What up TNationers… Been a while since I’ve actively posted, mad I still can’t get into my original account that I created back in 2005, but anyways I’m looking for advice from bodybuilders with hectic schedules.
I’m at a point where I don’t know where to go with my training. 4 months ago I was 185lbs 9% body fat. Not huge, but I started off as a rail 122lbs and busted my butt to get to where I was. Well between working full time, going to school full time, and having my first baby 2 months ago I’m stretched pretty thin these days. Since the birth of my daughter and school I’ve lost about 7lbs and i’m noticeably getting “softer”. I’d guess i’m around 12% bf now. thats just a guess tho based on how my body looks.
Training isn’t the issue, I go to the gym on my lunch break and never miss a day. But I don’t know how to approach my training anymore. With sleep being harder to come by and stress being higher than normal my progress has come to a screeching halt and even started going in the wrong direction.
I don’t know how to approach the situation. Part of me thinks I should hit the gym even harder to maintain my gains and try to continue to grow. The other part of me thinks that I’m burning my candles at both ends and shouldn’t push too hard in the gym because I’m already pretty physically and mentally exhausted and trying to push myself even harder will lead to even higher cortisol levels and possible make things worse.
Any advice from some of the more advanced lifters with experience with this sort of thing would be greatly appreciated. I know everyone’s body is different and I need to find what works for me, but I feel like by the time i figure out the approach I should take, I will have lost even more of my extremely hard earned gains.
[quote]HispanicSamurai wrote:
With sleep being harder to come by and stress being higher than normal my progress has come to a screeching halt and even started going in the wrong direction.
…
Part of me thinks I should hit the gym even harder to maintain my gains and try to continue to grow.
[/quote]
After you’ve noticed this, you can’t really think that hitting the gym even harder is a good idea.
Dan John might not be a go-to guy for bodybuilding, but he’s freaking smart and he’s written a bunch of ideas about how to balance crazy real life and training:
I’m sure you can figure a way to adapt those principles for a bodybuilder’s goals. Basically, automate your nutrition as much as possible, enjoy downtime whenever you can, and tweak your program for efficiency (A 5 or 6 day split might not be the way to go. Maybe try a low volume/high intensity plan that has more built-in recovery time?).
Generally Chris Colucci gives good advices. Being 54 i agree with him and think pushing is an option. Doing it non stop is not smart. Maybe 4 short visits upper lower split focussing on compounds would work for a while. Be generous with yourself allowing you to not be perfect. It will come back fast whatever you loose with your personal situation when you can focus more on iron.
Enjoy your weekend !