Bad Day at the Gym

fatmammycat

Does every one else suffer on occasion from sluggish days at the gym? My dead lift today was terrible, 82 kilos felt heavy and seemed like hard work, yet the last DL day I was pulling 87 kilos fine and finished off with a PB of 92 kilos.
Today however I felt tired and uninspired, my muscles ached slightly from bench pressing on Wednesday, and it all seemed terribly difficult. I ran 10k yesterday and am putting the drop in energy down to too much work this week and not enough rest. I might need to tweak my diet a bit too and add more protein for recovery.
Anyone else have any tips for the upping the energy after days like this?
All answers much appreciated.

Oryx

Will follow this thread with interest. I get days (about a week in fact) like that every few weeks. I put it down to being a gurl.. that its cyclical. Where my legs feel like theyre filled with lead, and everything takes more effort. If there is a solution, I want it too.

Khannie

On advice, I've found avoiding eating in the run up to the gym has helped a lot in the last week. Pre muay thai I wont eat for 2.5-3 hours (but it would be a decent meal) and pre-normal-gym I wouldn't eat for an hour or so beforehand (I'd maybe have a piece of fruit or home made protein bar an hour before). Could be placebo, but I feel less sluggish.

I've also been taking a multivit more regularly (i.e. every day).

Interested to hear how others get on too.

g'em

I'm having a bad week as opposed to a bad day right now. It happens and it sucks when it does, but you just keep plugging away and (along with some tlc - rest, recovery, rehab) it passes. I'm very, very busy in work, I have a lot of environmental stressors right now and following two very heavy and high volume weeks of lifting my body is telling me that it needs some downtime.

Sometimes bad days happen for no apparent reason, sometimes it's just innate laziness, and sometimes it's your CNS crying out for you to give it a break. Even if you're not able to lift as big/ run as fast/ work out for as long as you normally would on a 'good' day, there's always things that you can do to make the most of a bad situation - active recovery and prehab work are under utilised by most people, so take the opportunity of an "OMGZ I'm soo weeeeak" day to catch up on making sure your body is in good working order. Do your lifts but lift lighter (30-50%) and at slightly higher volume.

Keep the grand scheme of things in the back of your mind too - one bad day does not a crappy athlete make

fatmammycat

Cheers folks, I do appreciate the replies. Being honest, the whole week felt a little 'uphill'. It has been hectic work wise too so I'm pretty sure it's all related.

Eurox

Listen to your body and take a rest day or take it down a little

wasabi

It is worth reading the chapter in this book called 'Up the Mountain to Success'.
http://danjohn.org/bp.pdf

This part about quantifying your recovery is good in particular, I think:

Nutrition: Two points for a good breakfast, one point for two snacks, one point for two additional meals…for a total of four points. (Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner is a four point day.) I think “good” choices…the superfoods…are the key, but I will accept just about anything from an athlete who is just learning that success is more than just
dinner and soft drinks each day.

Sleep: 8 hours is two points. More is three, less is one or none.

Relationships: Things were good today: one point. Fights, stress, break ups…none, maybe even negative points.

“Alone” time: If the athlete had some time during the day to collect their thoughts and relax without any time or work or school issues…you get a point. You need to figure 15 minutes at least…but that is not on the internet, phone, or a car, either!

Play time: If the athlete found some time in his or her day to simply laugh and enjoy themselves in the company of others…not with a television on nor a phone nor the internet…you get a point. Table conversation is the best, followed by old fashioned games.

Tally this up each day. You should strive for “tens” across the board.

So if things are stressful and you're only getting 5 or 6 points, definitely worth taking a couple of easy workouts.

Also worth planning on an easy week every so often. I seem to do well with 3 weeks training full on, followed by one light week dropping about 10-15% off the weight lifted and perhaps a bit less volume.

Mind you you only need this if your hard weeks actually are hard - this is not an excuse to slack off a week a month if you're not putting the time in under the bar otherwise.

Also, nice deadlifting fatmammycat

fatmammycat

I think a day or two of rest might not go astray.

Cheers Wasabi, I'm, aiming for the 100k DL this year and...
50k Bench ( heh, I'm so far away from this right now, 27k being my level best)
70k Squat ( I see G'em's squat numbers and think 'but how!?")
10 dead hang pull ups ( don't ask, lets just say 1 at the moment would be delightful)
Push press- 40k ( can do 32k at moment)
30k Military press-( 22k at moment)
I've just learned to do overhead squats recently and I've a few other goals and aims.
This board is terrific for motivation.

g'em

fatmammycat wrote: »

( I see G'em's squat numbers and think 'but how!?")

Practice and patience (I could apply the former much more often than the latter ). I started out with a 40kg DL and a 30kg squat, and you just build on it week to week. Even if it's just a kilo here and there, it's still progress