Thread: Broke past plateau and digressed one week later...

I think we really need you to post up your own routine that you currently do to assess the situation. Aswell as your training frequency for chest and all other bodyparts.

when you say you've only missed 2 days in a year do you mean you've only had 2 rest days or that you've only missed 2 workouts?

try taking a full week off

a decrease in functional strength is a sure sign of overtraining. basically you have burnt out your CNS and certain muscles have lost there ability to contract with maximum force.

definitely take some time off or at least decrease your working loads by 50% for chest. this way you can still exercise the muscle with out taxing the CNS while it recovers.

loads at around 50% or less than the 1RM do not cause micro-trauma to skeletal muscle or tax the CNS.

Trapzilla - ya I've only missed two workouts this entire year, I workout Monday Wednesday Friday. The program goes as follows
Monday - Bench, 5 sets of 5 ramping up to your top set of 5, so 120, 140, 160, 180, 200.
Squat 5 sets of 5 ramping up to your top set of 5, Pendlay Rows 5 sets of 5 ramping up to your top set of 5.
Wednesday - Squat, 4 sets of 5 ramping up using the same weight from Monday, but your 4th set is just using the same weight as your third set. Really light day, just a recovery day for squats. Overhead press, 4 sets of 5 ramping up, and then deadlift 4 sets of 5 ramping up.
Friday - Bench - 4 sets of 5 using same weight as monday so you start from your beginning weight. Then 1 set of 3 using 5lbs more than your top set of 5 on monday, and then 1 set of 8 using the weight from your third set. So pretty much, 120, 140, 160, 180 all for 5 reps, then 205x3, then 160x8. Then depending on the days I'll usually add just one excercise for 3 sets of 8 for both biceps and triceps, and then do abs work. I cycle this going A B A so Monday i'll workout arms and abs, then friday i'll do the same, then next week only on Wednesday. And then it just repeats. And I do this at the end, after bench, squats and rows.

Bonesaw - Ya that's why I've been thinking also maybe it just is my body needing a recovery.

LAM - That's the thing though I've gone through the programs that have split days where I was training 4 days a week with 4 exercises per major muscle group all for 4 sets of 8 or whatever and even then I still wasn't losing strength. If anything this is a lot less taxing on the CNS, which is what confuses me.

Originally Posted by david123

Trapzilla - ya I've only missed two workouts this entire year, I workout Monday Wednesday Friday. The program goes as follows
Monday - Bench, 5 sets of 5 ramping up to your top set of 5, so 120, 140, 160, 180, 200.
Squat 5 sets of 5 ramping up to your top set of 5, Pendlay Rows 5 sets of 5 ramping up to your top set of 5.

Wednesday - Squat, 4 sets of 5 ramping up using the same weight from Monday, but your 4th set is just using the same weight as your third set. Really light day, just a recovery day for squats. Overhead press, 4 sets of 5 ramping up, and then deadlift 4 sets of 5 ramping up.

Friday - Bench - 4 sets of 5 using same weight as monday so you start from your beginning weight. Then 1 set of 3 using 5lbs more than your top set of 5 on monday, and then 1 set of 8 using the weight from your third set. So pretty much, 120, 140, 160, 180 all for 5 reps, then 205x3, then 160x8. Then depending on the days I'll usually add just one excercise for 3 sets of 8 for both biceps and triceps, and then do abs work. I cycle this going A B A so Monday i'll workout arms and abs, then friday i'll do the same, then next week only on Wednesday. And then it just repeats. And I do this at the end, after bench, squats and rows.

I can't really see it being CNS failure of that routine but it may well be.

I imagine that you use friday to gauge your heaviest weights, this is in close proximity to your shoulder day, which may be affecting your benching strength.

My suggestion would be to adjust your OHP and Benching days so they coinside or split to a more westside style routien to incorporate a speed day to prevent CNS overload.

Your routine is a bit odd from my understanding of strength training, which would take to long to type here, but if you would like we could discuss it in PM?

If your maxing every week or every other week, that will def. tax your cns.
Thats what highschoolers do bro.
Try testing it once a month max.

myCATpowerlifts - lol well I am a High Schooler, but it took me a while to find this program and some of the best strength athletes have used this exact method to gain strength. It's not really maxing out every week, it's progressive loading which from what I've ready is one of the best way for strength training.

Trapzilla - I would definitely like to discuss strength training methods. I've always usually focused more towards body building and am switching to power lifting now. Any advice and tips would be great! But the only thing I'm wondering is the overhead press day is 48 hour before the Bench day, technically this should be enough for recovery.

