Loss of strength?

amandadunwoody

I used the 100 pushups app to work up to where I was doing sets of 30-40 totaling 150+ every other day. Full disclosure: knee pushups. I added a crossfit workout once a week and it included 20 pushups (no big deal right?) And 10 pull ups. I can't do pull ups (yet) so I did negatives. After 2 weeks of this I couldn't seem to make progress on my pushups. I could do maybe 20 at a time. I backed off for about 10 days, only doing sets of 15-20 and not as much. Today I wanted to try again and I still can barely push through 20. Did I overdo it? What do I do now?

Cchioles

Did You Change Your Diet Recently?

galgenstrick

If you're not eating to gain weight or maintain, you'll find that it is much harder to get stronger. Secondly, to get stronger you need to do some sort of progressive training, trying to beat your previous record, preferably by adding weight, so going to regular push-ups until you can get 10 or so, then get a weighted vest and add weight, then work up to 10 again. Same with pull-ups.

For diet, you want to either be eating at your maintenance calories or a slight surplus. If you don't mind adding a little fat to your body, then eat in a slight surplus, this will get you the best strength results. Eating at maintenance will get you results for a while, they will be slower, but you won't add fat to your body, and you can possibly lose fat and gain a bit of muscle over a long time.

Also make sure you're eating a good amount of protein to support muscle repair. No protein = no results. Aim for 0.8g per pound of body weight per day. A little more or a little less is ok.

amandadunwoody

I've been at about a 500 calorie defecit for 3 months and I started working out regularly at that time. That defecit puts me at between 1400-1600 calories per day so i didn't think it was too much of a defecit. I've been doing low impact cardio, calisthenics, and some freeweight workouts.

amandadunwoody

galgenstrick wrote: »

If you're not eating to gain weight or maintain, you'll find that it is much harder to get stronger. Secondly, to get stronger you need to do some sort of progressive training, trying to beat your previous record, preferably by adding weight, so going to regular push-ups until you can get 10 or so, then get a weighted vest and add weight, then work up to 10 again. Same with pull-ups.

For diet, you want to either be eating at your maintenance calories or a slight surplus. If you don't mind adding a little fat to your body, then eat in a slight surplus, this will get you the best strength results.

I have felt my beginner's gains of feeling more capable and feeling stronger. I understand that I can't really gain muscle at a defecit, but I feel like I got weaker all of a sudden. Everything says to strength train in order to lose fat and not lose muscle... it's just sorta demoralizing.

The pushups app us progressive. I started out doing sets of 3-4 and built up to sets of 30-40. I was feeling stronger and that prompted me to try a beginner Crossfit workout, it included 50 sumo deadlift high pulls as well as pushups and pull-ups (negatives).

I want to lose weight and not be skinny fat. I really want to be strong but I know it's almost impossible to work on both goals at once. I thought I was balancing things pretty well but now I've lost a lot of momentum and I feel less strong.

Maybe the crossfit was too much? Maybe that's something to save for when I'm down 30+ lbs.

Unknown

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Cchioles

I've Been Squatting 3 Days A Week For 2 Months And Never Once Have I Felt I Was Over Training, In Fact There Are Studies That Show Its Almost Impossible To " Overtrain " - To Put It Simple Amanda , You Increased Your Activity But You Didn't Add Fuel - (Food)- So Essentially Your Trying To Go 30 Miles On A Tank Of Gas That Should Really Only Allow You 25 Miles? Make Sense? Add 100-200 Calories And Hold It There For A Few Weeks And I'd Think You'll Start To Feel A Bit More Capable:) FUEL THE BEAST Lol

amandadunwoody

Thanks for the feedback. I just really want to make this work. I am doing this without a trainer, a gym membership, or a background in fitness. But, I'm committed.

I may be overthinking it. I still feel like I've made progress over the last 3 months. I'm down about 10 lbs and I'm more active than I've ever been.

loulamb7

Your muscles need time to recover and it looks like the crossfit work plus the push-ups isn't allowing enough recovery. I would drop the push-ups and focus on a 3x/week full-body weight-lifting routine.

amandadunwoody

loulamb7 wrote: »

Your muscles need time to recover and it looks like the crossfit work plus the push-ups isn't allowing enough recovery. I would drop the push-ups and focus on a 3x/week full-body weight-lifting routine.

I have dumbells ranging from 3-30 lbs and a Chuck Norris total gym. No barbell, no bench, not really access to them right now. That's why I was trying to do bodyweight exercises. I was pretty much either doing a leg routine or light cardio on the days in between. Also sometimes would do light cardio on days I did pushups.

As far as a full-body weight-lifting routine, given my current set up, is there anything you would recommend?

piperdown44

Strength tanks in an extended cal deficit.
You can always take a look at this You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises
Decent book and has a lot of variations you can try if you don't have a lot of weights or access to a gym.

ninerbuff

Well it just sounds like fatigue to me. You've added more exercise so attempting more reps when muscle is pre-exhausted versus when the muscle is "fresh" usually won't result in better performance.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

charitys_aloette

If you've lost weight recently, that will affect your strength significantly. When I lost 20 lbs, I went down in all my lifts. After a month or so my PRs started coming back...

charitys_aloette

I crossfit on top of lifting. If you're scaling appropriately and have good coaches, you most definitely do NOT need to lose more weight before going back to crossfit. It will help you with body definition and sculpting.

amandadunwoody

piperdown44 wrote: »

Strength tanks in an extended cal deficit.
You can always take a look at this You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises
Decent book and has a lot of variations you can try if you don't have a lot of weights or access to a gym.

ninerbuff wrote: »

Well it just sounds like fatigue to me. You've added more exercise so attempting more reps when muscle is pre-exhausted versus when the muscle is "fresh" usually won't result in better performance.

charitys_aloette wrote: »

If you've lost weight recently, that will affect your strength significantly.

charitys_aloette wrote: »

I crossfit on top of lifting. If you're scaling appropriately and have good coaches, you most definitely do NOT need to lose more weight before going back to crossfit. It will help you with body definition and sculpting.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will definitely check into them.

I have lost some weight so I guess I can see that affecting me. I find crossfit incredibly interesting but I do NOT have a coach. I have the internet lol. So maybe I'll hold back on that until I can learn more. I can't afford a gym membership and I live in a semirural area so it's just not practical.

loulamb7

amandadunwoody wrote: »

loulamb7 wrote: »

Your muscles need time to recover and it looks like the crossfit work plus the push-ups isn't allowing enough recovery. I would drop the push-ups and focus on a 3x/week full-body weight-lifting routine.

I have dumbells ranging from 3-30 lbs and a Chuck Norris total gym. No barbell, no bench, not really access to them right now. That's why I was trying to do bodyweight exercises. I was pretty much either doing a leg routine or light cardio on the days in between. Also sometimes would do light cardio on days I did pushups.

As far as a full-body weight-lifting routine, given my current set up, is there anything you would recommend?

You can start a weight-lifting program with dumbbells. I started AllPro's routine with 5-45 lbs dumbbells. Focus on major compound lifts, squat, bench press, bent-over row, overhead press, and deadlift. Eventually you'll outgrow the dumbbells but you'll be off to a good start. Here's a link that may help http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/902569/barbell-routines-when-you-only-have-dumbbells/p1