Training question

[Jay76]

How come last month, all my lifts were beautiful, now this month I maxed out and out of 5 exercises, 2 were good, rest sux. Some exercises I could not even move a weight i destroyed last month.

Have not been doing anything really that different. I just implimented Nail bending 2 a week into my program.

Realistically, how much weight can one add to an exercise, for example the deadlift, month after month, year after a year..

Whats realilstic pondage number for a given year one can add ???

How often is really good to max out?? every month, or is that to much?????????????

Jay,

Not to get all taoist on you, but you haave to go with the flow. If you honestly can't find a discreet cause, diet, stress etc....then your probably burnt.

After my October 4 comp I didn't make any real gains with KBs for about 6 weeks. I concentrated on CBs, diet, plotting fututure workouts. Made big technique gains with CBs.

All of the sudden, a wwek ago, the KBs look good to me and I PR. Your in for the long haul - go with it

Bill

[Doug Szolek]

Jay, listen to what Bill's saying.

As for other considerations, Nail Bending, can be extremely taxing on the nervous system. In your case it may be the straw that broke the camel's back. Be careful adding seemingly little things (like nails) into an already full training program without taking something else out to compensate. Often times the your recovery abilites will be more stimulated by the new training (especially when it's as neurologically taxing as nail bendin) and devote more of their focus to it.

If you wanna continue twisting the metal with your hands, think about dropping some of your other training down to maintainence levels for a while.

That aside, it sounds like the diminishing returns are indicating that it's time to cycle off to a different type of training.

Give your strength recovery some time off and you'll be amazed at the gains when you cycle back to it.

In Faith,

[James Boelter]

I agree with the others that you are probably burned out from too much volume and/or too much intensity/and or too many different activities. The problem may be as much in your nervous system as in the muscles themselves.

Jay, although it is probably not the definitive answer to all training and peaking problems, you should have a look at a little book titled 'Consistent Winning', by a pair of authors whose names escape me at the moment. (Look for it on Amazon, and look for the version of the title with the review that talks about the Golden Mean, Fibonacci, etc).

I don't entirely buy their version of non-linear dynamics using Fibonacci sequences and the Golden Mean as an answer to balancing multiple variables of volume, intensity, exercise selection, etc., but I do agree with the main thrust of the book, which is that progress has to be a step-staged affair, not just an ascending line. You need "fallow" periods of active rest and recovery periods where you back off and maintain for a while, and THEN reattack your goals.

Among other things, Coach Sonnon encorporates this into his training philosophy in the article "An End To GPP" - you should go back and (re)read it to get some perspective and some ideas on how to recover and how to proceed.

Remember - your goal is NOT to be as tired and wasted as possible - your goal is to succeed at your goals.

Good luck, and have faith in yourself and in the process!
"Consistent Winning"