Or weeks.
Today I was supposed to do 2x3@325 for bench, 2x3@337.5 on squat. I did one rep of bench and didn;t try another, just didn't feel right. Did one rep of squat and the 2nd one I just went down and stayed there - didn't even push up. Blech. Time off is a-comin'
I ended up doing 2x5@275 just to do something.
Bob Peoples was a legendary weightlifter from half a century ago. He deadlifted 728lbs at 178 (or 187, depending who is writing it). I always used to think guys like that just always went up untul they got to 728 or whatever. But they had their slowdowns too. The story gave me a new perspective.
From "The Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban"
Bob bought another farm with a huge house sitting on a hill. Here he built his basement dungeon gym. Not only did he train here, but he trained Paul Anderson as well. Peoples was really an organized man.
He was a mild man, but did have a flare up temper at times. His wife Juanita told me of times he would get so angry with himself because he wasn’t progressing that he would actually carry his weights from the dungeon and throw them down the hill – swearing never to lift again. A few days later he would lug all the weights up and back to the dungeon and train harder than ever. A real layoff.
3 comments:
2 Things:
1. We can't add weight to infinity, and we all have ever-changing limits.
2. Don't weightlifters plateau -- stay in one place for a while -- then get stronger even when they are following a program? I know that is true in climbing. (I plateau, go backwards, get better, get worse.)
I know you just had a bad day, and I am over-responding. I just feel like being encouraging. You are super strong, and the road to getting stronger can't possibly be all uphill. There are bound to be dips when you get weaker for a time.
or 3. Sam's a big baby and isn't trying hard enough...
Seriously, even a personalized program designed by the best trainer in the world needs be adaptable. I think one of the hardest things to do in this game is back off. I am feeling the cumulative fatigue of moderately heavy BS, DL, and BP for the past 3 weeks. Will probably go light next week, then hit the final 2 weeks hard.
Yes, that's exactly it. Once you've been lifting a while you often have to train hard enough to actually decrease performance - then you back off and you recover to a higher level. I just need a few back off weeks. I hate backing off though. I always know when I need to but never want to. Luckily Mike is out of town next week so either I'll avoid the barbell altogether and do some KB conditioning or work on something skill-ey like OHS. Then I'll reset to lower poundages and I'll be crushing, killing, and destroying again in no time.
Or I could just try harder.
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