Help Clueless Girl with Strength-Building Routine? (Damaged Myself/Regressed)

[itsgena]

Hi everybody, I've been a lurker on these forums for about a year. I've also been reading about different types of regimes over the course of over a week, trying to fix things and add more exercises safely, but I am no better for it. Most of the regimes contain "volume days", and I am trying to keep a regime with 5 reps and under, as I want to only gain strength, *not* size/muscle hypertrophy. I started benching 1.25 years ago, started curling maybe 9 months ago, and started deadlifting and overhead pressing 6 months ago and 4 months ago, respectively. I am not part of a gym; all workouts are done at home.

My current and obviously flawed routine:
Monday: Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Tuesday: Bench (1-5 reps, 3 sets), Max Deadlift (1 rep/1 set), Max Overhead Press ( No leg drive - 1 rep/1 set),Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Wednesday: Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Thursday: Bench (1-5 reps, 3 sets), Max Deadlift (1 rep/1 set), Max Overhead Press (No leg drive - 1 rep/1 set),Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Friday: Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Saturday: Bench (1-5 reps, 3 sets), Max Deadlift (1 rep/1 set), Max Overhead Press (No leg drive - 1 rep/1 set),Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Sunday: Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls

My benching schedule - which I guess is a lot - has been nothing but terrific for me so far. I am constantly going up and have never had fatigue or regressed with this routine. Maybe every 8-9 weeks or so I would take a full 1 week off benching, and then I would come back even stronger. I know this is a lot of benching, but I'm having no problems on this lift and plus, I love benching.

Until very recently, I've been going up and up with deadlifts as well, never regressing, until now ... Last Tuesday, I couldn't even lock in the deadlift with a max weight I had already been using for a week. I attributed that to a fluke, and I tried to do the same deadlift again this last Thursday, and this time was even worse, barely picked up the bar. I didn't know until a few days ago that very heavy deadlifts 3 times a week is way too much.

Similar experience with overhead press. For some reason, I am very slow to progress with overhead press, been on the same weight for like 2 months, but I never regressed. Due to the deadlift incident on Thursday, I decided not to overhead press that day, and I saved it for yesterday (Saturday). After doing multiple 1 rep heavy hammer curls, I went to try my max overhead press, and lo and behold, I could not get the weight up past the "clean" part of the exercise.

After doing research on routines, I attribute this to CNS fatigue. I really hope I didn't get weaker for some reason ... Problem is, I don't know how to fix my routine at this point. I also want to add Zercher Squats to my routine (Yes, I'm a girl who benches/deadlifts/curls but hasn't squatted yet. Strange, I know, lol.), but I have no idea how to add them in. Apparently, for heavy lifting, you shouldn't do squats and deadlifts the same day, and you shouldn't do benching and overhead pressing the same day. I want to start doing multiple (5 reps?) max effort (8-10sec) forearm planks for my core, which I think is okay to do daily? I just don't know how I should organize everything.

*I recently decided to do heavy hammer curls everyday because I haven't progressed for months doing them once/twice a week, idk why. I am using custom build-able dumbbells, so I can only curl in 5lb increments (my lowest plates are 2.5 lbs). Right now I'm curling with 27.5 lbs 1 rep at a time, taking turns between hands. I still cannot move up and curl 32.5 lbs yet.

Current stats:
Body Weight: 125 lbs
Bench: 190 lbs
Deadlift: 190 lbs (until regression)
Overhead press: 70lbs (until regression)
Hammer Curls: 27.5 lbs


I really appreciate anyone who has time to read through this and offer some help! I'm trying to do as much research as I can for optimal routines for my goals, and it's just been confusing/frustrating at this point.

[utfootball4]

Hi everybody, I've been a lurker on these forums for about a year. I've also been reading about different types of regimes over the course of over a week, trying to fix things and add more exercises safely, but I am no better for it. Most of the regimes contain "volume days", and I am trying to keep a regime with 5 reps and under, as I want to only gain strength, *not* size/muscle hypertrophy. I started benching 1.25 years ago, started curling maybe 9 months ago, and started deadlifting and overhead pressing 6 months ago and 4 months ago, respectively. I am not part of a gym; all workouts are done at home.

My current and obviously flawed routine:
Monday: Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Tuesday: Bench (1-5 reps, 3 sets), Max Deadlift (1 rep/1 set), Max Overhead Press ( No leg drive - 1 rep/1 set),Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Wednesday: Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Thursday: Bench (1-5 reps, 3 sets), Max Deadlift (1 rep/1 set), Max Overhead Press (No leg drive - 1 rep/1 set),Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Friday: Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Saturday: Bench (1-5 reps, 3 sets), Max Deadlift (1 rep/1 set), Max Overhead Press (No leg drive - 1 rep/1 set),Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls
Sunday: Multiple 1 rep heavy Hammer curls

My benching schedule - which I guess is a lot - has been nothing but terrific for me so far. I am constantly going up and have never had fatigue or regressed with this routine. Maybe every 8-9 weeks or so I would take a full 1 week off benching, and then I would come back even stronger. I know this is a lot of benching, but I'm having no problems on this lift and plus, I love benching.

