What are the various factors that could contribute to lifts dropping?

[SteelWeaver]

I strode into the gym today, all pumped and psyched, mentally completely there, feeling great, all ready for legs.

Got nicely warmed up, although the elliptical felt a little harder than usual for warm-up, strangely. Then hit warm-up sets for squats, certain that I would be able to add weight to the bar today. On the second warm up I noticed that it sort of seemed hard. Just thought maybe I hadn't warmed up enough or something. But then I hit the 2-rep set just before my work sets, and damn if it didn't feel as heavy as my usual work set!

I added some weight anyway, but basically the first set was pathetic. Dropped the weight back, still no good, dropped it even further, and finally cranked out some good reps, but by this point had sort of lost it mentally. I couldn't figure out if it was my mind or my body that was failing on me. It was horribly disconcerting. I psyched up again and got back on track, did OK on some other moves, not great, but acceptable, but I wanna know what was going on.

Obviously I understand that overtraining could be a factor here - I've been training reeeeaallly hard the last month or so, but I wonder if it couldn't be something else?

Does anyone else ever have an "off" day, or is this a symptom of a problem?

Other things I feel could have affected today: I had a few nights of less sleep than usual this week, and also went back to work after a 2-week holiday. And yesterday afternoon I found out I have some financial problems that I had no clue about and which were sprung on me in a rather nasty manner.

And ... I have a date tomorrow first real date in a looooooonnng time.

So, any ideas? Is my squat gonna come back up next week?

 

[The Ranger]

Happens all the time, try taking around three days off, then BLAST the Iron once again, let the entire body fully recover....Much luck to ya....

Ranger

 

[newgirl-chargeback]

Steel -- sorry to hear you were hit with a little negative surprise.

I think your post sort of answers your dilemna. You are overtraining, you are tired, you are stressed. Right there is a recipe for not being your best at the gym. When was your last period? Could you be coming down with something (cold, virus) that your body is using the energy to fight off?

All of these are factors. I say take 2-3 days off entirely from the gym...get some extra sleep. Share your problem with someone to get it off your chest -- or type an email to yourself -- just to get it out of your mind and put elsewhere for a few days.

Good luck. Will be thinking of you.

 

[JJFigure]

Yeah - it's definitely happened to me. The weird part is, I always feels strong going into the gym on the days I just can't seem to move any weight. On days I walk into the gym feeling weak, I put up more weight than ever. Go figure. Like everyone else said, just take a longer rest break than normal (3 days or so) and you'll be fine.

 

[Ceebs]

Overtraining, under-recovery, lack of glycogen and (possibly) calcium, and being in the luteal phase of your menstrual cycle are factors I can think of offhand.

I'm sure your lifts will be back to where they should be by the next workout, though. Just take it easy, like everyone else has said. I'll burn some good squat juju for you.

 

[spatts]

That's frustrating when that happens, but anymore, it just makes me excited because I KNOW that if I just listen to my body and lay off, it generally translates to a HUGE jump about a week or two later. I once had about 4 weeks like that, then BAM....80 pound PR's left and right.

 

[The Shadow]

dehydration is a big one

 

[makedah]

When I'm having my period, I can't lift worth a damn.

 

[wilson6]

This ain't aerobics. You have to go with the flow. If you set yourself up thinking that you've done everything right and you're going to have a record workout, you're setting yourself up for failure.

Positive attitude is fine, but predetermined goals can come back and bite you. The only time that works (most of the time) is with a very well constructed periodization program.

I used to train a shrink. Her angle on life was that if she thought about it enough, and set up the situation in advance in her mind, that it would happen the way she thought it would. Worked for some of the variables in her life, but she got her ass kicked all the time in the gym. Then there were days she didn't think she'd do well and set PRs. But that's the world of weights.

If your routine is set up properly, and diet and rest are adequate, you should hit your heavy lifts most of the time. If you're not hitting them on a regular basis, something is wrong.

W6