Triceps Hit A Wall

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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I was doing my upper body workout, which I have been doing for a couple of weeks now and I changed two things for reasons related to joint stress. I went from a narrow grip to a wide grip on my pull ups and I went from a straight bar to an EZ curl bar on my curls. Everything else was the same. The workout felt great and I was pushing all of my limits in both weight and rep ranges (I’m still finding my limits since I’m so early in the program). However, when I got to my tricep workout, I failed it miserably. I had to drop weight rather than increase weight like I should have been able to do. My energy was there just not my strength (which hasn’t happened before in ALL of my two to three weeks doing these exercises -sarcasm emphasized on the fact that I am brand new to this). Could this have been from the two changes I made or might I have just been gassed from pushing the limits on the other exercises. My exercises and order are as follows: bench press, pull ups, seated back supported overhead shoulder press, chest supported row, lateral raise, curls, slight decline tricep extension.

By push the limits I mean that I was lifting the most weight I have lifted on all exercises except pull ups and I was getting PRs on basically everything because I’m still finding my limits on most exercises.

Perhaps I’m just experiencing the normal good days/bad days effect of life but it seemed to be isolated to the triceps. Anyway, just thought I would throw this out there to get some feedback/opinions.

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You already hit bench and shoulder press. The tris were probably just getting fatigued.
So I would say it was just one of those days.

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Yeah, being last in that repertoire, I wouldn’t expect much out of them.

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As above, this early in your training career things are going to be a bit all over the place. As your first exercises progress and your ability to push those exercises harder improves the later exercises may suffer a little. Dont worry, just stick with it, if those earlier compound exercises start regressing then maybe something needs looking at.

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@ChickenLittle @SkyzykS @kd13 Right on, thanks. At this early in the game, it is quite difficult to develop and manage personal expectations because I don’t have a track record to compare against. Though I try to study the muscles impacted by each exercise, sometimes I’m lost in the jargon (this -oid and that -alis) or have a hard time figuring out just how much each muscle is activated. I appreciate the feedback. Seems like there is an ebb and flow with it all (to a degree).

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The worst thing you can do at the beginning of this game is to overthink it. That can come later once you have a good base. This is a loooongg game. You have plenty of time.

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