another noob q

hunnymonster

<yes all the weights I mention are what ye could manage with your big toes but they make me gurn and curse you all>

Two things I thought of in the gym this morning

I had a bad day. For example I thought I would be able to move up a weight on the dumbbell bench press today as the last day I did 8x3 reps of 2x17.5 kg's and being able to complete a 3rd 8 is my usual criteria for moving on. Instead I struggled to do 3x8 of 2x12.5 kg! (yes I've already mentioned they're light!) Is it like cardio fitness where every couple of weeks you need a down week? I'm only doing weights twice a week because it takes that long to recover. I've considered a few obvious things like bad food or lack of sleep but can't put it down to those.

Another question. pain? what's the deal? For some exercises I get a dull pain that I feel for a good while afterwards. I get this particularly for the back extension. For others it's like the lactate burn (mostly dumbbell arm stuff) and other times it's just exhaustion without pain. Throwing the towel up on the rail to have a shower felt like hard work after this morning I just wanted to lie down and sleep. Are any of these indicative of an injury or should I just ignore them.

Dragan

I normally find three reasons for a missing a lift I thought I would get.

1) I'm tired, missed sleep, a busy few days in work, a busy life outside of work. They can all take there toll on recovery and slow up your strength coming back.

2) Poor diet that day. I have only recently begun to fully appreciate the impact that food can have in a very, very, short time!! If you were low on carbs this may explain the muscle fatigue.

3) Not fully recovered from previous session, which normally hinges off reasons one and two.

You say that your recovery can take a long time? Is there any reason for this that you can think of or has it always been this way? I know you run a lot but whats your dietary protein and rest like?

hunnymonster

Thanks Dragan, I think it's a mixture of being pretty new to weights and that I do lots of other stuff on non-weights days that needs the long recovery. It is getting better in that the first week I only managed to go once, the seocnd i was still sore the second day which was 4 days later. Today was day 1 of week 5. My dietry protein is improving but all comes from real food. I get it hard to stomach the chalky taste of protein shakes. I'm trying to eat 300-400 kcal every 3 hours and at least 3 of the meals would have a chick breast or couple of scrambled eggs or pint of milk type thing.

Dragan

Good stuff! Don't worry about not drinking protein shakes. They are there to supplement wholefoods, not replace them. If you can get all your protein in from wholefoods then go for it!!! I'm eating anywhere from 320 to 400 grams of protein a day, so I use shakes to help me get there as relying solely on wholefoods would be uncomfortable!!!!

I imagine that your body will get used to the extra load from weight training shortly, especially as you diet and work ethic are both up to scratch!

p-nut

Hey if you dont like protein shakes, try avonmore chocolate milk. Its absolutely gorgeous, and as far as i kno, choco milk has been praised for years as the perfect balance of carbs and protein after a workout. Google it if you dont believe me. Also, dont touch that yazoo/galaxy p*ss, it wouldnt be as good as the fresh stuff:D