Bizzare strength loss

[guldukat]

Hiya.

I've gained notoreity for long posts so I'll do my best to be brief here. Famous last words, eh?

In short, I train DC style. When I went to train Monday, my first exercise, the Hammer Iso-Incline Press, was off...and I mean OFF.

My previous best on that exercise is 320x8 and 280x12. That's about 60 lbs. shy of what I want.

I was hit with the flu around Thanksgiving, and lost 11 lbs. I've gained 7 back since, leaner now than before too. The machine incline had dropped to 265 for 10 after the sickness, but I figured it'd go back up in short order, you know?

I was half right. For awhile it was going up. First workout was 265x10, then 270x9 the next. The third, I had 270 for almost 11. I was almost back!

Well, Monday, my warm-ups felt really heavy, so I decided to only go to 275. I figured I'd at least get it for 9 if not 10. And guess what?

On the fifth rep, I was fucking FAILING! The sixth went up a third of the way, then bombed.

So now, I'm well under my all-time PR, to the tune of 50 lbs. I'm stunned. I've been Doggcrapping since the first of last March, but I was coming off a break when I was sick, so I can't be overtrained. Everything else is quickly approaching my old bests. I've actually set a few PRs.

You can imagine I'm pretty down and above all, very confused. I go up 5 lbs. on that incline, and my reps drop from 10 to 5? *shakes head* Pardon my language, but that is grade A bullshit.

I am wondering if the following things might have something to do with my pathetic performance Monday:

1--I had a pain in my right lat around Christmas for a week. Every day I took upwards of 800 mg Ibuprofen to dull that.

I find this largely irrelevant. If it was so bad, why did it only hurt my strength on one lift?

2--Prior to getting sick, I had scaled the weights back on most of my presses to focus on very slow negatives. I don't think I'd worked up to over 270+ for slow reps in over 2.5 months, perhaps 3.

I think this is compelling. To be good at faster but controlled reps, you've gotta practice them, right? Going over what I haven't "practiced" in so long might have something to do with it, but how much?

3--Yep, over the holidays, I drank. Not always to excess, but I was weak, I admit it.

If that was such a problem, though, again, why is it only killing one exercise?

4--Because of the holidays and the pain (see #1), I took a week off.

So, instead of the usual 14-15 days between repeating that exercise, I let 21 days pass.

However, similar if not longer rest periods didn't hamper other exercises, or today's movements for that matter. My previous best on the incline DB curl was 45x13/arm; I hit that 45 minutes ago, and probably could've done 14. I just sat down expecting to suck and didn't put my heart into it.



...That's all I can think of. Eating, sleep, stress are all in order. I can't figure out why one particular exercise, one I have NOT drilled into the ground recently but haven't neglected THAT badly, would be so horrible. Doggcrapping itself certainly isn't to blame by any means. I think it's something simple, or a few simple somethings, I am overlooking.

Insight to what the heck's going on is appreciated. Until I figure this out I'm training easier...something I grow very tired of at this stage!

Thanks in advance.
-Sean "Dukat" Robertson

 

[casualbb]

It could be a fluke... if you're still weak next time you try the movement, then you have my permission to freak out.

 

[Mike_Rojas]

I'm in the same boat as you, dukat. I got the flu and lost 10 pounds. My strength is down on everything. I'm hoping a couple weeks should get me back to normal. Just give it some time.

 

[guldukat]

It could be a fluke... if you're still weak next time you try the movement, then you have my permission to freak out.

Trust me, I probably will!

Mike, sorry to hear about your flu...it takes it out of us, to be sure.

What blows my mind is that my machine incline was weaker Monday than it was the first workout after I came back from being sick! And that was well over a month ago *eek*!

This is too weird. To go from a 5 RM of ~335 to 275 while everything else is about back to normal...I don't get it.

My #2 explanation above is all I can think of to rationalize this. I'd been doing ultra-slow negatives for so long, I became better at doing them but temporarily much weaker in the positive *shrugs*

That, and not having attempted much over 270/3 wheels in so long, I simply have to climb back up the weight ladder or somesuch, regain my proficiency in the exercise.

The only other thing is that I might've moved the seat on that incline to a different than normal position. I just don't see how it could cut my projected reps in half.

Christ Almighty, do I want to get back to that 320x8. I was VERY dissatisfied with it as is...I wanted 360x8 or better, clean.

*grumbles*

 

[JT Iron]

Can someone give me the cliff notes to this post?

 

[guldukat]

Can someone give me the cliff notes to this post?

...Right after I finished saying I knew it'd be long.

Thanks. I appreciate being kicked when I'm down.

 

[thefren]

I have an inflamation in my nasal cavity or whatever. went to the doctor she said it is a small infection, and thankfully didn't get a fever or anything that would tear me down. I haven't lost any weight since I've been eating more to prevent getting sicker. I am taking Sudafed, and nasonex. I am tired of this illness not leaving my body. I've tried a lot of herbal things to get rid of it, but that does it for me. Even if I need to take medication. But anyway, just eat more and your body will recuperate immediately. You'll get to the weight you were before.

 

[guldukat]

But anyway, just eat more and your body will recuperate immediately. You'll get to the weight you were before.

I hope that infection clears up for you soon.

I hope things will straighten out for me soon, too. It makes no sense...I'm right back to my previous bests, and in a few cases have set all-time PRs. But one exercise out of the whole bunch suddenly goes down, way down!

With everything else I've got going on right now, I want lifting to go in my favor. I need something to keep me sane.

 

[coolcolj]

I always blame the CNS

 

[crew9]

I hope that infection clears up for you soon.

I hope things will straighten out for me soon, too. It makes no sense...I'm right back to my previous bests, and in a few cases have set all-time PRs. But one exercise out of the whole bunch suddenly goes down, way down!

