An art installement?
Or maybe it’s a political statement.
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Guys I really need the swarm intelligence on this one:
Does anyone have tips for me as to how to deal with an episode of bad training?
For 5-6 weeks now things haven’t been going my way. Weights feel heavier and move slower than they should, I can’t lock my shoulders out to save my life with any weight worth riding down (not a strength issue though) and I have a total lack of intensity in my workouts. Coach noted that I don’t go at the weights with the necessary intent to benefit from my current training phase. Now I have a new training phase coming up, hopefully the change of pace will help.
One big problem I have is I keep getting in my head and comparing my numbers to what I have done over the last few months. Beforehand I look at the spreadsheet and think “okay that’s gotta be easy. I have done this for sets of 10. Will be a cake walk… but what if not? Things move slow at the moment. What if this isn’t moving as easy as it should? Am I getting weaker?”
Then after I have done the sets and had to actually work for it: “Fuck me this was way zoo slow/ hard/ shit quality etc. This is only X percent. I have literally done this with 20 kg more and it was easy! Fuck me, have I gotten weaker?! Should I just abandon everything I am doing right now and do XY?!”
I think you get the picture. I can’t stop this negative comparison. At least I don’t know how.
Let’s look at this from a distance and collect the facts we have:
- the diet: I like my “new look”. My face doesn’t look like I am the Michelin man and my belly is noticeably less fat (- 7 cm atm). But is this really the trade off? I can’t fully accept that. I don’t even feel depleted of anything. Plus fat doesn’t move weights.
- school/ uni: I have done some exhausting shit before (40+ hours in shift work and studying for + attaining my bachelor’s degree on the side), so I don’t know if that should make it easier for me or harder because I am older and a little more “used up” than all the 18-20 year olds. Anyways school is stressful. It’s a stunningly high tempo. We have a normal work week but it’s so much more exhausting than any real job I’ve had since you learn new stuff everyday. Well and you gotta study on top. But I mean it’s nothing I haven’t done before. I was still lifting when I was homeless and on 2 hours of sleep as an average (which thankfully was a short period).
- the move: Still stressing me but it’s getting better. Mission social life isn’t going ideal but hey.
- the gyms: I really hate commercial gyms. I badly miss my wonderful cheese factory where it is just me and my weights. It’s not the dame intensity.
- Depression: Eh, what can I say? This has never really kept me from achieving my athletic goals. Literally from everything in life and nearly life itself but not that. Would be cool to discuss that with a therapist at one point. I digress.
Sounds like you’re stressed out. Even if you’re used to that amount of stress, I feel you may be underestimating the impact of fat loss. Sure, fat doesn’t move weight, but water weight via glycogen storage, while not muscle, can make a substantial difference if you’re relatively depleted. And taking in significantly fewer calories than you expend… of course that pre-dieting energy won’t be matched. Everything has trade-offs.
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I definitely understand your struggles. Admittedly, I’m not the best at dealing with situations like this, but what always works for me is to do something off prpgram that I enjoy next session and come back.
most likely not
I second this. You mentioned that you are preparing for an exam. The pressure might inherently be more stressful even if it’s not conciously that noticeable. That, in addition to a fat loss phase (good job by the way!), might just be a bit too much. I’ve always noticed that my strength “mysteriously” dipped when there was a test or large deadline coming up even if my workload wasn’t necessarily ant higher.
not a good comparison
most likely yes
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True, I am stressed out. The thing is, that is pretty much my default setting. I can hardly remember a time in which I wasn’t stressed out. It’s just too long ago. It’s not really the external stress that gets me, it’s more the internal stress. It’s a constant battle that very much exhausts me. Since I don’t see stress going down (wether that’s the ‘real’ stress or otherwise), I simply try to live with it because I seemingly can’t find a way to release it.
This might very well be true. Tbh I assumed since I started the fat loss with plenty of fat to spare (I am still far away from lean), it wouldn’t have that big of an impact.
