posted Sun, 06/08/2025 - 06:26
2338
+ 2 Losing strength for unknowm reason
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Ive been lifting very consistently for 3 years. The longest break I ever took was 8 days. Ive blasted and cruised the whole time. I eat a high protein clean diet; however, this last 2 weeks I go into the gym and am lucky to get through my normal routine. Ive been hitting muscle failure about 3 or 4 reps sooner than I should. Its pretty demoralizing. Do any of you guys ever experience this? Not just 1 off day but 2 full weeks.
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Sounds like you need Blood work
Ranger3252Have you had your estrogen levels and thyroid checked. These two could be the culprit in my experience.
Are you having any other symptoms like; Fatigue and lack of energy
Mood changes
Weight gain
Erectile dysfunction
Low sex drive
rhino82Fatigue and lack of energy. Everything else is good
rhino82Thyroid yes Ive been on synthroid for years so thats under control
Ranger3252Get bloods and definitely check your estrogen and Thyroid. I am confident it’s on of those two.
rhino82It could be I havent had bloods checked in months. Might need to titrate my thyroid meds too
Ranger3252Yes my friend, get better and definitely check back in with everyone. We have all had setbacks, I’m just now getting back to the gym after distal surgery of my second bicep. Today was the first I’ve felt strong and thought I’ve looked half decent in a mirror.
AK80Probably need more carbohydrates or rest. May have hit a plateau. Get some bloodwork done and post it in here. You're not using bunk Ryan Enkei junk are you?
I’ve got bloods to show his Test Cyp is legit…
rhino82Who's test who is this Ryan Enkei?
From a different source. They’re running a promo for strong dads right now.
rhino82Got it thank you
rhino82Nope not using bunk junk lol. I will set up bloodwork though and post it when I get it. Who is Ryan Enkei?
Could be a number of issues brother. When is the last time you had Bloods drawn?
It could be over training or under recovery, hydration / electrolyte imbalance, poor sleep?, e2 out of wack? "Need some Bloods", life stress?
It could be a lot of different reasons, it sounds like your diet is on point. Sounds like fatigue to me bro.
I agree. Sounds like generalized fatigue. Could be a number of causes including stress. Been there done that.
rhino82I think it was I took 3 days off. Ate pretty much whatever I wanted, even fast food. Probably put on 10lbs of bad weight in 3 days but I feel much better. Back in the gym today. Feel really strong
rhino82Yes, a lot of life stress lately. Wife and I are good now but the last few weeks we had an extremely rough period. I even left and stayed on a coworkers couch for a week.
Stress will getcha man. Sleeping on a couch for a week I guarantee your sleep sucked lol. I've been there. Alot of good advice suggested in post by others so hopefully it's just the stress but keep ur head up man.
rhino82Thank you
rhino82Oh it sucked.
rhino82Thank you
Yeah Christ buddy - If I was sleeping on the sofa for a week my training would suck!!! lol
Personally, I would take two days off and o ly do light cardio for those days off and see what's up. Also, I would get Bloods asap
rhino82I have taken 2 days off. Thinking of making 3
Listen to your body bro. A little time off to refresh and refocus is not a bad thing!
rhino82I did bro, I took 3 days off, ate whatever sounded good, went way beyond my usual calorie intake, ate some junk, slept till 10am both Saturday and Sunday and it worked. I feel great. Stronger even
I've had some gruelling Deadlift sessions in the past where I have needed 3 rest days afterwards before I can lift anything.
rhino82Damn thats intense. I havent had that happen since I first started this lifestyle
Thats when I've done 3 heavy sets to failure, whole body ends up crippled. You can lift on the 3rd day but the CNS is still out so you can only activate a certain amount of muscle fibre, still feel like shit too so just leave it another one. Shouldn't really train it like that at low reps to failure but when the ego is calling it feels cool at the time LMAO
You will always remember this moment mate - you just tipped me into 7k there!!
rhino82Since I tipped you into 7k now you owe me buddy lol
rhino82Hell yeah
For sure brother, have to listen to your body. Can always go and only do light excersice, no lifting.
When I feel I need the rest, I go to the gym, walk the treadmill for 10 min with a light kettle bell in one hand, switch hands every 30 secs for about 10min overall. Then the stair master for 20 min, slow speed, get the blood flowing. I go to the gym just to maintain the habit of going to the gym.
rhino82I agree on getting bloodwork. Its been 4 months since Ive had them drawn.
Thats a great place to start. Something that has been helping me quite a bit lately is carb loading before and after my workouts. I eat a bowl of rice / ground turkey 30 min - 1 hr prior to gym time in the am and another bowl right after the gym. Has been a big help in recovery for me.
rhino82Bro, got my strengrh back I did some very out of character things. Ate McDonald's twice ate at an all you can eat pasta buffet, just let myself go and today my strength was back. Probably gained 10lbs of bad weight though
Lol atta baby! Just don't make it a habit. Happy you got it back brother
rhino82Nice Ill give it a shot. Although ill substitute for red meat and rice. Cant stand Turkey
Blimey mate - could be soooo many reasons. When you are saying you are hitting failure 3 to 4 reps sooner than normal, are you saying you normally perform 8 reps and are failing at 4 reps or normally you hit 12 but now fail at 8? Is this on all exercises or just certain ones? Have you recently changed the gear or compounds you normally use?
rhino82I usually do sets of 12 and am hitting failure at reps 8 or 9. Gear is the same no change in dosage or brand. And now that you mention it and reminded me the lack of strength is more pronounced doing biceps or forearm exercises. In fact I first noticed the weakness in my biceps first and just chalked it up to a few off days but then it progressed to everything
If you are feeling it more in muscle groups like Biceps and and forearms - being smaller isolated ones in higher rep ranges then it is likely down to overtraining and lack of energy from things like carbohydrates and general muscle fatigue. If its progressing elsewhere after a few days off then maybe you need to lower your reps if strength has stagnated or even gone backwards. Hitting 12 reps is more in the range for endurance and muscle exhaustion buddy - you need to probably drop it down to 6 to 8 reps to get some new growth going again. Then aim on increasing the reps again. Not necessarliy on biceps, but in areas like general pressing try hitting 4 to 6 reps for a while.
rhino82Definitely will drop the reps and get some new growth going again
rhino82Thank you for the advice. Thats what I will do