Training 2-3 Days/Wk is All I Can Take

Training Bodybuilding
1

Is there something wrong with me here?

I was an athlete through high school, lifted 4-5 days a week, in college I worked out on a similar schedule while maintaining a high level of alcoholism.

About 2 years ago when I was 24, working a desk job, I went on my first conscious bulk and went from my all time high of 180 lbs to 220 lbs, working out 4 to 8 times a week (yep, Waterbury programs haha) and eating like a madman.

Now Im 26, have lost alot of fat and some muscle and weigh 205. I work a desk job, I eat better than I ever did (tons of fiber, appropriate colries timed pretty well, omega 3, yadda yadda Ive read this whole site back to 2002 so no lectures, Im walking the walk 80%+ of the time) but pretty much since I burnt myself out on that bulk I havent been able to maintain 3 days a week in the gym without burning myself out in 2 or 3 weeks. Sometimes I will go 3 weeks on 2x/wk and try for 3 and Ill be completely uninterested in the gym and unable to use any intensity the next week.

I sometimes have a push day and a pull day, or upper and lower day per week and I can keep at this for the 4-6 weeks, which is the amount of time I would stay on much more strenuous programs.

I feel like 3 days a week should be pretty doable for anyone, and being in pretty decent shape this is starting to worry me that my work capacity seems to not be coming back.

One thing I just started yesterday is takign rhodeola/bacopa/5htp throughout the day because I think I may have a cortisol problem. I for the last 6 months Ive worked 3am - noon, have always had problems with insomnia, am very prone to anxiety and drink excessive caffiene (every once in a while I will regress to my college days and snort ritalin or cocaine. recent use is about once every six months, but it was daily for a while in college.). I still binge drink a few times a month.

I sound like a wreck in that last paragraph but I eat really well 6 days a week.

So is it possible I have adrenal fatigue or is this prolongued vaginitis or what? Should I see a doctor and get blood tests for T and cortisol?

Anyways, thanks in advance!

2

Lets see what you’ve wrote…

[quote]milktruck wrote:
I for the last 6 months Ive worked 3am - noon, have always had problems with insomnia, am very prone to anxiety and drink excessive caffiene[/quote]

[quote]milktruck wrote:
every once in a while I will regress to my college days and snort ritalin or cocaine.[/quote]

[quote]milktruck wrote:
I still binge drink a few times a month.[/quote]

[quote]milktruck wrote:
so is it possible I have adrenal fatigue or is this prolongued vaginitis or what?[/quote]

I’d go with prolonged lack of common sense.

[quote]milktruck wrote:
Should I see a doctor?[/quote]

3

yeah, I eat better and drink less, yet my work capacity is worse. lets stick to the question.

did you just see the word cocaine and take it upon yourself to post something condescending? thats pretty awesome.

4

[quote]milktruck wrote:
I feel like 3 days a week should be pretty doable for anyone, and being in pretty decent shape this is starting to worry me that my work capacity seems to not be coming back.

[/quote]

I won’t pretend that I know the cause behind your lowered work capacity, but from personal experience I have had similar concerns when I first started lifting. At the time all my friends would work out more times per week and include more sets per workout than myself. I would get burned out on minimal volume and I couldn’t figure why I was so out of shape compared to my friends.

Long story short - The way I performed my sets was the reason why.

My friends would always stop their sets a rep or two short of complete failure; whereas I would stop at failure, take a couple of quick breathes, pump out of few more reps (and repeat) until I was completely wiped. I was new to lifting and eager to make progress that I pushed myself like this on virtually every set. After one “set” like this I’d usually only be able to get half the reps on my next set.

This style of training really takes its toll on you.

All this to say that perhaps since you’ve returned to training you’re pushing yourself much harder than you once were.

For the next couple of weeks stop a rep or two short of failure and see how you feel. Gradually add sets and sessions per week based on how your body deals with the stress (assuming that your goal is simply to add volume and not feel burned out).

[/quote]

5

[quote]milktruck wrote:

did you just see the word cocaine and take it upon yourself to post something condescending? thats pretty awesome.[/quote]

Actually, that seems pretty reasonable to me.

As for your problem, I have no real answers, but it sounds like a couple of months of training devoted to developing your CNS is in order. If I were in your position, I would look at CT’s most recent Beat Building series and use the protocol that is designed to develop your CNS.

6

[quote]milktruck wrote:
yeah, I eat better and drink less, yet my work capacity is worse. lets stick to the question.

did you just see the word cocaine and take it upon yourself to post something condescending? thats pretty awesome.[/quote]

You’re the one who wrote it.

7

[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
milktruck wrote: is there something wrong with me here?

Lets see what you’ve wrote…

milktruck wrote:
I for the last 6 months Ive worked 3am - noon, have always had problems with insomnia, am very prone to anxiety and drink excessive caffiene

milktruck wrote:
every once in a while I will regress to my college days and snort ritalin or cocaine.

milktruck wrote:
I still binge drink a few times a month.

milktruck wrote:
so is it possible I have adrenal fatigue or is this prolongued vaginitis or what?

I’d go with prolonged lack of common sense.

milktruck wrote:
Should I see a doctor?

[/quote]

Whoa, I need to stop skimming! I missed all those details on my first read. haha :^)

In that case I doubt my first post is relevant to your issues.

