Help! I seem to be getting weaker.

[fwonderly]

Started STS last monday and just fell in love with the hole concept and the workouts.Did my one rep max and found last weeks workouts ok-hard but ok.
This morning I started week two disc 4 and my goodness there was hardly one exercise that I could do without reducing the weights to BELOW last week's level.
I am soooo disappointed . Could it be my age -I am fifty maybe I need to leave more time in between workouts . I have been doing cardio in between and feeling good.
O dear me!

 

[christosz]

Don't worry! I noticed that, too... on many discs... It's not so much the weight, as it is the sequence of the exercises that fatigues your muscles. If you do difficult ones in the beginning of a workout - when you are not tired yet, you are bound to lift easier. If these same difficult exercises are in the middle or the end of next week's workout, you are already fatigued.
Cathe has said quite a few times that you need to adjust your weights and/or do as many reps as you can with the selected weight. Form is the most important thing to keep in mind.
Workout Manager has the super option to adjust your 1RM as you move through STS. So, record your progress and challenge yourself, but with good form!
Here's what I do: I note down the reps I managed to do with the given weight and aim for a couple more when I do the exercise again.

Chris.

 

[fwonderly]

Thanks Chris
That is just the info I needed. I feel much better now.
Fiona

 

[LaughingWater]

The same thing happens to me. In fact, it happened to me this morning. While I do grumble about having to adjust my weight, I tell myself that the change is good for my muscles. If we did the same exercises in the same order over and over again, we'd cease to make progress.

 

[hriacobacci]

You're not alone. I felt this way as well, especially in Meso 2. I think part of it was the rep pattern changes. I think there was another thread about this so you're definitely not the only one. That, at least, has to make you feel better! I can say that now that I am halfway through Meso 3, I am feeling much much stronger again and less frustrated with myself. Now I'm just impressed with my strength gains and really never believed I'd be lifting some of the weights I am.

Heather

 

[Tamrahan]

I had to lower my weights too. I felt like the proverbial 95 lb weakling (that is overweight by 60 lbs or so)

 

[Shadowpup]

I found that with STS - proper sleep, recovery time and nutrition were absolutely critical.

I actually stopped STS meso 2 about three weeks, during a particularly intense travel period. Before STS meso 2, and even with Meso 1, I could manage three day back-to-back strength training if all I had was Fri-Sun to get them done, as long as I took the next four days off, but STS meso 2??? Nope The overtraining signs kicked in, so I went back to a maintenance level of lifting.

I've restarted Meso2 as of yesterday, now that my travel is down to once or twice a month again, and didn't lose much ground, whew!

 

[fwonderly]

Thanks to everyone for all your advice and encouragement.
Its so great to know that I am not alone and can always ask advice and get wonderful answers so quickly.
Thanks again.
Fiona

 

[Kellyro77]

Resurrecting this old thread as I'm finding it super helpful in relation to what I've been experiencing right now with Meso 2.

I recently went through and charted all my 1RMs to a spreadsheet - it's helpful for me for a complete overall look at my 1RM results instead of scrolling and clicking in and out of 1RM results on the Workout Manager. (That, and I'm paranoid with all the changes going on that the WM might experience a catastrophic crash or accidental data deletion, and I don't want all my results wiped out.)

While I was filling in my spreadsheet, I was noticing a continuing trend in my 1RM decreasing and decreasing through the program for a significant chunk of my exercises. (Not all, but quite a few.)

Part of it, I account to my very first 1RM tests being perhaps inaccurate (I didn't choose a heavy enough weight to start, or it's because for each 1RM I did, I was completely FRESH - meaning I hadn't done any other exercises before doing the 1RM test, so my muscles had all the energy they needed to do that one exercise.)

I think, as others have mentioned in here, the sequencing of the exercises changing from week to week throws things off, so if I felt weaker in my Flat Bench Chest Press this week, it's because it came third in the workout this time instead of first like it did last week.

I'm just telling myself that, because man, it's kind of disheartening to see a lot of my 1RM results decreasing and decreasing.

I hope when Meso 3 rolls around, there's going to be a big change and things start to swing upwards again.

