Who else has had their fair share of resets?

[d2mini]

Been at this whole lifting heavy things game since January.

About a month ago I experienced a minor hamstring pop/pull while deadlifting. Was up to 315 for reps.
So i completely reset... started with just a few lbs on the bar with high reps and worked my way back up. Just hit 315 for reps again today, no problem with the hammies.

My squat has been giving me problems. I've been stuck at around 255-265 for reps. Some of them a bit wobbly. And not happy with my depth. Generally uncomfortable during the lift. Mad at myself for being stuck. It's a chore. Not fun at all.
I do wear knee sleeves now, and proper squat shoes, but no belt yet. I do have one on order though.
Why kill myself and dread leg day? I'm about to turn 45, my legs are "ok" looking. I don't need to be pushing myself like that. So today I said eff it!

I deloaded down to 155 lbs. 3 sets of 12 reps. Soooooo much better. I was doing ATG, perfect form (felt like it anyway), and the moves just felt GOOD. I actually enjoyed my workout!
I'll continue to try and add small amounts of weight each time and see how it goes. For now I'm going to keep the reps high and keep dropping ATG.
I work out 5 days a week but last week added an extra leg day on saturday where I got on my new leg press and spent 45 minutes doing a ladder starting with light weight and 20 reps and working myself up in weight till I was only doing 4-6 reps then back down again. No worries about my back. The extra volume should help.

So far no issues with my upper body work. That's been improving slowly but consistently since January.

Every day is a learning experience.
Sometimes you are learning a new move, sometimes you are learning how to improve form, sometimes you are learning to look inside and question why you are doing what you're doing.

[Cantplankwell]

Have reset a number of times..because of repeated stalls and because I could read the signals my body is telling me before a stall. I think resetting is just smart training....along with regularly scheduled de-loads for "masters" trainees. I am in for the long haul and not about impressing folks here or anywhere else with a constant stream of PRs. I pride myself in being in the uninjured club...I had a slight tweak in my lower back a couple of weeks ago...I have backed off a little..but I am nearly 100% now.

[startingat56]

When I was in school, we had resets in the morning and in the afternoon

I liked resets

[grubman]

All I do is cycle resets. For example, right now my 3 chest excercises (on 3 full body workouts) are incline barbell bench, cable crossover presses, and dips...once I stall for too long on those I might switch to flat bench, incline Dumbell press, and decline flys. The weight will be much less than what I maxed out at last time I did those excercises. Maybe I’ll do that for 6 months, and hopefully I’ll add a pound or two to what I topped out at last time...then it might be back to the 3 former excercises, at less weight than I maxed out with them...and the cycle continues.

If I add a couple pounds a year to my best weights in my rep schemes, I consider it a win.

Oh yeah, and I’ve done that with squats about 4 times. I keep falling into the trap of sacrificing depth and form to increase weight. I’m usually pretty far into the habit before I realize I’m doing it again.

[d2mini]

When I was in school, we had resets in the morning and in the afternoon

I liked resets

LOL, that's reCESS! Wise guy.

All I do is cycle resets. For example, right now my 3 chest excercises (on 3 full body workouts) are incline barbell bench, cable crossover presses, and dips...once I stall for too long on those I might switch to flat bench, incline Dumbell press, and decline flys. The weight will be much less than what I maxed out at last time I did those excercises. Maybe I’ll do that for 6 months, and hopefully I’ll add a pound or two to what I topped out at last time...then it might be back to the 3 former excercises, at less weight than I maxed out with them...and the cycle continues.

If I add a couple pounds a year to my best weights in my rep schemes, I consider it a win.

Oh yeah, and I’ve done that with squats about 4 times. I keep falling into the trap of sacrificing depth and form to increase weight. I’m usually pretty far into the habit before I realize I’m doing it again.

Sounds like a plan! Will have to keep this in mind.

[tommydamic68]

I also have had issues with squats, recently i hurt my lower back, left side, not even sure how, with that said, i dropped down my weight on squats from 165 to 135 and was able to go deep and actually felt my glutes and legs working, the form made all the difference. Will add weight slowly and push back up but I'm liking the proper form over weight, feels like i'm making more progress.

[JeremyM07201978]

Nice thread and thanks for sharing. This is not something I had considered or heard of before. I think I'm at the point where this is exactly what I need.

[EjnarKolinkar]

It's a chore. Not fun at all.

Well nobody is going to say that lifting isn't hard work. I worry that developing a negative relationship with the gym, squatting, and your progress will hinder you though. It takes time, practice, and a lot of perserverance.

Bill Pearl went into great detail in his books about his belief that developing a positive association with lifting was critial for long term success. It's what keeps us coming back after setbacks. It's good to aim high, and to work hard. But if your expectations of yourself are too perfectionistic you set yourself up to look at normal resets, and setbacks as something personal. I'm lifting weights until they pry them out of my cold dead hands. I'm sure I will have endless resets and setbacks, I expect them and plan to take them in stride as best I can.

[d2mini]

Well nobody is going to say that lifting isn't hard work.

True, but I think you misunderstood my post.

[grubman]

I got on my new leg press

I totally missed this...what did you end up getting?

I’ve been doing myo style rest pause with my leg press lately. I know myo reps aren’t designed for compounds...but I feel they are working for me.

I have a weight that just allows me to get out 15 reps, then take 10 deep breaths (about 20 seconds) between and do 4 more sets of 5 reps. Once I can complete this I go up 2 1/2 pounds.

