Seriously worried about sudden strength loss. Help.

[faran18]

Hello people.. I have a problem that's got me really worried. I'm an 18 year old guy. I've always had weight issues being prone to putting on AND losing weight easily. Whenever I feel lik I've put on quite an excess flab or when i look at myself in the mirror and go ew I go my local gym and shed those extra pounds. Never completely, but yeh.

Anyway, my problem here is with strength. Last year, I'd gone gymming for 3 months from September - December.. And had lost a good amount of fat and gained good strength. The fat started to come back.. But the strength remained for quite some time. And HOW i judged this strength basically was by the number of push ups or pull ups i could do, which was 20 and 12 respectively at that time. Then i moved, and hadta get rid of my pull up bar.. so i never actually did pull ups again.. Now, over the past 3-5 months I've put on about 5 kgs (arnd 11-12 pounds) so i joined the gym again.. and NOW when i tried to do pull ups, i could do NONE.. it FREAKED me out totally.. and lik only 3-5 push ups.. im RELLE freaked out now.. what is wrong .. i HATE being weak.. i want to think its because of the weight gain.. but i put on just 5 kgs.. it shouldnt bring down my pull ups from 12 to ZERO!

I want to know if this is just cuz of the weight gain or have i lost some serious strength too. Help, please.

[faran18]

and i forgot i turned 19 llast month.

[unity]

not working out results in strength loss over time. + weight gain, and obviously you are going to have problems with bodyweight exercises. it is not that dramatic, it is what it is.

but look on the bright side, you did not "lose some serious strength", because based off the numbers you provided us, you never had serious strength. you should be able to get back to those levels very quickly.

also, higher repititions of pullups and pushups are a better indicator of muscle endurance than overal strength.

[chmbs1]

You can seriously only do about 3-5 push-ups and you went from doing 12 pull-ups to zero? You didn't have any injuries, you just put on about 12 pounds?

There is something wrong there. There is something seriously screwed up with your diet or you just aren't trying. Are you doing drugs or getting excessively drunk?

[faran18]

thanks unity and chmbs1.

chmbs1 there is nothing wrong with my diet! im pretty sure.. and no, no drugs or drinking issue either..
ok after reading ur post.. i went tried out the push ups again.. when id said 3-5, id meant with ease.. right NOW.. i maxed out at 10.. and by max i mean lik full-on effort.. that is STILL wussy man.. i could do 20 with ease earlier.. im not saying THAT was good or something.. but it was SOMETHING atleast.. and the pull ups .. yes.. ZERO.. tried it last night.. from 12 (14-15 MAX effort) to zero..

and unity.. thanks for the positive note man.. i reele did feel better when u said ill get back to those levels quickly.. i hope i do.. i know im making it more dramatic than it is.. its just that the zero pull ups freaked me out.. i stand under a bar and try to pull myself up and i CANT.. i feel like a total loser

[Beachman]

You have to keep exercising the muscle consistantly to keep it and not to be mean but 20 push ups and 12 pull ups won't be that hard to work up to.