decrease in weight

[stik]

Last Wed, my bench had a liftoff. This is rare as it is a commercial gym and I often go later at night. I also found out that the brackets where you rack the weight could go down a notch to be competition height by measuring. Because of this, I tried to increase that by ten pounds, and only got a couple of reps. I strained a few more times and was frustrated. Ended up decreasing the weight by about twenty-five pounds. I was thinking about other things a little, was tired, and didn't eat before I went. But that happens sometimes. This felt devestating as I have a meet in September and have never had this happen before. I used both the regular bench and the narrow grip as kind of a light day. The only thing that went up was my curls in that I hit both sets of ten which is very much a non-essential component. I hit that because I was so mad. I will be posting this week on my training log either today or tomorrow, and I haven't posted this episode yet.

Are there times when one cannot lift as much as last time? How do y'all handle that?

[Lones Green]

Man there are so many factors when it comes to your lifting. You said you didn't eat, thats huge. You also went late at night, and were tired. These are all things that will negatively impact your lifting.

Your form is a huge component as well. If your form is perfect on one PR, and not good on your next shot at a PR, you won't get it. From reading your post, it sounds like you burned yourself as well. There is not much sense to trying a lift over and over and over (unless you're doing something funky with your form, there are exceptions)

Stress and hormones play a huge role as well. As you advance, you'll be able to tell when its time to push it and when you shouldn't push it.

You probably aren't going to PR every training session on the same movement as well.

Use this as fuel for your next training session, get some food in you and take a nap.

Your post was a bit unclear but I think that gets the jist of it.

[stik]

Looking at my log, which I hope people check out and comment on, I was hitting 140 for 3x3 last week. The liftoff wasn't all that much help, but I took it because somebody was there. Sometimes I have no choice but to go later at night and am tired. I will also continue to nap beforehand when I can. I will be very sure to remember to eat beforehand.

I think the big issue is that I usually only go up after I do 3,3, and 4 on the third set. Then I increase ten pounds and begin the process again. I was tired, frazzled, and added too much weight. I will be posting this week either on Friday or next Monday depending on when I go to the gym. That'll help because others can see and comment and it's easier to read in type than in my notebook. Thanks. Good to know that the end of the world is not here. Last night, it sure felt like it.

[Brian C]

You both first have to post links in your signature so people CAN view your logs

[Lones Green]

Looking at my log, which I hope people check out and comment on, I was hitting 140 for 3x3 last week. The liftoff wasn't all that much help, but I took it because somebody was there. Sometimes I have no choice but to go later at night and am tired. I will also continue to nap beforehand when I can. I will be very sure to remember to eat beforehand.

I think the big issue is that I usually only go up after I do 3,3, and 4 on the third set. Then I increase ten pounds and begin the process again. I was tired, frazzled, and added too much weight. I will be posting this week either on Friday or next Monday depending on when I go to the gym. That'll help because others can see and comment and it's easier to read in type than in my notebook. Thanks. Good to know that the end of the world is not here. Last night, it sure felt like it.

You're over thinking things

[Stew]

Its really easy to stress over a bad workout. I did it just recently. Should have hit 165x5+ on BP, missed the fifth rep off the chest. Super pissed. Next workout, was set for 175x3, ended up hitting 175x4.

I like to think of workouts as the 10/80/10 distribution. 10% ****, 80% normal, 10% great. Don't beat yourself up or overanalyze 1 bad workout. A string of bad workouts though is time to either deload or drop some weight and regress a bit.

[stik]

Yes, Iones, I probably was stressed and overthought things at the gym and for a little while thereafter. Needed food, nap, etc. Your first post got the gist of it. Thanks, dude; and take care.

[stik]

Thank you, Stew.

[stik]

<You both first have to post links in your signature so people CAN view your logs>
Placing the cursor over my screen name and clicking on "find more posts" suffices rather nicely also. Either way works.