Backsliding on strength

Beertroll

My wife and I have been hitting the gym a couple of times a week for a little over six months now. We do a round of weights (on one of those old high school weight room machines) and then some cardio. It had been going very well, and I've seen a huge improvement in my strength (I started from somewhere below completely pathetic). As of the last several weeks, though, I feel like I'm starting to backslide. The weights suddenly seem much, much heavier than they used to, particularly with my arms (bench press, shoulder press, curls, etc). Not only have I not been able to increase the amount I'm lifting in quite a while, I'm struggling just to get through sets I used to have very little trouble with.

I don't think I'm doing anything outrageous or extreme; I'm typically benching 144 lbs, or 156 if I'm having a rare good day. The first day I had trouble, I hadn't slept particularly well and I think I shorted myself on calories at breakfast and lunch. However, I've subsequently struggled on days when I'm rested and have eaten properly. I'm starting to get very frustrated. It's one thing to plateau, it's another to feel like I'm losing ground. Is this just something that happens and I need to suck it up and push through it, or do I need to look at changing something up?

deksgrl

Have you ever done a deload week?

halleymw

Things to look at include protein intake, sleep, and perhaps a deload week or a week off. What type of program are you doing, how many sets and reps etc? If you are not doing a structured program, you might look into stronglifts, Madcow, Wendler 3/2/1, or allpros beginner routine.
I stalled out on stronglifts and just switched over to allpro. I had been dieting and am now going to try maintinence for a while to see if I can get through my stall.
Mike

Beertroll

Since I have no idea what that is, I'm going to go with no. I've mostly been shooting from the hip on my exercise regimen.

Beertroll

My wife just pointed out that my protein intake has probably been lower than normal recently. A little over a month ago, she decided to go quasi-vegetarian. She's been great about coming up with meal plans that include some meat for me, but it's almost certainly less than it used to be. So that might be part of it. I'll start paying closer attention to that.

I'll have to look into a deload. I assume from the name that involves dialing the weight back for a week or so, which is not something I've done (though I will lower the weight a notch if there's no other way to get through a set). My program has not been structured at all. I do a very basic rotation (bench, hams, quads, shoulder, leg, squats, lateral, crunches, butterfly), typically doing 1 set of 15 reps of each on the highest weight I can manage. A few times to push myself forward, I would push the weight up a notch or two, do as many reps as I could (usually 5-7), then go back to my previous weight and do another 15. I'll look into some of the programs you mentioned. I'm sure a more formal program would help. I'm not looking to bulk up, but I would like some strength and a little sculpting.

halleymw

The 15 rep may be part of the problem. 15 is usually more endurance than strength or hypertrophy. If you increased the weight to the point that you can only do 8-10, and add another set, I bet you would start to progress again. But definitely look into getting into a program that has been proven to give results.

Article about the deload week:

http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/thank-god-its-deload-week/
Mike