Until very recently, I've been going up and up with deadlifts as well, never regressing, until now ... Last Tuesday, I couldn't even lock in the deadlift with a max weight I had already been using for a week. I attributed that to a fluke, and I tried to do the same deadlift again this last Thursday, and this time was even worse, barely picked up the bar. I didn't know until a few days ago that very heavy deadlifts 3 times a week is way too much.

Similar experience with overhead press. For some reason, I am very slow to progress with overhead press, been on the same weight for like 2 months, but I never regressed. Due to the deadlift incident on Thursday, I decided not to overhead press that day, and I saved it for yesterday (Saturday). After doing multiple 1 rep heavy hammer curls, I went to try my max overhead press, and lo and behold, I could not get the weight up past the "clean" part of the exercise.

After doing research on routines, I attribute this to CNS fatigue. I really hope I didn't get weaker for some reason ... Problem is, I don't know how to fix my routine at this point. I also want to add Zercher Squats to my routine (Yes, I'm a girl who benches/deadlifts/curls but hasn't squatted yet. Strange, I know, lol.), but I have no idea how to add them in. Apparently, for heavy lifting, you shouldn't do squats and deadlifts the same day, and you shouldn't do benching and overhead pressing the same day. I want to start doing multiple (5 reps?) max effort (8-10sec) forearm planks for my core, which I think is okay to do daily? I just don't know how I should organize everything.

*I recently decided to do heavy hammer curls everyday because I haven't progressed for months doing them once/twice a week, idk why. I am using custom build-able dumbbells, so I can only curl in 5lb increments (my lowest plates are 2.5 lbs). Right now I'm curling with 27.5 lbs 1 rep at a time, taking turns between hands. I still cannot move up and curl 32.5 lbs yet.

Current stats:
Body Weight: 125 lbs
Bench: 190 lbs
Deadlift: 190 lbs (until regression)
Overhead press: 70lbs (until regression)
Hammer Curls: 27.5 lbs


I really appreciate anyone who has time to read through this and offer some help! I'm trying to do as much research as I can for optimal routines for my goals, and it's just been confusing/frustrating at this point.

Send me a private message of your training age and a couple training blocks...

[OldFartTom]

You seem to have bypassed "keep it simple" and "less is more" somewhere along the road. Stop reading fitness magazines, or believing their related website articles.

Pickup a well followed program. Have a complete reset and start over (you get deload, rest, and can really concentrate on form. The weights will get heavy again quite soon don't worry)

Don't worry about becoming massive on these programs, you won't. They are used by ladies without problems.

(Unless you eat huge, take some ermmm.. "special vitamins", and do extra volume the program says not to do. In which case you weren't following the program)

I suggest Stronglifts5x5, even though your bench for example is great. Still start on empty bar and run the program. You will get better results and get more spare time. Hopefully will be more enjoyable also.

Enjoy...

[screamingjesus]

That's the worst routine I've ever seen. Why the hell are you doing a 1rm deadlift 3 times a week? Just take any cookie cutter program and even the absolute worst one will be 1000 times better than this.

Extra reps aren't just for building muscle, it's to practice the movement pattern. Sub maximal work builds strength without causing the same fatigue as constant maxing out.

The idea that doing many reps will make your muscle too big is nonsense. Females simply do not easily get big muscles naturally, and to the extend females (or males for that matter) can build muscle, it's a slow gradual process. You will not wake up one day and suddenly have big ugly muscles. If you feel that you got too big (which I doubt will ever happen), guess what? Stop working out, the muscles will atrophy away.

Serious wake-up call needed here.

[PLLover2017]

stop maxing out

deadlift 1 time per week

please no maxing on any movement. stick in 5-10 range bench. 5-6 range on deads, 6-12 for bench, 8-12 on accessories

research proper routines and be careful..stop maxing...research proper warming up too pre the movements and per working sets

[itsgena]

Send me a private message of your training age and a couple training blocks...

Hi utfootball4, I sent you a PM about 3 days ago. I'm not sure if you got the msg? I didn't save the msg to my Sent Inbox, so I'm not 100% sure it went through.

[itsgena]

You seem to have bypassed "keep it simple" and "less is more" somewhere along the road. Stop reading fitness magazines, or believing their related website articles.

Pickup a well followed program. Have a complete reset and start over (you get deload, rest, and can really concentrate on form. The weights will get heavy again quite soon don't worry)

Don't worry about becoming massive on these programs, you won't. They are used by ladies without problems.

(Unless you eat huge, take some ermmm.. "special vitamins", and do extra volume the program says not to do. In which case you weren't following the program)



I suggest Stronglifts5x5, even though your bench for example is great. Still start on empty bar and run the program. You will get better results and get more spare time. Hopefully will be more enjoyable also.

Enjoy...

