If My Lifts Aren't Progressing

since ive gotten a job…

this is basically a sign that im not eating enough?

cause this is really getting frustrating, worked so hard for my lifts, and im either stalling or degressing :frowning:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/degressing

[quote]corple wrote:
since ive gotten a job…

this is basically a sign that im not eating enough?

cause this is really getting frustrating, worked so hard for my lifts, and im either stalling or degressing :([/quote]

lay off weightlifting for a while, you might be reaching overtraining, it might have been reached because of increased cortisol you are getting from the stresses at your job. Lay off for like a week or so.

I second the overtraining.

Stress from mental things and stress from training both put strain on your body, and both can cause you to overtrain if there’s enough from both sources.

Cut the lifting back a little bit.

if your lifts are going down you are not recovering.

so you need to increase your recovery.

how do you do this?

modify your training
increase food intake
more sleep at night maybe catch naps when u can etc

and anything else you can think of.

I don’t agree with a lay off. I think you need to learn to feed yourself to compensate for the extra energy needs. One of the reasons I believe I kept growing in school was simply because I was eating to keep gaining. I think many people underestimate the aid in recovery simply providing your body with an excess of calories provides.

You can’t take on school full time, a job and whatever other responsibilities, and then expect your body to perform at its peak while feeding it near maintenance as far as daily intake.

Either force your body to adapt, or expect to take a long lay off every single time life throws a curve ball.

People who do that are also the ones years later who claim to train “off and on”. they fall out of the game the moment life gets tough. I never did that. I’m glad I never did that.

Prof X- a question for you.

If it’s possible to reduce it to a maxim or maxims, would you say that in your opinion, most stagnation and underachievement is due mostly to undereating?

I’m not being facetious

[quote]dannyrat wrote:
Prof X- a question for you.

If it’s possible to reduce it to a maxim or maxims, would you say that in your opinion, most stagnation and underachievement is due mostly to undereating?

I’m not being facetious[/quote]

Yes. I think the majority of it is that simple. People are so afraid of fat gain that they destroy any possible muscle gains. Fat can be dieted off. It seems to be easier to do that the more muscle you carry. Who honestly gives a shit if your body fat is 17% if you gained 20lbs of muscle in the past year along with it?

Obviously, (as if it needs to be stated for any dummies) this doesn’t mean become completely careless with food intake and start eating doughnuts for breakfast. If you can make significant gains while remaining at sub-10% body fat, more power to you. It means that in order to actually force your body to make SIGNIFICANT changes in body mass, for most people on the planet, going through some periods where you aren’t extremely lean will be necessary. Either accept that…or don’t expect to grow much.

In the more than six years I’ve been here, the food nazis afraid of ever having a cheat meal are never the ones making the most progress. Will it honestly take another half decade for people to figure that out themselves?

The sad thing is, dummies will interpret this to mean, “become obese”. I’m tired of dummies. Why can’t they just kill themselves off already?

[quote]Professor X wrote:
dannyrat wrote:
Prof X- a question for you.

If it’s possible to reduce it to a maxim or maxims, would you say that in your opinion, most stagnation and underachievement is due mostly to undereating?

I’m not being facetious

Yes. I think the majority of it is that simple. People are so afraid of fat gain that they destroy any possible muscle gains. Fat can be dieted off. It seems to be easier to do that the more muscle you carry. Who honestly gives a shit if your body fat is 17% if you gained 20lbs of muscle in the past year along with it?

Obviously, (as if it needs to be stated for any dummies) this doesn’t mean become completely careless with food intake and start eating doughnuts for breakfast. If you can make significant gains while remaining at sub-10% body fat, more power to you. It means that in order to actually force your body to make SIGNIFICANT changes in body mass, for most people on the planet, going through some periods where you aren’t extremely lean will be necessary. Either accept that…or don’t expect to grow much.

In the more than six years I’ve been here, the food nazis afraid of ever having a cheat meal are never the ones making the most progress. Will it honestly take another half decade for people to figure that out themselves?

The sad thing is, dummies will interpret this to mean, “become obese”. I’m tired of dummies. Why can’t they just kill themselves off already?[/quote]

well, natural selection has a funny way of working…

[quote]That One Guy wrote:
well, natural selection has a funny way of working…[/quote]

I think it’s broke.

Something I find that helps me a ton when I experience any sticking points increasing my deadlift weight is doing rack deads in a power rack with the pins set just below knee level.

I stop doing full deads for a while and subsitute Rack Deads. This usually helps me get back into the groove with regular deads.

If this doesn’t work I lighten the weight and do deads off a block.

By working the top range of the movement and the bottom range of the movement I find it helps me when going back to regular deads again.