 

[Kellyro77]

I did Power Hour recently & Cathe runs on about how various factors (like lack of sleep) can affect how strong you feel from day-to-day. So while it can feel a little discouraging from day to day or even week to week, it's the results over longer time that's most important. In the great scheme of life, a 12-week rotation will show more improvements in strength for a newbie, but for a seasoned lifter like yourself, it will take even more time. I remind myself that somewhere in Cathe's STS literature, she says you'll see a 5% improvement after 3.5 months. So after 6 months, maybe 10%. It takes time to build muscle and strength.

Thank you - this was helpful, too. And you're right - I'm not in that wonderful phase of "Newbie Gains" - which, when I look back at when STS first came out, this was a pretty new concept to a lot of Cathe's followers - I think a lot were doing workouts more in the muscle endurance category (me included) so doing hypertrophy and true strength was a new experience for quite a few people - thus, lots of fun results.

Need to give myself some credit because way back in the day, my "heaviest" weights were 12- and 15-lbers. Not so anymore.

Gosh, thanks. I had gone through the "shop" pages & Workout Manager to collect premix times for dvds that don't have them listed on the cover or menu since we're not sure if that info will be readily available once all the dvds are sold. They don't seem to be putting any money/time into the Workout Manager & it has been glitchy. So I'm going to make saving my STS data a priority too.

Glad this was helpful - would be so frustrating to lose all our data in case of some kind of major change to their web sites after they've finished ditching all their physical inventory. I've not yet grabbed all the data from their PDPs. I tend to pull out the Users Guides or look at the back of the DVD cases for those details, but I know not all her workouts have Users Guides or have thorough info on the cases.

 

[FitSaxe]

I recently went through and charted all my 1RMs to a spreadsheet - it's helpful for me for a complete overall look at my 1RM results instead of scrolling and clicking in and out of 1RM results on the Workout Manager. (That, and I'm paranoid with all the changes going on that the WM might experience a catastrophic crash or accidental data deletion, and I don't want all my results wiped out.)

I too, have noticed glitches while running WM. Preparing well in advance my next round, I could not print my meso 3 workout card. So, using a spreadsheet as a back up is a must in my opinion. if you need one containing pre-loaded formulas, scroll through STS forum. Also, Cathlete facebook page contain one.

I'm just telling myself that, because man, it's kind of disheartening to see a lot of my 1RM results decreasing and decreasing.

I hope when Meso 3 rolls around, there's going to be a big change and things start to swing upwards again.

Please do not be disheartened..... At the end of your first round you will gain a result. Strength is not just about the number as it appears on your rep max.

Cathe uses various technics throughout the program (pulses, eccentrics move ===> the ability to bear the tension is not reflected in your 1RM/mesured). time spent under a tension is also part of strength. This is not mesured but you can figure that out and will know if you have improved.

As many have mentioned, sequence makes a difference. We, as exercisers need to face those changes to get stronger. The ability to bear the burn for 30 minutes is not the same as to bear 60 minutes. That is also another way of getting stronger --- endurance. Meso 1 is the base as many mentioned here. Point is we all need to build up. Feel free to drop the weight for those exercises. You can even drop the reps for few exercices. Lastly but not least, enjoy learning about your own body.

All the best!

 

[Kellyro77]

Denise is going and going and going with a serene look on her face and then afterwards Cathe congratulates her - well, the only way Denise could have done that many reps is because she chose a weight way too light for her to begin with

Yeah, that's Meso 2 - and I do recall Denise saying "I have the lightest bar" - so, I think she fesses up to not having a challenging enough weight.

I have to admit seeing some of the lighter weights the guys were using during the Muscle Endurance phase sometimes got me feeling a bit resentful. After digging through quite a few of the older posts in the STS forum, though, I came to understand that the guys weren't exactly used to endurance workouts, that they had less rehearsals than all the ladies, and that ... hey - they probably outweigh the women by a good 50+ pounds so they're already working really hard even with what looked like lighter weights, that they're using olympic barbells which alone can weigh around 45#, and they're big guys too, so they can even proportionately make a 15# weight look like an 8# weight.

All good reminders for me to just stay in my lane. As Cathe quips quite a bit "You can cheat, but you only cheat yourself!".