Why Am I Worn Out?

I’ve been doing as much as I can with the big lifts because they have such a big effect on the entire body. I’d hate to lose that, but I suppose I can set squats, deads and bench on different days so there’s at least one each day. I guess I’d better unless I want to keep beating myself up. I’ve always heard that there was a hormone dump when the big lifts are done hard enough and I’m a believer now. I’m wired about an hour after the leg workout days (and uselessly exhausted before that) and I’ve had a problem keeping acne under control for the last 4-5 weeks which I’m taking as a good thing since it’s usually caused by androgens.

It sure is looking like I need to add more protein and I’ll check the Dave Tate video. I’d love to figure out the bench press thing. I’ve never really felt a fatigued pectoral (well, actually twice) even though I’ll bench until I can’t hold the bar up. Maybe I’m heavily triceps dominant.

I’m with you, BSC, volume seems to work better for me than low reps EXCEPT on legs. Over 10 reps on my legs and I’m breathing like a freight train which leads me to quit before my legs are really tired, but my legs have responded to this workout. I actually have a couple pair of jeans where the thighs are tight (that’s a nice improvement over the waist being tight).

I haven’t worked my quads since Friday (5 days now) and my right quad is STILL tight. I think I can play bass with my hamstrings.

What is so unbelievable about working every set until failure? I’m only talking 2-3 sets per muscle. What I’ve never understood is working 5-8 sets and maybe going to failure on the last one. If the whole point is to fatigue the muscle, why are we waiting to work it to it’s fullest? That seems to be the whole theory with doing Tabata workouts. The goal is that worn-out exhausted feeling you get after running for 35 minutes. If you can do it in 4, then it’s the same thing.