8

I think snorting cocaine more often in your college years is probably what gave you the energy to handle more volume. Now that you’re not doing it as often your body probably doesn’t have the ability to handle as much stress on its own.

My advice? Pick up the habit!

9

Dump the drugs, drinking, and caffeine for starters, these are doing nothing good for you.

Can’t sleep? go to GNC and buy some GABA and take 2 1 hour before you want to sleep.

You are over stimming your body and not letting it rebuild from your workouts.

Yes go see a doc and get a basic blood work and the T, cortisol, and cholesterol tests done.

I workout 3 days a week, I too do a lift to failure program of 3x6 and 3x10. If I do not get a good 6-8 hours of sleep a night I am a sore mofo for a few days.

Try adding BCAA’s to your supps, they did help the sore feeling in my muscles post workout.

10

yes, cryptically chopping up my post and adding no value was extremely helpful. I did read in between the lines but changing the past is not an option moving forward (and for the record I wouldn’t).

I didn’t post this to find out that drinking and drugs were bad. I mean, I’ve got cable.

I included my -mostly past- recreational use because I wondered if it was enough to nuke my adrenals and see if that might be the cause for my gym lethargy long after I pretty much stopped, save some of the drinking. I am just now coming to think it all may have caught up with me.

Im thinking maybe trying going stimulant free for a while as much as my schedule permits. Problem is Ive got this case of Spike in my fridge…

Thanks to all who offered advice!

11

[quote]milktruck wrote:
yes, cryptically chopping up my post and adding no value was extremely helpful. I did read in between the lines but changing the past is not an option moving forward (and for the record I wouldn’t).

[/quote]

He was right, you did write that stuff ya know. The past is the past I agree but you say you still do it, hence the heat you got.

There’s no room in bodybuilding for drugs and binge drinking. Give it up and grow up a little man, college is over.

Get your diet and sleep in order and avoid all stimulants for a few months, get some quality sleep and quit all the distractions.

And if you don’t want the lecture, keep your bad habits to yourself or just learn take the heat.

12

While i do use moderate amounts of AAS these days, i havent always - and i have abused every drug i have gone near to very dangerous levels.
I still manage to train very well when i am off cycle, or during my years naturally training.

I think you seem to be looking into some ‘condition’ too much… a little paranoid (no, i am not suggesting this is due to drugs) and alcohol, posh or caffiene wont help with that! Even cocaine on a once or twice a month freq. is going to be really quite damaging to recovery. Alcohol i feel the same about - especially as we age.

The stims are not the best thing for you - spike included. I think it sounds to me like they are the base of your problem, but not the coke use of the past like you suspect.

Alcohol does affect performance massively in some, and since i stopped that and coke etc… etc… My recovery increased, motivation and gains blew up. My base was about 160lbs… now it is about 185-190 (off cycle). This is no smokes, no booze, no nothing.

Dont worry about the past - but dont expect the best results if you use cocaine and/or booze on any kind of regular basis either. TBH, i have lived on both sides of the recovery fence, each for years - the only constant in my life was training and addiction. I know how hard it is to make a decent physique when not using ANY recreational drugs, so the addition of a piss up every 2 weeks will only hinder those fragile gains.

You need to find where your balance is - of food you need to fuel the exercise you can do to still be able to recover from. If that is 2x a week for 3 months, then so be it.

Upping your freq by 50% (2 sessions to 3) in just 2 weeks is overreaching i think, if you have been sedentary for a while.

Also, if the ONLY symptom of overtraining is un-motivation, then maybe it isnt overtraining. I can not motivate myself to train regular in just 2-3 sessions a week. This doesnt mean i am overtraining, certainly not. It is too many off days… so if i make sure i train a MINIMUM of 4x a week, i find i am ALWAYS motivated.

JJ

13

I don’t care what anybody tries to tell me, alcohol is poison plain and simple. Anything over very small amounts is a metabolic disaster, as JJ said, especially as we age.

Past cocaine use is irrelevant if it’s been any length of time, especially at your age, but, while you’re still young you ARE creeping up on the age where bulletproof youth is beginning to slip away.

It is a known medical fact that androgenic/anabolic processes are hindered for days after a bender and if you’re getting wrecked a few times a month that’s a big chunk of your time spent in that state.

Couple that with “excessive caffeine” and insomnia that is surely not being helped by it, throw in the possibility that your tolerances are diminishing as you get further away from your teens and much of the mystery disappears here.

Think with me for a second. Alternating bouts of large quantities of alcohol, a powerful depressant, and caffeine, a potent stimulant, all the while not sleeping right and attempting strenuous exercise and you’re asking why don’t I feel good?

You can eat like an olympian and it will not overcome all that.

14

plus there is the simple fact that while this may be possible for one guy to juggle and still gain (albeit not as well as he could) - it looks like it isnt in your nature/ability/genes to be able to gain - or even perform - while handicapping yourself in such a way.

Job done… me and you tiribs… NEXT! :wink:

15

[quote] JJ wrote:
plus there is the simple fact that while this may be possible for one guy to juggle and still gain (albeit not as well as he could) - it looks like it isnt in your nature/ability/genes to be able to gain - or even perform - while handicapping yourself in such a way.

Job done… me and you tiribs… NEXT! :wink:

[/quote]

That fact appears to be speaking for itself.