Originally Posted by david123

myCATpowerlifts - lol well I am a High Schooler, but it took me a while to find this program and some of the best strength athletes have used this exact method to gain strength. It's not really maxing out every week, it's progressive loading which from what I've ready is one of the best way for strength training.

Trapzilla - I would definitely like to discuss strength training methods. I've always usually focused more towards body building and am switching to power lifting now. Any advice and tips would be great! But the only thing I'm wondering is the overhead press day is 48 hour before the Bench day, technically this should be enough for recovery.

Whilst the overheadpress day is 48 hours apart from the benching day you may not be fully recovered. I know my shoudlers wouldn't be recovered fully in 48hours, I'm sure 9 out of 10 of the guys i know at the gym would be in the same boat as me too. if our maxing out yout OHP or coming near max, then there is a slim chance they'll be recovered. which is why bills starrs 5x5 includes a light day and a medium day after the heavy day.

If you've only missed two workouts the past year, you need to Miss a whole lot more.
Maxing out is over rated. Dont max out for a few months. Also make sure you're getting your water, and you might want to try a couple of days of carb load. Serious carb load, not 200 grams.

Creatine?
And of course what does your intake look like. it's not any rocket science going on. You're either over taxed or under fed, or both.

Merkaba - ya I'm taking creatine right now, 5g a day monohydrate, I'm definitely getting in enough water though. As far as caloric intake it's definitely an excess. I've gained 8lbs already so that definitely shows for it lol. I'm getting anywhere from 3500 to 4000 calories a day consistently. But there's still one bit that was left un answered, so does anyone know why there was a 15lb spike on bench within one week and then a digression later on? Like does anyone know what caused my body to do this? Didn't drop weight, didn't change up how much protein I was taking in, wasn't lack of sleep, if anything I got the PR when I only got 2 hours of sleep. On a lot of forums I've read I always hear about people talking about how quickly they lose their gains after heavy peaking cycles, such as the smolov squat routine and really any of the Eastern European dead lift or bench routines. Does anyone know why the body reacts this way?

Trapzilla - Hmm ya I definitely see what your saying, I'll try switching up the days, maybe putting the friday workout on a Saturday for better recovery and see if that changes anything.

never train more than 5 days a week, i like my rest.

Originally Posted by david123

Merkaba - ya I'm taking creatine right now, 5g a day monohydrate, I'm definitely getting in enough water though. As far as caloric intake it's definitely an excess. I've gained 8lbs already so that definitely shows for it lol. I'm getting anywhere from 3500 to 4000 calories a day consistently. But there's still one bit that was left un answered, so does anyone know why there was a 15lb spike on bench within one week and then a digression later on? Like does anyone know what caused my body to do this? Didn't drop weight, didn't change up how much protein I was taking in, wasn't lack of sleep, if anything I got the PR when I only got 2 hours of sleep. On a lot of forums I've read I always hear about people talking about how quickly they lose their gains after heavy peaking cycles, such as the smolov squat routine and really any of the Eastern European dead lift or bench routines. Does anyone know why the body reacts this way?

Trapzilla - Hmm ya I definitely see what your saying, I'll try switching up the days, maybe putting the friday workout on a Saturday for better recovery and see if that changes anything.

No you have been answered.

If you are maxing out that often, and overtraining (most likely)
Then you will see serious dips in strength/endurance.

It's very simple. Your cns is squishy tissue, running on electromagnetic pulses.
When you expend your energy too often, it won't fire right.

Imagine a glass full of milk.

Working out = drinking the milk.
Resting = refilling the milk.

Drink too much milk, and even a normal rest period (refill) won't refill the glass to the top, but maybe 90% full.

Think on it.

Originally Posted by myCATpowerlifts

No you have been answered.

If you are maxing out that often, and overtraining (most likely)
Then you will see serious dips in strength/endurance.

It's very simple. Your cns is squishy tissue, running on electromagnetic pulses.
When you expend your energy too often, it won't fire right.

Imagine a glass full of milk.

Working out = drinking the milk.
Resting = refilling the milk.

Drink too much milk, and even a normal rest period (refill) won't refill the glass to the top, but maybe 90% full.

Think on it.

Nice comparison. Thanks.

You mentioned that you modified the program for your bench press. What are you doing for the bench press for sets, reps, and intensities? When I have done Starr's 5x5 I usually can increase weights every week for 5-6 weeks, than I need to take a week off and reset my weights.

Exactly. You've been answered. My whole post was your answer and everyone elses. It's not rocket science, barring some disease you don't know about!

How do you know that you lost 15lbs on your bench? Because you maxed out again, or basically damn near maxed out! Duh. Stop! Stop maxing out or damn near maxing. To repeat: The shit's overrated. Plus you need to deload for a while anyways from what you're telling us.