Depression and (unsuccessful) bulking

[Sim882]

Has anyone tried to bulk whilst suffering clinical depression. Was it harder and what did you do to overcome it?

I have endured New Daily Persistent headache, a type of chronic daily headache, for the past 2.5 years, and in the last 2 months have become clinically depressed (IMO) as a result of this (i.e., the knowledge of decrease career prospects and life enjoyment because of this) and started taking an SSRI in the last 3 weeks in response to this.

Since this time, I ended my cut (my avatar was not the end result, but I think the newer picture is in my profile, and is my avatar for bodybuilding.com/forum) and I simply cannot bulk at all. I feel like I'm still giving it my all, and yet for the first time in 1 year of doing weights, I'm not making progress and in fact going backwards, the annoying combination of decreasing some lifts & gaining bodyfat.

I don't look terrible yet, but this is very dissapointing considering prior to this I was making progress. I was hoping to gain 5 kilos of LBM this year, but probably have gained 0 so far.

I wondered if it was my routine (see below). My diet is fine i think

My current workout routine is across a 4 day cycle:

Day 1 (legs, abs): Back and Front Squats, Deadlift, Lunges, Hack Squat, Goodmorning, sit ups, every second leg session box jumps or jump squats
Day 2: chest, shoulders, tris): BB Bench, Dips, Incline Dumbell Bench, Close Grip Bench Press, Shoulder Press, Skull Crusher
Day 3 (back, biscep curls): wide chins, close chins, bent over rows, t-bar rows, biscep curls, hammer curls.
Day 4 rest

 

[Sim882]

My diet BTW is (occasionally, I have strayed with depressed cashew binges, but that only explains higher bf, not decreasing strength). Even in my only previous cut, because I never cut carbs that low, my strength frequently increased

(1) Combo of whole grain oats/barley/rye/wheat + whey + skim milk, then workout
(2) PWO, whey + waxy + creatine (waxy then whey 20 minutes later)
(3) 1 hour later, kangaroo + sweet potatos
(4) salmon + sweet potatos
(5) scrambled eggs, fiberous veggies,
(6) casein shake

 

[deathdroprob]

This is no where near my feilds of knowledge but do you ever have a week or two off?
Youve obviously hot a plateau.
Have a week or two off. Eat some of the foods you wouldnt usally eat and do some light cardio.
And even switching your routine.
I like your days, but maybe switching to a complete hypertrophy routine for a while or even for good might sow to be usefull.
Also On your diet, I would Deffinatly consider adding 1 or even 2 more meals. And if your bf is going up make them smaller with not too many cals adn Extremely clean.

Hope this can help in some way.

 

[Sculelos]

You gotta be positive man. Depression is known to lower immune system function, increase fat gain, decrease muscle function and a lot of horrible things that you don't want.

I'm not sure if it will help but when I started to get frequent headaches I started drinking more water and made sure I started taking more suger and I've been awesome ever since.

Hope you can find a solution to your problem.

 

[Sim882]

Nah, never had a week or 2 off (2 days would be max).

I think wouldn't be a bad idea - I'm on a holiday of sorts in 2 weeks so I will use it as opportunity.

ANd it probably is time to change routine

As for fat gain, I think that's case of cashew binges more than anything else, so just not buying them anymore

This is no where near my feilds of knowledge but do you ever have a week or two off?
Youve obviously hot a plateau.
Have a week or two off. Eat some of the foods you wouldnt usally eat and do some light cardio.
And even switching your routine.
I like your days, but maybe switching to a complete hypertrophy routine for a while or even for good might sow to be usefull.
Also On your diet, I would Deffinatly consider adding 1 or even 2 more meals. And if your bf is going up make them smaller with not too many cals adn Extremely clean.

Hope this can help in some way.

 

[skyflyer231]

How many cashews can you eat at once? You must like 'em.

Haha I wouldn't even be able to come close enough to call it a 'binge'.

 

[BLAZAY]

u shud be relieving alot of stress through working out alone, as it releases endorphines. so your workouts should only be helping

 

[Sim882]

How many cashews can you eat at once? You must like 'em.

Haha I wouldn't even be able to come close enough to call it a 'binge'.

I have been going through a kilo of cashews per week (that's 6000 cals). And I have been putting cheese on them. Never have I had such poor dietary control. Adds up other 2 months.

And yeah, weight training helps, as does cardio - I feel better with it than without it, I just don't understand why I have got weaker.

2 examples:
- 5 rep bench, decreased from 110 kilos to 97.5
- 5 rep wide chins, decreased from 25 kilos (i.e., doing them with 25 kilos of weights attached) to just 10

Deadlift is unaffected, but squats have also gone doubt slightly

 

[kiosk]

u shud be relieving alot of stress through working out alone, as it releases endorphines. so your workouts should only be helping

not necesarily....I got clinical depression too after working out for 8 years, is a common myth that training or exercise will help or cure such things
Only SSRI class drug have helped

 

[b fold the truth]

We have a lot in common. Late here so I can't stay long but will check in as much as possible.

I've had issues gaining weight for a long time. When you have force fed yourself days upon days, forced liquids, slept, trained, etc...and the scale doesn't move...it adds to your depression. You start to believe that you are NOT good at this sport even as much as you work at it.

For 8 months I took cortisone that depleted my muscle no matter what else I did. Knowing that every workout would be worst than the last was hard to handle and the after effects were/are rough as well.