With everything else I've got going on right now, I want lifting to go in my favor. I need something to keep me sane.

It's happened to me before and it's never fun. Actually it just happened to me with squats. Just keep eating and sleeping as much as ya can and things will workout for the best.

 

[NWinters]

It's happened to me before and it's never fun. Actually it just happened to me with squats. Just keep eating and sleeping as much as ya can and things will workout for the best.

same here.......It could have just been a bad day all together. And it does get discouraging, it may also be a sign, maybe time to change a few things around to get past those sticky points.

 

[crew9]

For me it was finals week. I had 2 nights in a row with 3 hours of sleep and then pulled an all nighter the next one. Add to that fact that I ran outta money so I didn't eat for 23 hours straight once. Needless to say I was burnt out and my lifting felt it for a bit.

 

[JT Iron]

...Right after I finished saying I knew it'd be long.

Thanks. I appreciate being kicked when I'm down.

First of all you're hardly "down." I tore my pec and can't do anything but tricep pushdowns and one armed deadlifts. Trust me, it could be worse.


I'd take a week off and start back with a different routine since you've been doing the same one for 10 months.

 

[Debaser]

I'd see what happens next time around, but I'd like to know more about the pain in your lat.

With hammer strength machines, and this is a plus in my book, you start without the aid of momentum. In other words, it's like doing a bench press in the power rack starting at the bottom of the movement.

Now the main role of the lats in pressing movements is the initial drive. There may be a correlation. This is also why it might not necessarily impact your back exercises; because the lats are not used in the same manner and generally work with the aid of momentum from the very first rep.

 

[Synpax]

silly guess, but it has gotten me before.

Was the seat in the correct slot position? If it's not you might have been doing at an angle that disadvantaged you.

 

[guldukat]

Thanks for all the input.

Colin: I knew you'd say that That's a large part of what I was thinking in so many words, LOL.

JT Iron: I was 95% ribbing you back, but when I said I "down" I wasn't talking about the lifting. It's...other stuff. I don't want to whine any more than I have; suffice to say, things have been bad. Maybe I'll talk about it at EF sometime in the future. Can't right now.

Anyway, I truly hope your pec heals soon. I respect your tenacity
--one-armed deads say it all!--and your advice is good, even if I had to needle ya to get it No hard feelings, and I'll look forward to progress reports on your pec/workouts in the future.

Synpax: Yep, in retrospect, I moved the stupid seat to an unusual position. My head is so screwed up from "real life" stuff alluded to above that I couldn't remember where I'd set the thing previously.

Good thought there. That also corroborates some of what I thought. The seat was only slightly off, maybe 2 centimeters?, but that could have something to do with the crazy-ass strength loss.



And last but not least, Debaser:

That's...what I was afraid of. LOL. Great thinking. I should've known better than to dismiss this "injury" simply because it hasn't hurt lat strength.

I don't know how to describe the pain. It started in my mid-upper back, in the lower traps, a few days before Christmas. It was just a stiffness, probably brought on by a cheat BB curl. I wasn't using much weight, 125 lbs. for 11, and failed on the 12th. Instead of rest-pausing that day, I decided to go straight to statics. So I took a few deep breaths, cheated the bar up, then lowered it to the midway point, elbows thrust back and into my sides a bit artificially.

By Christmas, the pain was in my lat near the rear delt, well below the "surface" of the back if that makes any sense.

It doesn't always hurt; the worst pain, almost a terrible cramping, only set it when I tried to put my face in the bathroom sink to soak before shaving. I have a very stubborn beard!

No matter where I held my arm while I did that, the pain was horrible. I could put my right arm behind my back like in handcuffs, and BAM, here comes the pain. I could put my arm on the counter to brace myself, and here it comes, pain part deux *weak smile*.

It's definitely much better now, a couple of weeks afterwards. But I still feel it here and there. If I had medical insurance I'd have it looked at immediately...I guess with everything else that's happened lately, I tried to put it out of my mind.

That, and it's so damned hard to describe. There's no bruising evident anywhere, and nothing's swollen that I can tell. Stupid body. I am thankful that it's not something far worse, like a pec or hamstring tear, but if lifting could go well, that'd definitely help in taking my mind off things.

 

[guldukat]

Nick, Crew, I didn't forget you! Thanks for the thoughts.

In a way, eating and sleeping well might be all I _can_ do if this upper back pain is restricting me. I'd just have to give it time to heal.

I would like to try a different routine, though, partly because I think it'd be fun to switch things up. For many reasons my enthusiasm is definitely at one of its low points, so a new workout might help me in a number of ways.

 

[danielson]

same things happened to me, i;ve lost something like 30kg off my bench, come back next week and was fine

it wasnt always related to any obvious stress i had either

shit yesterday i was doing a 5x3, benched a weight...waited 5 mins and then couldnt even lift it 1mm off the bar...i didnt get it up at ALL after that.....a few days prior i couldnt even do that weight for 1 rep! weird shit happens a lot

 

[guldukat]

weird shit happens a lot

Wise words

 

[Mike_Rojas]

I got a bad virus, and I was unable to workout for two weeks. Before I was sick I was up to 220 pounds. I started working out again about a week ago. My weight was down to 210, and all my lifts were really weak.

Anyway, after a week of training, my upper body strength is about the same as it was before my illness. The weird thing is my lower body is still really weak. For example, I was doing multiple sets of 5 on decline with 245 yesterday and seated presses with 165 without any problem. But squatting a measly 225 felt heavy as hell and the next day I was extremely sore. It seems weird to me that my upper body strength would come back so much faster than my lower body strength.

My weight is still at 210.