Sudden loss of strength in training

[BMWBen]

Strange thing seems to have happened to me... On both Tuesday evening and last night I tried to do some upper body training and I found that I can only do half the number of reps with the weight I've been using. Just seem to fatigue really really fast, but without pain just fgeeling really really weak.

I was doing 7 reps x5 (toning rather than muscle building) but I could only manage 4 reps yesterday.

I also do a lot of cardio but haven't noticed any difference with that.

What could have happened? Running out of carbs (would've thought that would affect my cardio somewhat)? Something else?

[Sheets Tabuer]

Over training?

[UncleRic]

Lack of carbs during the day, possibly? Maybe you just didn't eat or drink enough prior to training.

Or, if you're really unlucky.. bad AIDS.

[Maxymillion]

7 reps is not 'toning'. It is hypertrophy/strength.

[goldblum]

Sheets is probably correct.

Take some time off.From both weights and cardio.It's VERY easy to overtrain when you push it even moderately at both.

[BMWBen]

goldblum said:

Sheets is probably correct.

Take some time off.From both weights and cardio.It's VERY easy to overtrain when you push it even moderately at both.

I would normally agree - except it just seemed to be my arms I had just done a bit of a bike ride and then a further leg workout before starting on the arms. Maybe I just ran out of sugar.

Anyway, day off today, and no specific training until next week for me now.

[BMWBen]

Maxymillion said:

7 reps is not 'toning'. It is hypertrophy/strength.

I'll admit to not knowing too much about this stuff as I've never been into bodybuilding per se, just sport specific fitness. I thought that for muscle gain you trained at 3-4 reps per set, the last leading to exhaustion, so assumed that by upping to 7 I'd be moving into a different range?

Have you got any resources where I can read up to recommend?

[mcelliott]

BMWBen said:

Maxymillion said:

7 reps is not 'toning'. It is hypertrophy/strength.

I'll admit to not knowing too much about this stuff as I've never been into bodybuilding per se, just sport specific fitness. I thought that for muscle gain you trained at 3-4 reps per set, the last leading to exhaustion, so assumed that by upping to 7 I'd be moving into a different range?

Have you got any resources where I can read up to recommend?

Brawn by Stuart McRobert. Read it. Get big.

[goldblum]

BMWBen said:

goldblum said:

Sheets is probably correct.

Take some time off.From both weights and cardio.It's VERY easy to overtrain when you push it even moderately at both.

I would normally agree - except it just seemed to be my arms I had just done a bit of a bike ride and then a further leg workout before starting on the arms. Maybe I just ran out of sugar.

Anyway, day off today, and no specific training until next week for me now.

If it crops up again before the end of next week then overtraining is confirmed.

Try to eat complex carbs before training,and make sure you have ingested enough to last you through your session.I'm guessing you're not carrying much fat?

[Digger]

Always do yor weights first (after a warmup) followed by your cardio. More efficient and safer that way round

[BMWBen]

goldblum said:

If it crops up again before the end of next week then overtraining is confirmed.

Try to eat complex carbs before training,and make sure you have ingested enough to last you through your session.I'm guessing you're not carrying much fat?

Definitely less than 10%, so no is the answer I think! I do usually have quite a carb loaded diet - porridge for breakfast, big portion of pasta for lunch, and some brown toast with humus or some other snackage before/after dinner.

But then I do 12.5 miles of bike ride in 40 minutes in the morning and evening, and on both of these days I had pushed quite hard. On thursday after my ride home I then did 15 minutes of intensive leg workout. My diet has normally been adequate though - my body tells me when it needs something.

I also actually have other health problems that could be a factor... I didn't want to prejudice people's opinions though.

[RemainAllHoof]

Maxymillion said:

7 reps is not 'toning'. It is hypertrophy/strength.

Depends. Maybe he was bicep curling a Bic biro.

[carmonk]

BMWBen said:

Maxymillion said:

7 reps is not 'toning'. It is hypertrophy/strength.

I'll admit to not knowing too much about this stuff as I've never been into bodybuilding per se, just sport specific fitness. I thought that for muscle gain you trained at 3-4 reps per set, the last leading to exhaustion, so assumed that by upping to 7 I'd be moving into a different range?

Have you got any resources where I can read up to recommend?

There's not really any such thing as toning. There's building muscle and there's losing fat (simply speaking). The latter is done primarily via cardio, the former by lifting weights. The number of reps is not particuarly relevant to muscle building (within reason) it's the stress you put on your muscle as you work towards failure. Whether that happens at rep #4 or 7 or 14 doesn't make much difference, other than you've probably wasted time by doing a higher number of reps because it's only the last two or three reps that make the difference. Of course, if you train with very high reps (20, 30, etc.) you won't build muscle on the last reps because you'll be so knackered you won't have the energy left to stress the muscle.