C’ mon guy’s possibly blood sugar , you lost 20 pounds and bdfat go’s down 2% probably looked better before. I remember the guys who went into BUDS at around 12% lasted longer than the guys who come in at 8%. Maybe some glycogen, banana or sweet potato would help? Carbs at your body fat aren’t evil, at a seminar Lee Haney talked about how he looked way better the day after his first Olympia win.
This is something I’ve struggled with massively over the last 7-8 years. Intense workouts leave me in a complete fog and with severely reduced mental capacity. It can even be difficult to focus on a screen and read complete sentences. I find myself just glossing over words and not taking anything in.
I’ve experimented extensively with food, higher calories, lower calories, hydration, you name it. Almost nothing has a positive effect in staving off the “fog” after a heavy workout.
I have found that I can comfortably run long distances, multiple times a week, with no issues. However, intense workouts with higher heart rates and especially sprints will cause the same effect as heavy lifting.
I’ve known that I have low test for ~5 years, and, for me, it is especially correlated with heavy training; rising back to “low-normal” if I stop exercising completely.
Given that “brain fog” is a common symptom of low test, I thought the hormonal situation would be the key to fixing the symptoms I was experiencing. Not so. I’ve been “on” for 5 weeks now, and despite feeling massively better for the first 3 weeks, I feel as if I’m returning to “normal” now, and after a moderately challenging workout 2 days ago, I’m struggling heavily to complete my work (PhD thesis and research/coding) - to the point where I’ve effectively sat and browsed the internet for 2 days because my concentration doesn’t allow for anything more.
This is a huge issue for me. I ADORE heavy lifting, but it doesn’t seem to be compatible at all with my physiology, and it’s especially incompatible with my academic goals. I can struggle through my work in absolute misery after heavy lifting, but that’s really no way to live.
I know this is all anecdotal, but I would love to see somebody get to the bottom of these shared symptoms we are experiencing, so I hope it helps piece things together even a little.
My guess this comes from inability to recover properly from such workout. I’d have check own diet first (macronutrient and most importantly micronutrient intake). Probably organism is lacking vitamins and/or minerals. Take plenty of them with food preferably. Supplement fish oil, take good amounts of sodium with food, eat plenty of fruits. Have a well balanced diet and this should fix this problem, but it will take time. Nothing happens overnight.
Do you read books in your free time (non science)? I have noticed that reading nonscience books (not news from laptop, but actual books) helps with my concentration. Doing a lot of online stuff really brings out my concentration problems.
Also if I have a few days break with the little guy it seems to help, too.
Switching from heavy big lifts to bodybuilder isolation type of training, and training every other day helped too. My goal is not to be as big as possible anymore but strong and athletic, so it has allowed me to go for switch some lifting days to running outside.
How old are you OP and do you train in the evening?
Hey guys! I’ve got the same problem… I sleep well, eat quality food, drink a lot of water, feel great right after the workout, but on the next day I’m feeling low, sometimes even depressed. What I noticed is that BCAA pre and post workout helps a little bit, I might experiment with piracetam just before bed too.
Hi, I am a complete amateur at exercise and have the same problem. I found this thread through Googling “mental fatigue after exercise”. If I try to jog every day, even for 15 minutes, it reduces my mental capacity for the rest of the day. I do both creative work and computer programming. If I exercise I might as well forget about doing anything creative. I can still program, but it is slower and less efficient, and sometimes I forget about or don’t think about things that I should. There are times when the fatigue is so bad that I can’t do anything besides watch Youtube videos. This lasts 1-2 days usually.
Maybe some of us have different physiology. Or maybe it happens to everybody and some of us notice it more because we have more mentally demanding jobs. When you literally can’t do your job, you notice it. I know that I didn’t used to notice this, it took a long time for me to see what was happening even while I have done the work I’m doing, but now that I see it it is very obvious. I don’t know, it’s very frustrating.
I get so stupid I can’t add the plates on max effort days. After heavy deadlifts I feel like shit and I am definitely more stupid for a day or so.
I tried something on a hunch and it seems to be helping. Can you guys that are suffering from this test it too?
Drink a small glass of grapefruit juice (6-8 oz) after your next work out, then one before bed, and one the at morning and night the following day.
Report back if it has any impact. Also note whether you consume caffeine daily.
Don’t do this if you’re on medication, grapefruit juice can mess with certain meds.