Dropping strength

[rugbylife]

I'm on my 3rd week of a hybrid 5x5 program. I'm doing 5x5 for all my heavy lifts, bench, squat, deads and bent rows. All other exercises are 3x10. My deads, squats and rows are going through the roof but my bench has almost done a 180. I got my bench up to 2 sets of 275 and 3 sets of 295. Today I started my bench at 275 and couldn't even get 3 sets of 5. Wondering why such a drastic change since last week. I'm eating 3500-4000(clean) cals a day and getting plenty of rest. Any thought on what my be going on?
24
5'10"
210lbs
15%bf

 

[rugbylife]

I've got a cycle on hand. Was going to wait till Jan. 1st to start but with this drop in strength i'm thinking about starting a little early. Any thoughts?

 

[Power36]

Maybe not recovering for bench...if your other big lifts are going up I wouldnt worry about bench, ride the snake on the other lifts bro...they are far more important than bench!!!!

 

[rugbylife]

Thanks power. I'll keep pushin it till i hit my squat plateau. It's just frustrating loosing weight on any lift.

 

[NOS2.0]

Give yourself 3 days off from any chest. Hit it hard on day 4!!!

 

[rugbylife]

Nos, the weird thing was I had a full week of no chest. Worked chest last Mon. And lost 20lbs on bench this Mon.

 

[gymjunkie09]

Nos, the weird thing was I had a full week of no chest. Worked chest last Mon. And lost 20lbs on bench this Mon.

there's a lot of things that could factor in here....pre-workout meal, lack of sleep, water intake. Just be sure to get in a solid preworkout meal and drink plenty of water. what do you have planned for a cycle?

 

[rugbylife]

10 week cycle
Test c depot - 500 weekly
Pregnyl - 400 weekly
3 week Pct - clomid and nolvadex

 

[gymjunkie09]

10 week cycle
Test c depot - 500 weekly
Pregnyl - 400 weekly
3 week Pct - clomid and nolvadex

I would run hcg @250 I.u.'s 2x/week and throw a kickstart in. Beastdrol will put some lean gains on you and has strength gains comparable to a-bombs. Just be sure to run some N2guard with it, it will be banned soon so I would grab some now.

As far as pct post cycle/unleashed and a low dose of clomid 25mg ed for 4 weeks will get you back on track without the sides of high dose clomid and nolva pct....good luck

 

[rugbylife]

Thanks gymjunkie. I was wondering if i should change up my pct

 

[moya]

for not being on juice, you are overtraining... a true 5x5 does not have a bunch of accessory lifts of 3x10, maybe on a cycle you can get away with it, but natty you are most likely beating a dead horse...

 

[gatemoney]

Maybe not recovering for bench...if your other big lifts are going up I wouldnt worry about bench, ride the snake on the other lifts bro...they are far more important than bench!!!!

^^^^^I LIKE THIS GUY!
Flat bench is so overrated!

 

[stevesmi]

if you lose a few pounds it can hammer your strength. I lost about 6-7 pounds on a bridge cut I did and 2% body fat.. my bench went from 330 to 315. i weigh only 178 now so 300 is still pretty good, but i lost 15 pounds of strength

poor sleep, a job that wears you down mentally and physically, stress. there are too many reasons for losing strength.

you are doing good though.. a 210 natty guy doing 315 for a max (which is my guestimate) is pretty good.. i mean it isn't gonna win you any powerlifting competitions but it is definately great for a gym rat.

 

[Judo Tom]

whats the program? how often are you training? a hybrid 5x5 can mean a lot of things.. if your bench day is after squats/deads that could do it.. if its after overhead press, if its after 2 rough days in a row.. etc etc

 

[rugbylife]

Moya, I was thinking I'm pushin myself to much. Maybe cut out a few lifts.

Stevesmi, thanks for the compliment. That's a diesel bench for your weight

Judotom, I tossed together this program it's a shit load of volume.
Mon- bench 5x5, incline bench 5x5, db flys 3 x10 weighted dips 3x8, Front, side and rear delts 3x10 then quick abs
Tues - bi and tri all 3x10 and HIIT
Wed - squat 5x5, stiff leg deads 5x5, weight lunge 5x5, ham extension 3x10, quad extension 3x10 and leg press 2 till failure, delts and abs
Thurs - light cardio
Fri - bent rows 5x5, deads 5x5, t bar row 5x5, pullups 3 till failure, one arm row3x10, chin ups 3 till failure and shrugs 5x5, abs
Sat - off
Sun - off

 

[Judo Tom]

id switch it up..

why not just do the normal 5x5 program?

 

[gymjunkie09]

Moya, I was thinking I'm pushin myself to much. Maybe cut out a few lifts.

Stevesmi, thanks for the compliment. That's a diesel bench for your weight

Judotom, I tossed together this program it's a shit load of volume.
Mon- bench 5x5, incline bench 5x5, db flys 3 x10 weighted dips 3x8, Front, side and rear delts 3x10 then quick abs
Tues - bi and tri all 3x10 and HIIT
Wed - squat 5x5, stiff leg deads 5x5, weight lunge 5x5, ham extension 3x10, quad extension 3x10 and leg press 2 till failure, delts and abs
Thurs - light cardio
Fri - bent rows 5x5, deads 5x5, t bar row 5x5, pullups 3 till failure, one arm row3x10, chin ups 3 till failure and shrugs 5x5, abs
Sat - off
Sun - off

Too much for a 5x5...how long you been doing this?

