 sessions in 9 days. Went to 2.5 times bodyweight on bar. Same result. Then 3 sessions per 11 days. Went beyond that. Then started doing something different. As I had to tweak the how and why of my lifting. You may find you'll be coming to your plateau. And may need to get yourself a couple more days in between weights sessions. The moral for me. And possibly for you too at some points = Rest and eat more > Train less. Good Luck (And try some Zercher Squats :Angel
Very interesting Sokklab. Never thought over training could be the cause. I've also been neglecting my nutrition lately, I've been so busy that I barely have time to eat. Zercher squats look interesting, must try them.
Lol. Well not eating 'might' get you the effect of 'no strength'. I try to get at least 3 'meals' inside me before I lift, pull, flip etc anything. That's usually 1) a Big Shake 2) Coffee, Peanut Butter and Honey Oatcake 'sandwichs' and 3) Eggs and something (about 2000 calories all told). So now you identified the suspects...You know what might be going wrong Good Luck
i third the food angle too. i need around two full meals. to be able to lift optimally, most of the time