[quote]corple wrote:
since ive gotten a job…

this is basically a sign that im not eating enough?

cause this is really getting frustrating, worked so hard for my lifts, and im either stalling or degressing :([/quote]

What does your diet look like now that you are working?

Post up the specifics and I’m sure everyone would be glad to critique it for you.

good luck

[quote]Professor X wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
well, natural selection has a funny way of working…

I think it’s broke.[/quote]

I think so too. Dumb people are still breeding.

[quote]corple wrote:
since ive gotten a job…

this is basically a sign that im not eating enough?

cause this is really getting frustrating, worked so hard for my lifts, and im either stalling or degressing :([/quote]

IMO you can either…

A) Stop gong to failure (if you do). Stop a rep or two short.

B) Cut back on your volume (maybe by 50%) and keep the intensity.

C) Take a week or so off.

[quote]Olesya Novik wrote:
corple wrote:
since ive gotten a job…

this is basically a sign that im not eating enough?

cause this is really getting frustrating, worked so hard for my lifts, and im either stalling or degressing :frowning:

What does your diet look like now that you are working?

Post up the specifics and I’m sure everyone would be glad to critique it for you.

good luck
[/quote]

this is what i ate yesterday, since ive posted this thread i happened to pick up a 6lb bag of whey and a tub of sams, a canister of nuts and some other good stuff:P anyway this what i ate yesterday

i pretty much know when im not gettin enough, but im not trying to bulk either. i want to maintain and build, yes i know its slow. anyway, i dont measure out, im just approximating

meal 1
2.5 servings bush beans
1cup 4% cottage cheese
handful of nuts
large apple

workout

meal 2
1cup oats mixed with skim milk, unsweetened coco powder, lots of honey
and a handful of nuts
1scoop protein mixed with skim milk
large apple
like 3slices of bread

meal 3
1cup oats mixed with skim milk, unsweeted coco powder, lots of honey and a handful of nuts
chugged some milk out of the gallon

meal4 (at work…)
1scoop protein mixed with some skim milk
1large apple

meal5 (got to run home)
1.5servings of bush beans
about 2.5cups cottage cheese (spooned it out of the tub! only 30mins for lunch)
1large apple:P
some nuts

meal6(before bed)
tuna sandwich with mayo
3slices of bread
chugged some milk out the gallon
1large pear

im sure i left some stuff out, cant really rememeber exactly what i ate…diet seems pretty bland, but i dont care, i enjoy the food i eat.

anyway, i expect to be told i didnt eat enough, so lemme hear:P sorry i couldnt be more precise with the proportions, but when i say ‘chugged’ its gotta be atleast 3 servings

thanks

[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
corple wrote:
since ive gotten a job…

this is basically a sign that im not eating enough?

cause this is really getting frustrating, worked so hard for my lifts, and im either stalling or degressing :frowning:

IMO you can either…

A) Stop gong to failure (if you do). Stop a rep or two short.

B) Cut back on your volume (maybe by 50%) and keep the intensity.

C) Take a week or so off.[/quote]

lol beleive it or not, ive tried all 3 of those. honestly i think its just comin down to my diet, im not eating enough…i quit my other job on sunday, so ill have some days off to rest too, i couldnt handle 2jobs and school. apparently it was gettin to me…

I say avoid the layoff unless you were getting to the point in your lifting where you were due for one anyway.

I had a similar situation once where I switched jobs and started more physical work. I ended up taking a week off, but it might as well been a month or two. When I went back to lifting, it took me time to adjust with my new work load and my lifts suffered. I had to play around and find what worked for me, and the whole time I never felt like I could give my all in the gym. Not only did I waste time and not get stronger, I got weaker.

My advice is to find a time when you can go to the gym fresh and ready. You may have to get up early before work, you may have to come home and take a nap after work.

If you make the gym your priority in your schedule, you’ll be fine. Your body will adapt to the stresses of work easier, since you do that everyday.

Also, like others have said, make sure you are eating enough, and more than you used to, especially if it is a physical job.

Why all the skim milk? You NEED fat - get back into real milk. Just balance out the fats with some fish oil caps and olive oil.

That alone will probably fix your problem.

PS Where is the meat?

[quote]sharetrader wrote:
Why all the skim milk? You NEED fat - get back into real milk. Just balance out the fats with some fish oil caps and olive oil.

That alone will probably fix your problem.[/quote]

He wrote this:

Like was already written, this is a FOOD issue for the most part.

I guess some people just like making it hard on themselves for no reason.

To the OP, could I ask WHY someone would try to force their body to “maintain and BUILD” while only eating enough to MAINTAIN? If you don’t see that as backwards, you need your vision checked.