 

[stevesmi]

in the weightlifting section I have a good push/pull/legs routine i outline. you should look into it. it is perfect for someone who likes to hit the gym frequently and won't overwork the muscles.

under it you will hit the bench press approx every 4 days.. which gives those push muscles 3 days to rest. while its resting you are working other muscle groups.

 

[Power36]

When you are doing a good full body based program ala Bill Starr or Westside Barbell type stuff, you can drop the isolation movements...that can lead to overtraining, and will not really make you more buff or whatever...

Ive ditched the isolation stuff for over a decade, and just doing olympic lifting and structural lifts (what we call power lifts but really are strength lifts if you want to get technical), and I get plenty big...and strong....

You are training like an athlete man, keep it up..drop the isolation and as someone said all the other high volume stuff...hitting compound lifts 5x5 will make your entire body grow without needing to do sets of 10 of other minor stuff...

Yea bench is totally overrated...but its what all the freaking public and nonner athletes think means the most hah.."what do you bench?" Im like who cares...what do you squat? clean? deadlift?

And Im not saying because I stink at bench....last spring for fun around NFL combine time I repped 225 for 23 and hit a one rep max of 375 and I was probably 235 at the time, and on my standard HRT doses...so if Im training lots of pushing, I can bench plenty, but surely its not the most important lift or impressive lift to tell folks about...nor will it make you GROW like squats, deadlifts, power cleans or even heavy high pulls, etc....

 

[rugbylife]

Gymjunkie - I've been doing this program for about 3 weeks now. Going to drop some 3x10s and focus more on heavy lifts

Stevesmi - thanks for the tip. I'll def. Look into your push/pull/legs

Power36 - you make a good point. I'll sub in light cardio and abs for my isolation days. Starting to gain some fat around my midsection from lack of cardio.

 

[Power36]

Interval training will keep the chub off better than regular cardio...and I think more often abs are carved in the kitchen....

If I train twice a day and hit it hard intervals in AM and heavy lifts in PM, I can get away with eating some junk or carbs and not being a big deal..when I cut my activity down, its totally noticable how much diet has an impact....

If you are overtrained and need rest, take the full rest on days in between, just keep working on the diet if you feel you are gaining or keeping chub...most likely its diet....doing heavy lifts like you are crushes way more calories over time from EPOC...so cardio I think is overrated if you are liftin super hard...intervals are a lot better for shredding up....

I forget if you posted your diet, but that might be culprit...but again, if you are banging heavy weights in major movements and weight is going up, I wouldnt be too worried about not being "ripped" or shredded up right now...I know some folks kill two birds with one stone, but I think its easier to concentrate on one goal at a time...do you want major strength? stick to working on strength...do you want to be skinny and cut? work on diet and cardio or intervals...

seems like you are doing some great work and making progress...i wouldnt overthink this...just enjoy the process..enjoy the lifting, enjoy the gains, enjoy your life outside of the gym, and dont stress too much...life is good!

 

[Draxgear]

I hit a minimum of 16 sets per bodypart on small groups. And 20 for large. Every workout. It's the only thing I dont switch ever. Everything else gets changed every week or other week. (rep range, angles, machines, exercises, you name it) I always slam the heavy stuff first with compound moves, then isolate after but I still hit the volume until I shred all muscle fibers I'm working. It has worked for me for years. I know everyone is different but I've toyed with ppl's workouts for years until I figured this out on my own. Hell the only workout I've tried that I haven't thought up was Nelson montanas calf and bicep workout...which are freakin crazy awesome. Besides that, I kinda pick and choose bits from here and there and Frankenstein something together until it fits perfect. Never overtrain either..so far. And that's training natty. Juiced I felt as Tho I could do two workouts in one.

 

[Power36]

I know there are folks who do hybrid programs and it works for them...but seems what you are talking about is stricly bodybuilding stuff...there is a huge difference between "typical" bodybuilding, versus powerlifting, versus olympic lifting type workouts...and there are more "typical" workouts such as what most Division One athletes do (with the few exceptions of jack ass schools that do dumb ass HIT still), that is typically starting off a workout with dynamic flexibility and dynamic warm up, moving into an olympic lift or variation, then into strength lifts (what most call powerlifts), and maybe a few push pull sets of other ground based multi joint movements, finished off with some interval or circuit training...and no isolation work....

Ive venture to say that there are shitloads of Division one football players, wrestlers, hockey players, track athletes, etc....that guys on here and guys reading the fitness or bodybuilding magazines would KILL to look like...and most of them never touch a machine or a isolation movement, look amazing, and can perform at very high levels of athletics few in the general population could imagine....

If you are talking real "research" there are certrain truths that would turn upside down most of the bodybuilding world myths....

Im half asleep guys...so dont know if Im making sense....read Mel Siffs Supertraining book, just for starters..give yourself 3 months to try doing a more athletic based program, without the isolation movements, no machines, no bodypart training...train movements not muscles, ground based getting after it like an athlete would...you might just be surprised at the kind of growth and fat burning you can get...shake things up...then go back to strictly hypertrophy based isolation training if thats what you enjoy most....you are going to get a heck of alot more natural hormonal response of Test and GH from doing full body lifts, and mch more overload on your muscles by doing heavy ground based multi joint lifts versus isolation lifts

 

[NOS2.0]

in the weightlifting section I have a good push/pull/legs routine i outline. you should look into it. it is perfect for someone who likes to hit the gym frequently and won't overwork the muscles.

under it you will hit the bench press approx every 4 days.. which gives those push muscles 3 days to rest. while its resting you are working other muscle groups.

Can you link this layout please.
I cant seem to find it.