I definitely am stressed but the exam has very little to do with that. In general exams have never stressed me much (the exemption is my bachelor thesis) and I have only known about it for like 10 days. That wouldn’t explain 5 weeks of bad training.
Nah being homeless sucked more. 
In all seriousness though, I added the anecdotes to give a little bit of perspective.
Let’s hope you’re right!
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I understand that those other variables are your default, but maybe the weight loss is just enough to make your body tick. I could be wrong, but I scrolled back and it looks like you’ve lost ~5 kg in a month or so. That’s not nothing. Not only is dieting a stress in itself, but it surely isn’t going to make dealing with those other stressors easier. Sure, a deficit probably affects you quite differently from, say, me. I’m simply suggesting some common sense. Losing significant bodyfat and feeling on top of the world in and out of the weight room generally don’t go hand in hand.
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How about taking two weeks off of dieting and see how you feel and how weights move? And if that doesn’t work maybe the training phase that’s needed is one that demands less out of you momentarily so you can progress later after uni/the move/gyms stop being as foreign/stressful. Basically, since acclimatisation to that will simply take time the only other conceivable option then would be to adjust the remaining variables in life you can control. Then after that stress subsides your training can put a greater demand on you forcing you to adapt beyond where you currently are.
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It most certainly does. Leverages on the static lifts improve with fat, and there’s a lot to be said about “weight moves weight”. If it weren’t the case, strongman wouldn’t put on bodyweight when the Arnold comes around in order to lift the heaviest poundages.
The biggest thing is to not compare yourself from different bodyweights. Those are different entities. You have to establish new PRs and baselines.
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Don’t remember if it was Hatfield or Kelso that wrote
“You can’t fire a cannon from a canoe! You have to weigh anchor.”
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Thanks for your input guys, it has been seriously helpful! @Bagsy @anna_5588 @Voxel @T3hPwnisher.
On top I got a great message from my coach, whom I’ve asked the same question.
With all of that in mind, I’ll try to adjust my mindset and make the most out of each individual training phase.
I’m not making promises that I’ll stop complaining. As you guys have rightfully pointed out, I am very stressed out at the moment. I have sincerely taken a moment over the weekend to take a look at myself and my situation and yes, I am indeed running on all cylinders to keep me going. It has certainly gotten worse since those big life changes I have been making lately, which is to be expected. Maybe it will turn out to be for the best in the end… or I crumble under the pressure again.
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Tried the recipe tonight. It was good. I added a good bit of butter to get the fat content higher which obviously makes it even better
I believe @T3hPwnisher truly has it right,
I have no idea who said this originally but: take training seriously, but don’t take it personally.
You now know that your performance is a reflection of your circumstance. It’s not that you’ve gotten weaker, it’s just that the context within which you are performing has changed and so your performance changed with it.
Just trust the process and be smart about not trying to claw yourself out of a hole as that added stress wouldn’t be helping you move forward.
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Those are some excellent points!
I like that, great saying.
118,5 (20.10.)
119,1 (21.10.)
118,3 (22.10.)
118,5 (23.10.)
118,3 (24.10.) Seems like I am a bit stuck
117,4 (25.10.)
120 Chest (+0,5) (+ 2,5 to the start)
107,5 Belly (-1,5) (-7,5 kg to the start of measurements)
78 Leg (-0,5) (-1 to the start)
45 Arm (-0,5) (-0,5 to the start)
118,3 Weekly average (-0,8) (-5,1 to the start/ 7 kg to my average at the start and 9 kg to my heaviest)
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Hypertrophy starts now and coach would like a slight surplus. I am a little unsure of how to do that (either increase fat or introduce a little bit of carbs).
We’ll see how it goes. The change of pace is weird for my head. I’m still very much in diet mode.
Carbs on training days, fat on off-days?
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Sounds reasonable.
You are good at nutrition!
Haha, no (not yet). But thank you.
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You seem to have a good grasp of the Big Picture, and know how to handle a variety of situations. That’s good!