I really did I'm very new to strength training, so I thought of it as being almost synonymous with skill-training - AKA, if I train more frequently and harder, I'll get faster results.

Thank you for the recommendation! I looked up Stronglifts and the programs seems ideal for me - strength-oriented, yet minimalist. I don't see any direct arm strengthening; would I be able to fit that in with this program? Otherwise, it looks great!!

[itsgena]

That's the worst routine I've ever seen. Why the hell are you doing a 1rm deadlift 3 times a week? Just take any cookie cutter program and even the absolute worst one will be 1000 times better than this.

Extra reps aren't just for building muscle, it's to practice the movement pattern. Sub maximal work builds strength without causing the same fatigue as constant maxing out.

The idea that doing many reps will make your muscle too big is nonsense. Females simply do not easily get big muscles naturally, and to the extend females (or males for that matter) can build muscle, it's a slow gradual process. You will not wake up one day and suddenly have big ugly muscles. If you feel that you got too big (which I doubt will ever happen), guess what? Stop working out, the muscles will atrophy away.

Serious wake-up call needed here.

Lol, I honestly had NO idea about CNS fatigue when I started it. I mean, I knew that my muscles need recovery, so I thought that as long as I workout 3x per week, I would be in good hands, regardless of whether or not I was maxing out. I guess since the weights got heavier, I now know that I was over-doing it...

"Sub maximal work builds strength without causing the same fatigue as constant maxing out."

I didn't know this. I will definitely keep this in mind, thank you!

I also didn't know the female musculature is less prone to hypertrophy. That is very reassuring. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to keep really low on the reps. Thanks again for correcting me.

[itsgena]

stop maxing out

deadlift 1 time per week

please no maxing on any movement. stick in 5-10 range bench. 5-6 range on deads, 6-12 for bench, 8-12 on accessories

research proper routines and be careful..stop maxing...research proper warming up too pre the movements and per working sets

Once again, I had no clue that maxing out would lead to noticeable CNS fatigue if I wasn't doing it daily. I really thought that frequent (3x per week) maxing out would keep my workouts shorter and bring my max up faster. I was very ignorant. I still have more to learn, obviously

Thanks so much for the rep references! I will stick to those recommended. Deadlifting once a week sounds much better. I was afraid that it will stall my progress, but I guess my way is the way that's actually stalling more progress.

[Domf3]

Go here and read up: http://www.canditotraininghq.com/

Also, I suggest hiring a coach even if it's only for a couple weeks to check form.

[Jason2459]

stop maxing out

deadlift 1 time per week

please no maxing on any movement. stick in 5-10 range bench. 5-6 range on deads, 6-12 for bench, 8-12 on accessories

research proper routines and be careful..stop maxing...research proper warming up too pre the movements and per working sets

FYI there are routines that have you deadlifting more then once a week. There are programs that go to over 90% weekly.

There are some that have even maxed out daily though I do feel that is extreme personally.

But the point is what you believe to be "proper" is not necessarily the only way or method.

Though I do agree with research being good. And a novice should pick an appropriate system and look to increase their work capacity while focusing heavily on technique.

[PLLover2017]

FYI there are routines that have you deadlifting more then once a week. There are programs that go to over 90% weekly.

There are some that have even maxed out daily though I do feel that is extreme personally.

But the point is what you believe to be "proper" is not necessarily the only way or method.

Though I do agree with research being good. And a novice should pick an appropriate system and look to increase their work capacity while focusing heavily on technique.

I Know Jason, the recommendation was based mostly on the frequent deadlift maxing. She needs an extended break and much lower volume and frequency with higher reps per set for quite a long time in my opinion. Her body is probably semi destroyed from maxing so often, especially on deadlifts. Would be interesting to know how OP is getting on and what routine she switched to

I mean to reply to this previously and just remembered. Hence the big gap before me replying.

[WolfRose7]

stop maxing out

deadlift 1 time per week

please no maxing on any movement. stick in 5-10 range bench. 5-6 range on deads, 6-12 for bench, 8-12 on accessories

research proper routines and be careful..stop maxing...research proper warming up too pre the movements and per working sets

Hold up, speaking of research.
Is it not well documented that female lifters do really well with Triples.
Whats with these random rep ranges of yours?

[PLLover2017]

Hold up, speaking of research.
Is it not well documented that female lifters do really well with Triples.
Whats with these random rep ranges of yours?

To stop the temptation of maxing out and to ensure she doesn't destroy herself. She has no business doing triples when she has been maxing out this often.

[WolfRose7]

To stop the temptation of maxing out and to ensure she doesn't destroy herself. She has no business doing triples when she has been maxing out this often.

I get the idea, but she could just as easily take 5's past technical failure as 3's.

80% x 3 is alright. 80% x 5 just got that much closer to maxing.

Obvs I agree with getting away from constant singles, especially if they are high rpe singles.

^^ And the best option, which hopefully OP has done is get on a good program.

Also OP if you ever see this how the hell is your bench and deadlift both 190lbs... That's actually an insane bench if that's not a typo.