unable to do weight+reps I was doing 2/3 weeks ago.

sewwy · November 2013

I've been doing a fairly standard strength workout at the gym for the last three months. I'd made my way up to about 5kg on most of the machines in this time. About two, three weeks ago, I was able to do these with ease, and even pushed up to 6kg for my last rep. However, the past week and a half, I've been unable to complete my usual reps of 15,12,10 on the 5kg weights!

Is this common? Albeit, I am doing my strength circuit about 1 day less a week, however, I am surprised to think that my strength would deteriorate in such a rapid time.

I've been doing a significant amount of cardio the past two weeks (at least 30 minutes a day), and have dropped 2kg. I've been doing my strength training at least twice a week during this time as well.

Could I be burning the muscle that I've developed instead of the fat during cardio, even though i'm still working on strength training?

loneaffliction · November 2013

Immediately thought of this:

Note:
It is important to not to have too large of a deficit to minimize the negative impact of weight loss, that may include risk of loss of LBM (which can be mitigated to a large degree with strength training and adequate protein), hormonal disruption, metabolic adaptation, lower gym performance, possible lack of sufficient nutrients, lack of adherence and generally being grumpy. As noted above however, the ‘best’ deficit for an individual will depend on personal circumstances and also their sensitivity to large deficits.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

You may not be eating enough to compensate for the calories you're burning, particularly if you just amped up your cardio.

meshashesha2012 · November 2013

that's strange especially if you've been doing the same routine in the interim.

are there are any factors like illnesses or injuries?
also depending on how taxing your cardio is, maybe it's possible you need to look ino how you rest and recover since that can effect your central nervous system.
finally what's your diet like?

sewwy · November 2013

Thanks for the replies, folks.

loneafflictio -- With regards to caloric deficit - My calorie target was set to 1200, I upped it to 1300 a few weeks ago after struggling on gym days. Typically, on days that I do work out, I eat 1300, if not more calories, but can be burning 400-500cals in a good session. Do I need to be eating back more of these 'earned calories'? (It always seems such a waste to me?)

meshashesha20 -- No injuries, and no major illnesses. I've had the sniffles for about a week, but it certainly hasn't drained me of energy - it's more likely to be hayfever than anything. My cardio isn't hugely taxing, but I have been doing C25k lately in the hopes I'll be able to get into running. My diet is certainly much better than it has been - for the past month now, I've been avoiding starches, grains, and sweets, eating a lot of protein, fruit and veg instead.

rileyhunter169 · November 2013

Perhaps you need to switch to a better routine if you are concerned about lifts. Starting Strength and Stronglifts are awesome. Circuits IMO are not optimal for strength; it's only useful if you don't have time for cardio (20-30min off days) and an hour routine. Biggest thing though is to plan for progress; lifting FREQUENTLY; and keep deficits moderate; if you are not lifting keep them small; if you flat out don't care about performance loss; do whatever you want. I would also be wary of low carb dieting with any performance goals; caaaaaaaarbs rule. Hooah?

loneaffliction · November 2013

Thanks for the replies, folks.

loneafflictio -- With regards to caloric deficit - My calorie target was set to 1200, I upped it to 1300 a few weeks ago after struggling on gym days. Typically, on days that I do work out, I eat 1300, if not more calories, but can be burning 400-500cals in a good session. Do I need to be eating back more of these 'earned calories'? (It always seems such a waste to me?)

meshashesha20 -- No injuries, and no major illnesses. I've had the sniffles for about a week, but it certainly hasn't drained me of energy - it's more likely to be hayfever than anything. My cardio isn't hugely taxing, but I have been doing C25k lately in the hopes I'll be able to get into running. My diet is certainly much better than it has been - for the past month now, I've been avoiding starches, grains, and sweets, eating a lot of protein, fruit and veg instead.

I would determine first if you're eating at a reasonable deficit. Depending on your size and activity level, 1200-1300 may be lower than is necessary, particularly if you are not eating back any exercise calories. I would suggest it might be something like overtraining, but it doesn't sound like you've been working at a great deal of intensity.

