Yesterday was one of those days for me. For the past three weeks I’ve been trying to increase strength in my chest. I had gotten to the point where I was repping 10x3 with 245. I walk into the gym and can barely get 205 8 times.
Needless to say I was pissed and frustrated. I just lowered the weight down and finished out my workout, angry.
It’s a bit disheartening when shit like that happens. Sometimes I feel like just packing my shit up and leaving the gym when that happens but I don’t.
I always look forward to the next workout in hopes that it was just a bad day and not something else.
i know exactly what you’re talking about, and it kills me. usually a little extra recovery time does the trick though, and if the trend continues, i change up my routine.
Same thing is happening to me with shoulder press. I’ve been loosing strenght lately
I can’t fucking figure out WHY !!! I sleep enough,eat enough,rest days…it’s so puzzling
It depends. If I feel up to it, but just can’t lift well, I just look at all the beefy guys around and remind myself that they had to get through crap days to get that big, and then I lift through it. But if I’m having a crap workout and something just feels wrong, I put down the weights, stretch a little more, and go home.
Lately this has sort of been the story for all my workouts. I�??m a senior in design school, and the stress has been trashing my system. But I still have to work through it if I ever want to get big!
Some days you’re a tank, and others all cylinders just wont fire no matter how mentally psyched you may be. I just chalk it up to all of the untangables, and seek intensity in factors other than the amount of weight I can lift.
If I can’t do a big weight for lower reps, then I’ll just do less weight, more reps, and usually more sets (which my muscles arent that well accustomed to). Intensity can be sought in many different ways.
If I understand what you posted, you are doing 10 sets of 3 reps with 245#. Then you can’t do 205 for 8 reps. If that is the case then I’m thinking this is a case of apples (low reps) and oranges (high reps).
Now if you are doing 3 sets of 10 reps, then yes you had a bad day.
Don’t sweat it. get a little extra rest and get after it next time in the gym.
I’m not so sure “doing a different exercise that day” is the best option. That sounds a lot to me like giving up. I always just push through it, and drop the weight/reps, rather than move to a different (easier) bodypart.
I just take it easy. If I can do 30kgs DB Press for 12 reps, on a day like that I’ll grab the 22.5’s and go for the feel of it.
can’t be strong everyday, but if your strength drops for 2 consecutive workouts then I’d say something’s up and you prb need to adjust your program or lifestyle.
this happens to me all the time. If something goes wrong right away and it’s really getting to me I’ll pack my shit up and leave. I’ll go back at about midnight when it’s empty and just get after it. Having some time to stew on it really ramps up my aggression.
But on the other side of the road there are those great days. I had a great day on Friday. I went to an oldschoolgym which I was pumped about. Saw chalk in a gym for the first time and almost peed myself. I was so jacked up that I repped with 460 on the deadlift instead of 445 and I wasn’t using straps either (I usually do).
[quote]Sxio wrote:
I just take it easy. If I can do 30kgs DB Press for 12 reps, on a day like that I’ll grab the 22.5’s and go for the feel of it.[/quote]
When I have a bad day I drop from 32.5’s to 30’s on DB Press.
Or 25 to 22.5 on Overhead Press.
Why do you drop more than 2.5kg on DB pressing movements?
OP, When I am really not ‘in the mood’ at the end of the work day I still force myself to go to gym and I feel good straight away.
When I hit the gym and find my strength is sapped I just do all BW shit for max reps in a circuit with very little rest (I normally add weight on the chins and dips and bench rather than pushup).
i just try to go through my workout as scheduled the best i can. usually itll just be one exercise that i get a lower weight or use the same weight as last time on. if it happens once im disapointed but ill just give it a go next time. now if it happens again on that exercise and other ones too then ill give it a week off or so just to let everything balance out and usually thats all it takes.
sometimes its just the exercise itself though and if i feel ive been doing it for too long then ill switch it for a different exercise, or put some type of adaptation to it ie decline, incline, DB, BB,flat etc.
[quote]Spry wrote:
Sxio wrote:
I just take it easy. If I can do 30kgs DB Press for 12 reps, on a day like that I’ll grab the 22.5’s and go for the feel of it.
When I have a bad day I drop from 32.5’s to 30’s on DB Press.
Or 25 to 22.5 on Overhead Press.
Why do you drop more than 2.5kg on DB pressing movements?
[/quote]
Why not?
with a much lighter weight I have more control over the TUT so I can go to whatever limit I want.
If I’m not feeling strong and still train in a rep range like 5-8 or 10-12, I find i can still feel non-excellent the next day, whereas if I focus on the feel of the movement, pump a lot of blood into the muscles and do a very hard 15-20 reps, it doesn’t seem to put my recovery back at all.
And it’s a nice change of pace too, training for the feel instead of looking for big numbers.
When I’m in the middle of a bad day, I try my damnedest to make it better. I finish my workout, getting all my exercises in to the best possible extent. There are times, however, where I just walk out of the gym and take a break, let myself recoup.
Looking back on all those bad days, I realize that they’ve come when my body was too weak. I now know that every few weeks, I have to take a “prehab deload” week. I think that that will keep me (and everyone else, for that matter) from having bad weeks (at least physically).
I’ve found that I can trace all my bad workouts to a few things…
Pre-Workout dehydration (not enough water)
Pre-Workout glycogen depletion (not enough carbs)
Pre-Workout fatigue (not enough sleep)
Other things (burn out, inadequate recovery from last workout, ect), can definitely contribute, but I find that the above 3 are the most common contributors to a shitty workout.
The best thing is to make yourself a mental anabolic checklist. If all systems are not go, then to the gym you don’t go. Going to the gym and failing to improve is an anabolic sin, or a catabolic blowjob.