OK, AP-ers, need some advice

cmeiron

So on Wednesday this week I started week 3 of my 7th cycle; I decided to take a week off after week 2 - just feeling super-tired. Usually after a break I feel rejuvenated and kill subsequent workouts, but this week's can only be described as painful. It felt terrible, it kicked my *kitten* all over the place (especially the squats, they almost killed me), and I've got brutal DOMS (hammies, quads, glutes, pecs, bis...everywhere, and the discomfort kept waking me up last night, seriously not cool). I passed on my scheduled workout today because I still feel wrecked. I'm finding this cycle really hard on me, harder than any other, even though I'm eating lots (bulking). I don't know if I should scale back the weights, just try to push through or what. I don't want to miss out on muscle gains during my bulk (there's no point otherwise - I'm just getting pudgy). Can any of the experienced people offer some thoughts on how to proceed?

pandorakick

How are you sleeping, do you get enough rest? Also, no signs of a cold coming on?
Make sure this is not the case, or at least not different from before.

As you may recall I was having major trouble in August: failing on lifts I previously did without problem. Even worse, failing on the first workset at the 6-8 rep range. I don't know whether this is also the case for you though. Anyway, I took a rest week which didn't change anything. Finally I decided to retake my 10rm tests and start over with these "fresh" stats. Had to swallow my pride a bit because I went down on most lifts. After that though I did another 2 cycles of All Pro's SBR with nothing more then the usual struggle.

In hindsight I guess I was a bit overtrained. Deloading and working back up the way I did was for me the right solution....

jimmmer

If I can stick in my 2p's worth:

I think one of the major take-aways from your post is that you took a break before your 10RM week. That means you went straight back into lifting basically 2 sets of your maxes. Ouch! No wonder you have DOMS!!!

Basically, the DOMS will fade and you'll get through it. Next time you want a break though, I'd choose from one of two options:

a) Take a break after week 5, so you are starting back at the deload week. You'll segway neatly back into the routine again.

b) Take a break mid-cycle, but either go back to the week before where you had the break (in your case week 2) or go right back to week 1 and treat it like a proper reset.

remember though, this is all other factors being equal. I don't know your nutrition, sleep patterns, work stress, home stress, extra-lifting activities, etc. All these are in the mix and need to be balanced when you run this kind of routine.

For me, personally, I looked at the up-coming birth of my daughter and decided I was going to step off the bus after cycle 6 whilst I still could. I literally couldn't see a way to balance the routine with another massive factor in my life. Well, maybe I could have, but squatting 1.5 bodyweight for 12 reps is no joke and I don't think I could have gone much further either way.

I'm sure you have more in the tank. You just needed to ease yourself back in. There are other strategies (such as restarting the cycle -5% off all lifts) that will give you a longer run up to it again and allow you to feel more progress and less like you are banging your head against a wall - we've all been there!

pandorakick

Those are all really good points Jimmer!

cmeiron

Thanks for chiming in, guys.
Pandora, I'm not sick that I know of, but my productivity with my research has kicked into hyperdrive - I can be very all-or-nothing when it comes to work and right now I'm working like a fiend (I enjoy it, but I work lots). I'm getting pretty good sleep most days but I was away from home for nearly a week and haven't had awesome sleep since I got back. That could definitely be a contributing factor. Jimmer, thanks for your perspective too. I hadn't really considered the timing of the break and how lousy it was. Earlier in the program a mid-cycle break was no real biggie. I guess it's different now that the weights are higher.
I gave myself an extra recovery day and did my day 2 today. It felt a lot better; my soreness was down like 90% of what it had been the previous two days (like you thought it would be, Jim). I'm noticing though, that even at the 90% load my squat form is really really lousy; I go down fine but about halfway up I get off-kilter with my left hip/butt heading out to the side and it feels like my left leg is doing most of the work. I think I may have advanced too much/over my capacity with the squats, so I'm going to dial them back to where I was last cycle, perhaps even a touch less to get this form back to where it should be. Anyways, thanks for listening to my rant the other day and offering good advice and support

DaniH826

I would have just started the cycle over, to be honest. I tend to be rather generous with deloads as I can always work my way back up and add more weight. Better than struggling with a bit too much that my body just isn't ready for. I took like a week and a half off from lifting once and got DOMS like I was just starting to lift all over again. Weird how that happens. Thankfully my body always adjusts pretty quickly. I reckon yours will too. :flowerforyou:

cmeiron

Just to update: I carried on with this cycle and moved on to week four and, like many of you suggested would be the case, the heavy day yesterday felt MUCH better. I was able to get through all my reps on all lifts. That said, I've decided to seriously deload my squats from 92 to 70 lbs. My form was just so, so bad at 92 and it was just trashing me. I'm going to stay at 70 for the rest of this cycle (I am executing them properly here) and then start to gradually work my way back up again I think I'm going to ask Santa for a PT session, to help me tighten up my form on everything. Also, I think I'm going to have access to a gym with bars three days a week come Januayr, for 4 months anyways, and would like to take advantage while I can!

pandorakick

Glad to hear it went better!

jasonheyd

Yep, glad it improved.

Like a few folks have said, I've found that if I have to take an unscheduled break, I pretty much have to restart the cycle.

I've also found that any break of greater than one week almost always sets me back a bit on squats and bench press. Even if I try to keep the my progress "parked" by hitting a heavy day during the off week or two, I can pretty much bank on failing a few sets during the first few cycles.

PennyHarris123

Hi sorry just seen this and piping in! I had a break over Summer and started back on week one which really helped....it's tough...although sounds like you've sorted it
best to go back a step and get good form...
ooo a PT session, I'd love some of those for xmas too!