TheLadyBane · November 2013

I fatigued out while lifting about a month ago. I couldn't even do 5 minutes of my normal lifting routine. While trying to bench I did about 3 reps of my usual 12. That week I had lowered my calories to 1300, my recommended target. It was just too low and I was tired and didn't have the fuel for my workout. I bumped it up to 1550 and was able to lift like normal still lost about 1.5 lbs a week. I also increased my protein consumption to about 33%. Not sure if you are experiencing the same thing but eating more worked for me.

sewwy · November 2013

Thanks all.

I'm going to look at increasing my caloric intake this week, as well as start eating back some of the calories burnt during exercise, and see how I go.

vanguardfitness · November 2013

This happened to me a couple of years ago. I go into the gym one day feeling like I do any other day, all of a sudden each exercise I had to do I wound up dropping the weight by 33% or so.

I was exercising too much and over-caffeinating to compensate. So I rested and eventually got back to where I used to be

candiceh3 · November 2013

Are you doing your cardio before weights? If you do too much cardio immediately before weights you deplete your glycogen stores and can't (usually) lift as heavy.

pavrg · November 2013

Wait, was the 5kg a typo? Because if you've been lifting for more than a week and you are still doing 5 kg on machines, something is seriously wrong with your routine or the way you approach exercising in the gym. Just by your post you are 1: doing a 15-rep set and 2: doing pyramids, neither of which are helpful to you.

People can see performance drop if they are losing weight AND they are past newbie gains. But that does not apply to someone who is only lifting 5 kg. You can still go up in lifts drastically while losing weight if you're new to lifting.

sewwy · November 2013

Are you doing your cardio before weights? If you do too much cardio immediately before weights you deplete your glycogen stores and can't (usually) lift as heavy.

No, I do a 10-15 minute warm up and then get straight into the machines.

Wait, was the 5kg a typo? Because if you've been lifting for more than a week and you are still doing 5 kg on machines, something is seriously wrong with your routine or the way you approach exercising in the gym. Just by your post you are 1: doing a 15-rep set and 2: doing pyramids, neither of which are helpful to you.

People can see performance drop if they are losing weight AND they are past newbie gains. But that does not apply to someone who is only lifting 5 kg. You can still go up in lifts drastically while losing weight if you're new to lifting.

No, the 5kg wasn't a typo. Started on 3kgs on most machines in September, have worked my way up to 5, 6 on the lat pull down. I do 3 reps, 15, 12, 10, and increase a kilo on the second or third reps if I found the first rep too easy.

*shrugs* given that the max weight on most of the machines at my gym is 20-25kg, I'd say I'm not doing too terribly. This is obviously supplementary to the regular weighting of the machines itself. (For instance: If I was doing a bicep curl using dumbells, I would be using a 5kg weight. Using the bicep curl machine? Can only handle 1kg, 2kg on a good day.)

I don't know what you mean by a pyramid.

I have toned up since starting at the gym in september, and it is noticeable. I doubt there's anything wrong with my routine, given that it was designed by the PT at the gym and I have made progress.

pavrg · November 2013

PT's are mostly worthless. You can learn more just searching the internet than a PT can do for you in most cases. There are some good ones, but they are rare.

Here's what I recommend to break your plateu:

1) try to ditch the machines. If you can't handle barbells or the minimum dumbells at your gym, then go to the machines. But the machines restrict your range of motion to the point where you could get injured if lifting heavy, and prevent you from using auxillary stabilizing muscles that help build overall strength.

2) Switch to doing 10 reps each set. "Pyramids" referred to the fact that you were lowering the amount of reps each set. Don't do that.