Accepting what you have and letting it slide with a smile and a new plan is hard to do. One way that I get by this is writing down what I have recently done successfully. As lame as it may sound, it is a good thing and helps a lot.

Recently I have gained 3 lbs, increased my rotator cuff strength, increased my shoulder flexibility a little, started going to bed and waking up a couple of hours earlier, spent hours a day at work with my 11 week old son, have laid with my dog in my lap in my chair several times a week, laid the foundation for a major Autism seminar for November, and have helped a couple of friends increase their deadlift and atlas stone weights.

Hopefully those things will turn into me setting a new Deadift PR, log press PR, and hitting 291 lbs on the scale this year. If not...I'll find a few things that I did do to write down on a piece of paper.

 

[Tatyana]

not necesarily....I got clinical depression too after working out for 8 years, is a common myth that training or exercise will help or cure such things
Only SSRI class drug have helped

I am glad that SSRIs have worked for you, but it is not a myth that exercise and training do not help.

SSRIs do not work on everyone, they work on about 40-60% of the population.

Same with monoamine inhibitors.

Simm, it does sound like you are suffering a reactive depression, it is a normal response to things like stress and pain.

Everyone I know who has recovered from depression took on sorting themselves out, as the drugs will only take things so far.

One thing I would look at is the amount and type of fat in your diet, the brain is mostly composed of lipids, and it is quite susceptible to changes in the fatty acid profile.

You may also want to consider St. John's Wort if the SSRI does not agree with you. There have been several clinical trials comparing St. John's Wort and SSRI and MAIs, and the herbal remedy was just as efficient as the pharmas, with less sides.

You need a good quality herb, not all of them are the same, and also a dose of at least 1500 mg/day, so check the size of the tablets, they do vary from country to country.

 

[10001110101]

it has been suggested that SSRI's may in fact lower free testosterone, occasionally to hypogonadal range, there are a few studies just google it.

http://www.priory.com/psych/sexdys.htm

here's one. this is also thought to be a contributing factor in ED caused by SSRI's

 

[kiosk]

I am glad that SSRIs have worked for you, but it is not a myth that exercise and training do not help.

SSRIs do not work on everyone, they work on about 40-60% of the population.

you are making my point, nothing works same for everyone, that includes exercise and the common assumption associated with training for treatment of depression.
there is a lot of myth on internet and magazines leading people to believe they can simply walk off or exercise away their depression or similar disorder....not so easy

 

[skyflyer231]

you are making my point, nothing works same for everyone, that includes exercise and the common assumption associated with training for treatment of depression.
there is a lot of myth on internet and magazines leading people to believe they can simply walk off or exercise away their depression or similar disorder....not so easy

I think they're just saying that exercise helps, and there is no doubt in anyones mind that it does.



Anyways, sounds to me like you just need to deload everyone once and a while. And then get back at it fresh.

All I can say for sure bro is I've been depressed for long periods of time more than once in my life. Lifting definately helped me either get out of depression, or lessen it's effect on my life. And since I've dedicated myself almost fully to lifting, with journals, planning meals, etc, depression is almost none existant. And I've yet to seek drugs for it. So just keep at it.

Cashews and cheese??? You're an oddity. lol.

 

[19psi]

how are you doing squats and deadlifts in the same day? holy shit, that's got to be taxing your nervous system to no end. i know i'd get weaker if i tried doing that!
maybe split up your days some more for more recovery time between major exercises.

 

[b fold the truth]

how are you doing squats and deadlifts in the same day? holy shit, that's got to be taxing your nervous system to no end. i know i'd get weaker if i tried doing that!
maybe split up your days some more for more recovery time between major exercises.

I squat and dead on the same day. Quite often 2x a week (but I watch my volume and intensity pretty close).

Another KY boy here...love it!

 

[Bridger]

Perhaps the depression has caused a decrease in your intensity/aggressiveness?

I have battled depression/bipolar issues for a few years and can say for sure when im down i lack that fire and drive to push more weight. Its easy to get caught up in all the negatives in your life when you feel down.

b fold made a great suggestion. Making a list of all the things you have a accomplished can be a boost to ones mood and motivation. It might not solve your depression, but it can keep you going until you do get things worked out.

 

[19psi]

I squat and dead on the same day. Quite often 2x a week (but I watch my volume and intensity pretty close).

Another KY boy here...love it!

wow man, that's insane. whatever works for you though.

hell, i'm trying to get out of KY, i'm sick of it. been here since i was 10.

 

[nimbus]

My diet BTW is (occasionally, I have strayed with depressed cashew binges, but that only explains higher bf, not decreasing strength). Even in my only previous cut, because I never cut carbs that low, my strength frequently increased

(1) Combo of whole grain oats/barley/rye/wheat + whey + skim milk, then workout
(2) PWO, whey + waxy + creatine (waxy then whey 20 minutes later)
(3) 1 hour later, kangaroo + sweet potatos
(4) salmon + sweet potatos
(5) scrambled eggs, fiberous veggies,
(6) casein shake

How many cals are you taking in a day on that diet do you think? 1800-2000? I only weigh 172 right now and i know for a fact i'd either stall out or lose weight wit h that diet.

 

[nimbus]

fyi was on ssri's for a few months and i didn't really notice any changes in strength