Burned Out... Typical?

Training Beginners
1

So I’ve been doing a 3x5 program this whole summer, and am getting into month three. The problem is that I’ve hit a slump, I’m generally out of energy, and don’t often feel like lifting (rather unusual for me).

Granted, I haven’t been eating a whole lot the past few days, perhaps weeks, due to an excessive amount of work and poor preparation.

I’m a high school student, and since the last week of June have been working 40+ hours/week. Lifting has been fine until the past week or two. Last week I took 4-5 days off, since then have lifted twice and moved my squat up both times (which brings me today, the third day since my last session).

Here’s my workout:

3x5 Back Squat (2x5 warm-up)
4x10 Calf Raises
3x5 Bench Press (2x5 warm-up)
3x5 Row (2x5 warm-up)
Ab circuit, 3 exercises 3x6

I just moved up to 250 on squats this week, which has been the only lift I’ve moved up on in a couple weeks. Everything was progressing steadily until then. Bench has been stuck at 185, row around 135. I suppose I’ve moved up on calf raises, but I just threw that in to work on a weak point.

About 3 days a week I work both night and evening, and the other days I work either or. I have no solid schedule to lift, which has been an issue. Either I have to work out before one job, or after them both (~10-11PM).

Issues I’ve noted:
-Probable lack of calories
-Unstable training schedule

Should I be this burned out? Is it time to switch workouts? Or am I overtraining? I return to high school as a senior this year a month from now, and I wanted to do this regiment until then.

As a side note: I’ve been lifting for about a year now, but didn’t begin correctly/seriously until about 3-4 months ago when I found T-Nation.

Edit: I work as a web design intership during the day, and I work at a restaurant bussing tables at night (the restaurant job is actually fairly active, some nights I’m nearly running for 5hrs straight… perhaps I’ve just not compensated for the extra activity and should be eating more?).

And I’ve found I’ve been losing fat throughout the summer, although this isn’t an undesired effect (I’ve been eating cleaner, execising Berardi’s rules, etc., so this should happen). Not sure if that’s helpful for any reason.

2

[quote]Hugo82 wrote:
Issues I’ve noted:
-Probable lack of calories
-Unstable training schedule

Should I be this burned out? Is it time to switch workouts? Or am I overtraining? I return to high school as a senior this year a month from now, and I wanted to do this regiment until then.
[/quote]

First off, how burned out are you? Feeling tired and lethargic happens when you don’t sleep enough and you’ve got a high amount of stress from life in general. Sometimes it’s enough to affect your lifting, and you need to accept a slower rate of progression and adjust your training to either less volume, less frequency, or less intensity.

If the goal is fat-loss, and you’re doing good there, then it sounds like you’re succeeding. You may just have to tolerate the fatigue.

If the goal is strength, you should probably eat more and manage your time better to prep the food.

3

The past week or so I’ve gotten at least 7 hours of sleep per night, more often 9hrs (which leaves me tired, but I seem to be tired regardless). And yes, I’m definitely feeling lethargic. I’m a bit stressed at working so often and not having time to do things I enjoy (like lifting, when I can’t lift it’s paradoxical… it aggravates me which creates stress which prolongs the return to lifting).

I’ve been trying for strength gains. The fat loss is secondary, as I believe myself to be around 10-12% (can generally see abs, definitely when flexed, which I’ve been told is around that range. Obviously you cannot tell for sure without a test, as everyone is different.).

The food prep is mainly when working. The night shift on Fri/Sat generally is 6 hours or so, which means I would need a meal inbetween. Generally, though, I don’t even have time to stop to slug a shake. Not only that, but the shakes have been getting a horrible taste/consistency after sitting for a few hours. I’m working on finding new protein/mixes that would accomodate to this.

If anyone has some good P+F combos of their own, please let me know. Somewhere around 500kcal would be best, seeing as it’s in the weening hours of the day.

4

500 kcal with P+F? No problem.

2 scoops whey + 1/2 cup flax meal.

8oz ground chuck

2 cans tuna, celery, and 2 tbsp EVOO

6 medium eggs, 1/4 cup cheese (need stove though)

8oz chicken, 2 tbsp EVOO, salad, and vinegar for dressing.

5

Hell, if you’re really pressed for time, you can even grab some beef jerky and nuts. Most brands of jerky have a lot of extra crap added to them, but some, like Wild Bill’s, are pretty much meat, spices, and soy sauce.

6

Thanks for some of the suggestions. What I had done earlier in the summer was just 2 scoops of whey with flax meal, but the resultant flavor/consistency was very… undesirable.

7

Similar thing happened to me after 3 months cutting. Went to the gym on back day, and I wasn’t tired physically but mentally I could not concentrate to get good form on my lifts or push myself at all. Thought it was just a bad day but the same thing happened the next couple workouts.

I ended up taking 3 days off and have been alright after that.

8

Well, as an update, I finally got into the weight room at 10:30pm. Far later than I’d desired, but work was a huge pain in the ass and I had to stay late… not doing anything to help the stress.

Anyways, I bumped up my squat 10lbs and cranked that out. It was grueling, but it felt great to move up 10 instead of 5, putting me at 5/5/5 of 255. Especially after a few days off.

Bench I’ve stalled for about two weeks now, so I’m deloading and bumping down about 10%. Even doing that wasn’t very easy…

I began deadlifts again, since I’ve been a pussy and just opted to work on my Pendlay row. I’ll alternate the two like suggested, because I don’t want to burn myself out by doing DLs every session as I was when I began SS. It was weak… only did 185, but I’ll start low and move up like you’re supposed to and do it properly.

Perhaps the past few nights have been restless due to not working out; yet another paradox. I’ve found I’m very “on-edge” when I skip lifting for a couple days… sends me in a downward spiral. Just further reason to keep on track.

Thanks for the suggestions, and I’ll kick my own ass if I grow lazy again, since that was likely the problem. Just not enough attention to my nutrition, sleep, and all-around well-being.