T Nation

Bad Day in the Gym

Beginners
#1

I spent all of 10 minutes there tonight.

I was doing a warmup set of decline bench presses which was my first exercise. I loaded up the same weight from last week, muscled out 4 reps and couldnt get the 5th off my chest.

I felt weak on chin-ups too so I decided tonight is not the nigh and just packed it up. I figure I can come back at it tomorrow and that’s better than suffering through a crap workout.

In a year and a half this has never happened to me before. Kind of embarassing when another guy has to come over and help you lift the bar off your chest.

#2

Yeah, if I ever have an unplanned binge drink, I will not go to the gym the next day. I think it would just be a waste of energy, and I would be much better going the day after once I have fed myself some food and had some proper rest.

#3

They happen, it’s not the end of the world but it’s usually a cue that something’s out of sync.

Either you didn’t sleep enough, didn’t eat enough the day before, you’re too stressed out, etc…

#4

As an alternative, try doing some assistance work. Rotator cuff, scap stability, or just get a good stretch in. This makes me feel like I at least did SOMETHING. I hate wasting a gym day.

#5

I had the same thing happen to me once … was doing what I thought was a not too heavy load on decline and got stuck on my third rep … Didn’t help that it was my first day in a new gym too … I felt like a chump …

#6

This happened to me like 3 days ago on my chest workout. Normally I can bench 405x3 and I struggled with 315x5. I didn’t understand what the deal was. I hate when stuff like that happens because it really affects you mentally. The next day you go in the gym you are concerned if all your other lifts have gone down too. It’s a pain.

I stayed though, just lowered the weight and went with a lot of extra volume. Turned out to be a great workout.

#7

[quote]cgood wrote:
I spent all of 10 minutes there tonight.

In a year and a half this has never happened to me before. Kind of embarassing when another guy has to come over and help you lift the bar off your chest.[/quote]

Do not ever feel embarrassed having someone come and lift the bar for you. We all been there when we first started lifting. Stay strong and never give up.

#8

Today went from terrible to great.

Started out really struggling on chest today (incline and flat). Thought about packing it up. Instead, I dropped down in weight and really went at it. Ended up being a great work out.

#9

might be getting sick, I always know within a day when I am getting sick as my strength plumets… it is flu season…

#10

It’s a really bad day when no one helps lift the bar off of your chest. That happened to me a few months ago. I had to say ‘Help me’ after being pinned for a minute before one of the staff members(not one of the trainers) came and lifted it off. I was fuming after that.

#11

Happens, I usually just leave if I’m real weak compared to normal.

#12

Man Im weak as shit today…Im going on the 4th week of the V-diet…feel real depleated today I actually just subsituted a Surge post W/O drink in exchange for a protein shake to get a few carbs back in the system so I can prepare for tonights workout…man Im starting to feel just a little better right now.

#13

[quote]cgood wrote:
I spent all of 10 minutes there tonight.

I was doing a warmup set of decline bench presses which was my first exercise. I loaded up the same weight from last week, muscled out 4 reps and couldnt get the 5th off my chest.

I felt weak on chin-ups too so I decided tonight is not the nigh and just packed it up. I figure I can come back at it tomorrow and that’s better than suffering through a crap workout.

In a year and a half this has never happened to me before. Kind of embarassing when another guy has to come over and help you lift the bar off your chest.[/quote]

One of the benefits of working out in my garage is when I have a bad workout day I walk in the house flip down on the coach and pull up a foot stool to watch a little tv. The flip side of this is I don’t have access to all the equipment in a gym.

Just remeber to keep it all in perspective. A bad day in the gym is much better than a tragic bad day!

#14

Check your sleep and nutrition.

#15

Happened to me yesterday after I had one of the busiest days at work in a long time. I couldn’t focus on the weight at all or push myself. I ended up doing some light weight exercises and left. It happens every once in a while and it’s best not to give yourself a hard time about it.

Make a mental note about what you were doing and the possible causes so if it happens again you might be able to figure out what the cause might be.

#16

I usually just take the first couple sets lighter and by the 2nd exercise or so my CNS has kicked in, ive got adrenaline going and some of those days turn out to be my best lifting days.