Hi everyone. I have been lifting consistently for about 4 years after my High School Wrestling days. I am 5’6, 175. My main lifting program revolved around the Max Effort and Dynamic Effort Lifts of the Westside Barbell Template. I followed the barbell book of methods as much as I could. I stayed with the accumulation phase and took deloads every 4 weeks. (Did not have the time to compete due to Physical Therapy School). My max lifts are:
Bench: 325
Squat: 415
Deadlift: 505
After my last de-load (3 weeks ago, 2 weeks ago?), I am unable to get past the 90% mark. I am squatting 315x3, DLing 405x3 and benching 275x2, and it feels heavy. Worse than that, I wake up tired, and unable to get my body “awake” to lift. I’ve tried some PWO supplements to assist me and they do not seem to help. I am still highly motivated but my body refuses to accomodate that motivation. I have plateaued and regressed and feel myself getting weaker. I should not just a year ago my max lifts were:
Bench: 225
Squat: 275
Deadlift: 315
I need help as to how to break out of this slump and how to progress and achieve my goal of a 1350 RAW total. Some have told me I simply progressed too much, too fast, others say take a month off, others say do a new program, and I am simply unsure as to what to do in order to achieve my goals. Thank you all for your help.
Try utilizing all aspects of the conjugate system, reassessing your weakness’, and changing your lifts by trying new movements or adding in chains/bands.
EDIT: all aspects being accumulation and intensification blocks, work capacity, lactate tolerance training, etc.
It’s definitely not “cns burnout”. If your cns was truly burnt out, you’d be lying in a hospital bed. Any claim otherwise is just internet bro talk.
I had fatigue problems of some kind. Went to a meet end of November 2010 and felt awful for a long time afterwards. Had a few gym sessions over the next 2 weeks and then stopped entirely December 10th ish.
I lost 10kgs of muscle (partly because I stopped eating as well)
Did nothing until end of December when started doing pushups and chinups.
Early February had a viral fatigue problem and stopped pushups and chinups.
March 8th went back to the gym. Total weight loss from 123kg to 108kg. My lifts had regressed from end of November weights to:
-100kg bench to 26kg dbsx6
-front squat c 120kg to 82kg
-deadlift 240kg to 182kg
Basically I lost 25-33% strength with 4 months off and weight loss.
I got them back and more within 3-6 months.
Im not saying I wouldnt do what I did differently but I would take 2-4 weeks cold turkey except maybe walking or swimming or something ridiculous, go back and find your lifts have dropped a bit (maybe 10% if you keep eating) and accept you have to take 1-2 months back to move forward again - maybe the Westside method isnt for you and you shouldnt do it when you come back.
[quote]louiek wrote:
Try utilizing all aspects of the conjugate system, reassessing your weakness’, and changing your lifts by trying new movements or adding in chains/bands.[/quote]
i agree with this as well taking a longer deload. spend 2 weeks doing light mobility based workouts that hit your weaknesses. then go back to your regular workout.
I agree with what everyone has said so far with one caveat:
Stop training. You are running yourself into the ground in a very very bad way. Do some higher volume work for a month, eat your face off, get the rest of your training and life in order, then get back to the heavy stuff. One major problem beginners have in the Westside system is going too heavy, too often, for too long a period of time.
Check out the older Westside Thread on here and do an Accumlation Block. When you get back to heavy weights, you’ll feel like a million bucks.
Thank you so much for all the advice guys. I’ve taken a full week off and I’m ready to get back into the gym (not Westside) but some type of training.
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
I agree with what everyone has said so far with one caveat:
Stop training. You are running yourself into the ground in a very very bad way. Do some higher volume work for a month, eat your face off, get the rest of your training and life in order, then get back to the heavy stuff. One major problem beginners have in the Westside system is going too heavy, too often, for too long a period of time.
Check out the older Westside Thread on here and do an Accumlation Block. When you get back to heavy weights, you’ll feel like a million bucks.[/quote]
I have followed your posts on the older thread, great tips and advice. Thanks again. When you say high volume, would bodybuilding for a month or two be alright before I jump back into strength training?
[quote]liluan wrote:
Thank you so much for all the advice guys. I’ve taken a full week off and I’m ready to get back into the gym (not Westside) but some type of training.
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
I agree with what everyone has said so far with one caveat:
Stop training. You are running yourself into the ground in a very very bad way. Do some higher volume work for a month, eat your face off, get the rest of your training and life in order, then get back to the heavy stuff. One major problem beginners have in the Westside system is going too heavy, too often, for too long a period of time.
Check out the older Westside Thread on here and do an Accumlation Block. When you get back to heavy weights, you’ll feel like a million bucks.[/quote]
I have followed your posts on the older thread, great tips and advice. Thanks again. When you say high volume, would bodybuilding for a month or two be alright before I jump back into strength training? [/quote]
Doing Bodybuilding work (8-12rep sets with moderate but challenging weights and more single joint stuff in addition to the big 3) for a month or 2 could really help you, and really you can do whatever you want. A break from heavy shit usually helps if you’re having troubles getting stronger, as well as giving your joints a break from the heavy stuff. also of note is that most guys with decent deads do more bodybuilding stuff for back, including Ed Coan and Benni magnusson.