Hey, guys, I am new to the forums so forgive me if I did not post this in the correct category.
So, as the title suggests I have a question about how stress affects your performance. For the past 2 weeks I have been studying and really stressed for my exam finals, and so I’ve been getting really bad sleep for the past week or so. Added to this I’ve also had some issues in my personal life (relations etc). To try and cope with this I’ve taken a whole week of this last week, and the week before that I was deloading. (I know may seem excessive but my schedule was crazy).
Anyway, this weekend I finally had time to lift. Now, I have always come back with the same strength (sometimes stronger) after my deloads. I did a relatively heavy upper-body session, but did really badly. On bench, I got 3 reps at an RPE of 9, for a weight I could usually get for 5 reps 8 RPE. I was supposed to do 5 sets of those, but totally failed on the 5th. Following that Shoulder press also felt heavy. I usually get 3x12 of 120lbs but I went 10 10 9 that workout. Triceps seemed fine though. Monday was deadlifts, and that felt heavier than normal as well. Obviously I didn’t try my 1RM but started =of with some 5x5 (usually do them after deloads). They felt heavier than ever and acutally had to drop the weight by like 50 lb just to get my 5x5. I went to do some biceps after that, but like triceps those were okay.
So, my question is, could my longer than normal deload, and all the added stress with work/life and poor sleep for the past week have thrown me off so badly? And is my body gonna get back to where it was before all this happened after a few workouts or did I actually lose some strength? The night before both workouts I slept great, and ate great the night before and on the day, so sleep/rest/nutrition isn’t the issue, and my weight is pretty much the same.
For reference I’m a fairly expereinced lifter of 5 years, focused primarily on strength and I am 18. Thanks in advance guys and please ask me if I missed out any info, and I’de really like to hear any of your experiences with similar situations.