What does it mean when your lifts go down?

[dalywm]

Both my squat and bench are down 15 lbs below what I was able to do a month ago, why is it? I did take a week off. But before I maxed I felt like I was back to where I was? Is it something I need to worry about.

1 month ago i had 430 on squat and 300 on bench, now they are down to 415, and 285

[Danimal]

How has your rest been? What does your routine look like (if you are trying for maxes all the time that will burn you out)? How has your nutrition been? Have you lost weight recently? There are a lot of factors that can affect your lifts.

[HessianWarrior]

A weekend of partying could lower maxes (personal experience)

[dalywm]

How has your rest been? What does your routine look like (if you are trying for maxes all the time that will burn you out)? How has your nutrition been? Have you lost weight recently? There are a lot of factors that can affect your lifts.

I've been using a new routine, 3-4x8 @75%
and yeah I never try for maxes except on designated days which is usually once a month if even that.

my old routine was a pyramid routine on compound lifts, 12,8,6,5,5,3

could it just be because of the routine change?

I haven't lost any weight.

I feal rested, i dont feal burnt out usually.

and yeah I dont party so thats not a problem.

I'm just looking for a solid answer to this because I left the weight room pissed about it.

[ShamusTheFamous]

for me when my lifts go down it doesn't last long and the main reason it happens is either diet or stress.
If i didn't eat well for a day then it will effect me for 2 or 3 days even. Also if im pissed off or got alot on my mind then i tend to not be able to really push the weights around. but for me it all came back and i was back to gains the next week or 2. Sometimes your body just wigs out on you. If i were you i would just use it as fuel to lift harder and bust through it.

[ArchDukeOfTops]

when I take a week off it usually takes me a few weeks to get back to previous strength. Then I usually benefit from the rest and get a little stronger.

You also may not be used to maximal weights right now if your doing a routine with 75%

[GTLifter]

Two things to consider.

#1 a lot of the time your lifts can get stale. Depending on how long you?ve been doing this routine if it?s really stressful on the body you can start to fail as your muscles stop responding. Switch up your routine.

#2 Your nerves. Your body gets used to the stress you put on it. If 75% is stressful for you and your doing a lot of sets at low reps your nerves will remember that stress and lock it in so your actually lowing your own max. Simple ways to over come this is board work, over loads, and negatives. Anything to lock that heavier weight into your mind so your system gets used to it.

[John Prophet]

stuff happens on occasion and its not always any one thing to point to that caused it

question....how long have you been using those same exercises? months on end? you do know that after a while you just get burned out on the same exercises (pattern overload etc)

I like to build in some variety to my schedules so that I dont get burned out

switchign rep ranges etc can help an exercise "last" longer but eventually you still need to change.

for example squats. After a while you can go to box squats for a change, for maybe 4-8 weeks or so. Then you can come back to regular squats and you probably wont have lost much, if anything, and then youll be ready for more gains on squats


seems to me bench is REALLY susceptible to this type of burn out and I think its because we all push bench way harder. So I dont try to flat bench for too long at one time. I like to alternate it with floor press or other stuff. Like I might bench for 6 weeks at the most at one stretch

[dalywm]

would anyone be willing to give me a 5 day strength routine to get my lifts up?

[John Prophet]

maybe you just need a break off of those same exercises

ever do floor press or box squats?

I might would give those a shot for about 3-4 weeks, then maybe come back to regular squat and bench



what about other lifts? you do accesory work like overhead presses/triceps etc?


what is your whole routine?

[hustlcoke]

If I plan on going for a max I plan two weeks in advanced and eat a good amount of food. I eat 6-7 good solid food meals (basic BB diet, whatever, not everything needs to be squeaky clean) and then follow up with a glass of milk mixed with a scoop or two of some protien powder an hour later. I am sure you eat enough, but the milk and the protien powder is a really simple, quick, cheap and easy way of adding extra calories. It beats cooking about 10 meals a day or spending $13 at a Chinese buffet (Maybe not, Chinese buffets are good, ha). That is what I do for an upcoming max attempt.

[hustlcoke]

If I plan on going for a max I plan two weeks in advanced and eat a good amount of food. I eat 6-7 good solid food meals (basic BB diet, whatever, not everything needs to be squeaky clean) and then follow up with a glass of milk mixed with a scoop or two of some protien powder an hour later. I am sure you eat enough, but the milk and the protien powder is a really simple, quick, cheap and easy way of adding extra calories. It beats cooking about 10 meals a day or spending $13 at a Chinese buffet (Maybe not, Chinese buffets are good, ha).

[John Prophet]

yeah, for a max attempt I chill on other weight stuff for maybe a week or so.

Liek I am supposed to max bench tomorrow..first time in a good while. So I did a heavy bench workout a week ago but ive sort of chilled since then. Like today is back day but im just doing sort of a "half speed" workout. Like instead of pushing 250x3x10 ill do 220 for an easy 2x8.


If you train hard all the way up to a max attempt..including stuff like hard games of basketball etc, you might end up a little "flat" on the max attempts

[Danimal]

I think the key is his routine change from a pyramid thing (where he was hitting some heavy low reps) to 3-4 sets of 8 reps. The change in reps alone can make your max go down. 8 reps isn't preparing you for a max attempt. That is a good routine for general training, but if you want to max you have to train for it. Take the 8 reps and after a few weeks, drop to 5 reps, then after 2-3 weeks on 5 reps, drop to 3 reps, then down to 2 reps, then hit a new max attempt. It should take 6-8 weeks to drop from 8 reps down to a new max attempt.