I tell you what, after one of those sets my quads, hams, and glutes are throbbing...in a good way.

[tblodg15]

d2, just thought I would share some of my thoughts on squats:
I started lifting seriously 9 months ago but didn't do legs at all other than cardio for the first few months. In Feb I started with leg press and leg extensions/curls and just started doing squats in May 2018. So far 3 months into squats I have avoided the temptation to add weight quickly even though I feel like I could. Instead I am adding reps and sets for a couple reasons:
- because I want to learn the exercise/form and build up some muscular endurance before going real heavy
- because squats and deadlifts are very taxing especially when going near failure and at 50 yrs-old I feel it will affect my recovery too much if I build up too soon which I felt already with heavy deadlifts
- because as others have said I can feel the muscle working better with reps in the 8-12 range
- because the reason I am doing squats in the first place is to add muscle to my legs and because this great full body exercise makes me feel better overall. Since I started doing them my lower back minor aches and pains are all gone now. In other words I want muscle and fitness from squats but could care less how much weight I actually squat.
- because so far I am adding muscle to my legs now as it is so why do I need reps lower than 8?

With progressive overload I will add weight slowly because I can't squat 205x12 forever and still make progress. Once I end my calorie deficit in Sept I will start to add weight but plan to only add 5 lbs every few weeks because I am fine with this being a marathon and not a sprint. My thoughts may not make the most sense and surely may not match up with others goals but thought I would share.

[tblodg15]

I’ve been doing myo style rest pause with my leg press lately. I know myo reps aren’t designed for compounds...but I feel they are working for me.

I have a weight that just allows me to get out 15 reps, then take 10 deep breaths (about 20 seconds) between and do 4 more sets of 5 reps. Once I can complete this I go up 2 1/2 pounds.

I tell you what, after one of those sets my quads, hams, and glutes are throbbing...in a good way.

That's sounds like a hell of a tough but good workout!

[d2mini]

I totally missed this...what did you end up getting?

I’ve been doing myo style rest pause with my leg press lately. I know myo reps aren’t designed for compounds...but I feel they are working for me.

I have a weight that just allows me to get out 15 reps, then take 10 deep breaths (about 20 seconds) between and do 4 more sets of 5 reps. Once I can complete this I go up 2 1/2 pounds.

I tell you what, after one of those sets my quads, hams, and glutes are throbbing...in a good way.

I ended up with the PowerTec unit. Has worked out great. Pics were added to my gym build thread.

That sounds awesome. My legs were shot after the ladder I did but I'll try this next time.

d2, just thought I would share some of my thoughts on squats:
I started lifting seriously 9 months ago but didn't do legs at all other than cardio for the first few months. In Feb I started with leg press and leg extensions/curls and just started doing squats in May 2018. So far 3 months into squats I have avoided the temptation to add weight quickly even though I feel like I could. Instead I am adding reps and sets for a couple reasons:
- because I want to learn the exercise/form and build up some muscular endurance before going real heavy
- because squats and deadlifts are very taxing especially when going near failure and at 50 yrs-old I feel it will affect my recovery too much if I build up too soon which I felt already with heavy deadlifts
- because as others have said I can feel the muscle working better with reps in the 8-12 range
- because the reason I am doing squats in the first place is to add muscle to my legs and because this great full body exercise makes me feel better overall. Since I started doing them my lower back minor aches and pains are all gone now. In other words I want muscle and fitness from squats but could care less how much weight I actually squat.
- because so far I am adding muscle to my legs now as it is so why do I need reps lower than 8?

With progressive overload I will add weight slowly because I can't squat 205x12 forever and still make progress. Once I end my calorie deficit in Sept I will start to add weight but plan to only add 5 lbs every few weeks because I am fine with this being a marathon and not a sprint. My thoughts may not make the most sense and surely may not match up with others goals but thought I would share.

Makes sense to me! Thanks for posting.

[Luclin999]

I started trying to get into shape four years ago.

Made decent progress over the first year, had my deadlift up to 330 and squat at 250 and then was hit from behind in an auto accident which damaged the disc at C7 and left me in constant pain with partial paralysis in my right tricep, lat and pec. So.. no lifting for six months.

After I felt better and started working out again, I would keep having minor relapses with the neck problem every 3-4 months that would shut me down again for anywhere from two weeks to four months.

The past eight months are the longest period I have gone since the accident without relapse and I am still not back to where I was originally. (the fun of being four years older I guess).

[MrCarrot]

My resets tend to consist of very long periods (i.e. 8 years) of giving up.

I don't know why, but usually after training for 2 years or so I get a combination of boredom and burnout.

The bad news is if I'd consistently carried on I'd have a great body now. The good news is it's really easy for me to get back in to it.

[ElrondHubbard]

Ideally, regular resets should be integrated into your general workout plan. I've gone for as long as 19 weeks without a reset, and as short as 9 weeks between resets. I'm thinking now that, for me at least, a 12-week cycle with resets at the beginning of each, and very gradual increases in weight from week to week is the way to go.

[d2mini]

Ideally, regular resets should be integrated into your general workout plan. I've gone for as long as 19 weeks without a reset, and as short as 9 weeks between resets. I'm thinking now that, for me at least, a 12-week cycle with resets at the beginning of each, and very gradual increases in weight from week to week is the way to go.

Every 8 weeks I do a deload week or just take the week off. But the following week is back to normal.
Have never done an across the board reset.