3) At a minimum every week, if not every workout for that muscle group, raise the weight by 2 kg (I'm American so whatever equals 5 lbs). You need to emphasize progressive overload to make progress. If you raise the weight and you can only do 8, 7, 7 reps, that's okay. Next time maybe you do 10, 8, 8...and then you raise the weight because you hit the goal of 10 reps.

sewwy · November 2013

Thanks for the advice. Definitely something to take into consideration.

notworthstalking · November 2013

I would agree with eating more. I lost on no less than 1700 cals a day, and eating back calories . This actually ended up too few for my activity level. I am deficient in iron and B12 and felt very fatigued . I am slowly getting back into training. So I always say a blood test is a good idea.

candiceh3 · November 2013

ARe you going by the numbers on the plates? On the machines at my gym, each plate is numbered 1-15, but each plate is 5 kgs, not 1 kg. So "3"= 15 kgs.

sewwy · November 2013

ARe you going by the numbers on the plates? On the machines at my gym, each plate is numbered 1-15, but each plate is 5 kgs, not 1 kg. So "3"= 15 kgs.

Yeah, I am. So, yeah, if I'm on the '5' plate, I guess I'm doing 25kg instead. (Heh, gym newbie, obviously.)

donjessop · November 2013

Carbs before exercising to give your body the fuel it needs and protein after exercising to help with muscle repair. If you are doing a lot of exercising then bump up the protein to 25% - 35% of your total intake for the day.

pavrg · November 2013

ARe you going by the numbers on the plates? On the machines at my gym, each plate is numbered 1-15, but each plate is 5 kgs, not 1 kg. So "3"= 15 kgs.

Here's the killer: most machines at the gym don't compensate for the pulley advantage. I can lift "180" lbs of tricep extensions at one gym, but they have a double pully so I'm really doing 1/4 of that. Although at the gym where there isn't a pulley for the machine, I can do 85 lbs. If it has 1 pulley, you have to half the weight.

There's a leg curl machine at another gym I go to that has a conversion chart where there's no distinct thumbrule. It has crazy stuff like putting the weight to 225 lbs is actually 208.75 or some crazy thing.

I do leg extensions at 1 gym @ 225 and leg extensions @ another at 160.

Moral: you can't believe what the machine says. The only reason to keep track of machine weight lifted is so you know how to set it the next time.

2spamagnet · November 2013

Are you getting enough sleep? I see a huge difference in energy when I don't get enough.

Carbs - complex carbs are good for you and help fuel your workouts. Carbs are not evil. No foods are evil. It's when we eat way too much of things (more calories than we need) that we put on fat. If you eat more than maintenance, your body will store it as fat. 3,500 extra calories in a week will be stored as fat, regardless of what it was you ate - carbs, protein, fat... Have a deficit of 3,500 cal/week (500 cal/day), and your body will convert stored fat into whatever it needs it to be to fuel your body. If there is a reason why you cannot eat some foods, then don't eat them (celiac for example).

Could I be burning the muscle that I've developed instead of the fat during cardio, even though i'm still working on strength training?

Get at least 0.8 grams of protein per lb of body weight in order to maintain or gain muscle while you are working out and you should not lose muscle (and, be doing strengthening exercises). So, for example, someone who is 100 lbs should shoot for 80 to 100 grams of protein a day. If you are not doing strengthening exercise while on a deficit, you will lose some muscle, but it is not because your body is choosing muscle as an energy source. If you are above essential body fat levels, your body will use fat for fuel (that's what it is for). Think of it this way - if you lose 10 lbs and do not force your body to push/pull/lift an extra 10 lbs every day (like it was before you lost 10 lb of fat), your muscles will lose the ability to do so. It's not a big loss.

Enter your exercise info under the Exercise tab, and eat more. If you enter that info, your caloric goals for the day are bumped up by MFP. So if your goal is 1200/day with no exercise, and you burn 400 doing cardio, your daily goal goes up to 1600. My goal was 0.5 lb/week (250/day deficit), I added in my exercise, and I lost closer to 1.5 lb/week. So, either my counting was off, or I am more active than I count for. Either way, the actual weight loss says that I averaged closer to 750 cal/day deficit.

pavrg · November 2013

And again, take a step back, and realize that she is saying she plateued at a whopping 5kg.

unable to do weight+reps I was doing 2/3 weeks ago.

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