Losing Strength - JP Fitness Forums

GG300 · 08-24-2006, 08:30 AM

A friend of mine at the gym asked me if I knew of any reason he would be losing strength over the past several weeks other than overtraining. He is 36 in great shape and he lifts Monday through Friday. He works Legs/Shoulders on Monday and Thursday, Chest and Back on Tuesday and Fridays and Arms on Wednesday. He switched to this format in June and prior to that he worked 1 body part a day and had been working that system for several years. His weight is 187 at 6'2" and he is just trying to add to his strength. He also has not injured himself in several years. He is not interested in swithing his routine much, he is just wondering if there are any other situations that would cause hime to lose strength. He was pulling 385# on deads 3 weeks ago and now he is down to 375# and he has noticed similar drops on his squats and Bench.

gobbla · 08-24-2006, 08:48 AM

when was the last time he took a break?

eastcoastsurfer · 08-24-2006, 08:57 AM

Probably needs 1-2 weeks off. Eventually the body will take time off w/o your permission, hence losing strength.

GG300 · 08-24-2006, 09:05 AM

He took a week off in June to vacation with his family. He also competes as an archer on weekends.

eastcoastsurfer · 08-24-2006, 09:25 AM

It also could be time to switch his program again. Did he go from one low rep program to another low rep program? Could be time to perioditize some and do 6 weeks of a hyper program with higher reps and less weight. So while he may have switched programs in June, he may not have really changed up what he was doing.

Jason B · 08-24-2006, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GG300

He is not interested in swithing his routine much,

Then you should tell him to prepare to be weak forever. Body part splits are horrible for strength. What's his diet like? He could probably stand to gain a few pounds if he's really interested in strength.

Lisa~ · 08-24-2006, 10:05 AM

I agree with Jason. If you do the same type of routines year after year, then you will accumulate the benefits as well as the weaknesses of that type of programming. He's built some strength and now these programs are not working for him anymore. He's going to have to reassess his needs and make some changes.

Jason B · 08-24-2006, 10:09 AM

Just think about it. He's getting weaker and wants to know why. He wants to get stronger, not weaker. But he doesn't want to change what he's doing. That makes a lot of sense.

The definition of crazy is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

GG300 · 08-24-2006, 11:20 AM

I will loan him my copy of NROL as I rememnber Lou goes into some detail tearing down the myths of single body part training. Maybe if he gets to see it in black and white it will make more sense to him. He told me that he does change things up once and a while but it looks more like different isolation exercises and stays with the same basic compound moves and set and rep schemes. He is good guy and he is very diligent in his workouts so I really hope some of these things will help him. I will pass on your thoughts to him Friday. Thanks

jvernacchio · 08-24-2006, 05:46 PM

1. Overtraining
2. Needs to change his workouts up.
3. Sounds like he needs to read NROL.
4. Doing Archery is murder on the arms he should consider that in his workout scheme.