So I have been working really hard to improve my strength over the last 4 months and have made a lot of progress. The problem is it seems to be related to a negative mood. I can't think of a time where I have had longer sustained negative moods than during this period of hard workouts.
I am wondering if there might be vitamin or mineral deficiencies that are causing this. Are there common deficiencies among athletes?
Currently I work-out 4 days a week, a Westside style template. Monday is speed bench day, I also do weighted dips, direct tricep work and hit the back from all angles. Wednesday is maximum effort squat or deadlift or some variation like pin squats. I try to hit a heavy triple and then go for a 1 rep max, I also do core exercises such as weighted back extensions and ab work. Friday is maximum effort on the bench, heavy triple and then go for a 1rm, weighted dips, direct tricep work, and several back exercises (1 arm rows, face pulls, chins). Saturday is speed squat/deadlift day. Lately I've been doing pin squats at 50-60% of my 1rm squat for speed, 10 sets of 2 reps. Then I ordinarily include a single leg exercise such as single leg deadlifts or 1 leg squats and then do core work. I mix in cardio on all the days I can stand to do it (am not completely exhausted). That has been about 2/3 of the workout days lately.
Truth is I've decided to become a powerlifter so I really don't want to back out of my program if I don't have to. I really want to try to take my 965 (squat-350, bench-210, deadlift-405) total and push it toward elite status in my first year of lifting if that is possible. I want to keep the rapid gains going if they are sustainable. I think I have some talent for the sport and want to see if I can become internationally competitive. So far my body has been responding extremely well to the workouts (I make progress on my lifts every week), it's just my mood is quite commonly really negative. I think it is some sort of imbalance and if you have any ideas I would be most grateful.
One other point is I have noticed my thought processes seemed stalled. That is, I make more stupid mistakes on homework than I ever have before. I don't look nearly strong enough yet to be the stereotyped dumb jock, trust me!
Thanks!
Matt
__________________
"In my experience, if you stay with the essentials you WILL build a repeatable swing undoubtedly. If you can master the Imperatives you have a champion" (Vikram).
The reason you can't sustain the lag is because you are so eager to make the club move fast (a reaction to the intent of "hitting it far"). So on a full shot you throw it away too early, which doesn't happen for your short chip. (bts)
While we wait for Vickie to give you a more informed answer, I'll hazard a guess....you are over training. The workouts you are describing are pretty rigorous for a 1st year powerlifter. I wouldn't do max effort every workout, I'd get on a cycle training type of workout until I've given my body some time to adjust to heavy lifting. Limit myself to 3 work sets (as many warmups as necessary) and cycle from light to heavier every 6 to 8 weeks. Max effort maybe once every 3 months. Westside is absolutely great but you need a better base and some training history before you jump deeply into it.
I'll share some personal issues. In college (I'm 61 so that was before anyone knew what training was like) I assumed more was better and worked out like a fiend...every christmas break I'd come back having lifted nothing more than beer for 2 weeks approx. and my bench would pick up 25 lbs. magically ...squat about the same. But I never picked up on it. When I was in my early 50's and benching 250-260, down 100+ lbs from my college best days (I weigh 180) I spoke to Kevin Farley, who trains natural power lifters and competes himself. I described my workouts (at the time included roughly 6 sets of very heavy lifting for each exercise ) and he said Whoa! you're an injury looking for a home. When I did less I got up to 315 in 2 yrs. after being stuck at the same wt. for about 10. Your body, or at least my body needs rest and when you are lifting near max effort your NERVOUS system needs rest, since what you are doing is training the central nervous system to simultaneously fire all the muscles involved. Listen to your body, it is giving you a warning....'work that intensely and I'll make you miserable, keep it up and I'm just gonna hurt you.'
again, consider this a laymans piece of advice and I would defer to Vickie when she posts.
Like the advice above I'd say you are doing too much. Take a break, freshen up your program and rediscover your enjoyment factor.
__________________ The student senses his teacher�s steadfast belief and quiet resolve: �This is doable. It is doable by you. The pathway is there. All you need is determination and time.� And together, they make it happen.
I gained 25 pounds in the first 3 months and then have stayed about the same ever since I decided I wanted to go into powerlifting, so I'm not operating at a caloric deficit. I'm probably in the 3500 calorie range.
I take 1600 mg EPA, 800mg DHA per day
5 grams of creatine per day
about 150-175 grams of whey protein per day
30-35 grams of BCAAs
about 26 grams of glutamine
a multivitamin.
__________________
"In my experience, if you stay with the essentials you WILL build a repeatable swing undoubtedly. If you can master the Imperatives you have a champion" (Vikram).
The reason you can't sustain the lag is because you are so eager to make the club move fast (a reaction to the intent of "hitting it far"). So on a full shot you throw it away too early, which doesn't happen for your short chip. (bts)
While we wait for Vickie to give you a more informed answer, I'll hazard a guess....you are over training. The workouts you are describing are pretty rigorous for a 1st year powerlifter. I wouldn't do max effort every workout, I'd get on a cycle training type of workout until I've given my body some time to adjust to heavy lifting. Limit myself to 3 work sets (as many warmups as necessary) and cycle from light to heavier every 6 to 8 weeks. Max effort maybe once every 3 months. Westside is absolutely great but you need a better base and some training history before you jump deeply into it.
I'll share some personal issues. In college (I'm 61 so that was before anyone knew what training was like) I assumed more was better and worked out like a fiend...every christmas break I'd come back having lifted nothing more than beer for 2 weeks approx. and my bench would pick up 25 lbs. magically ...squat about the same. But I never picked up on it. When I was in my early 50's and benching 250-260, down 100+ lbs from my college best days (I weigh 180) I spoke to Kevin Farley, who trains natural power lifters and competes himself. I described my workouts (at the time included roughly 6 sets of very heavy lifting for each exercise ) and he said Whoa! you're an injury looking for a home. When I did less I got up to 315 in 2 yrs. after being stuck at the same wt. for about 10. Your body, or at least my body needs rest and when you are lifting near max effort your NERVOUS system needs rest, since what you are doing is training the central nervous system to simultaneously fire all the muscles involved. Listen to your body, it is giving you a warning....'work that intensely and I'll make you miserable, keep it up and I'm just gonna hurt you.'
All very good advice. By the way, huge bench!
I am gaining in strength every week so I really don't think I am doing way too much. I might back off on the maximum effort work a little and take every 4th week easy. I have read some more on post-workout recovery and also on mineral deficiencies in negative mood disorders. The big glaring one is magnesium. I am taking in a shitload of calcium from the whey protein (calcium gets in the way of magnesium absorption) and I'm not taking in nearly enough magnesium to combat this, my multi-vitamin contains only 25% of the daily value. Plus, athletes tend to be low in magnesium so I have quite a bit of faith that increasing my magnesium will help a lot. Christian Thibaudeau of t-nation recommends taking an epsom salt bath (to increase blood magnesium) a couple of times a week to help recover from high-intensity workouts. I think I'll give this a try and see if it helps. Also, instead of a weekly cycle of workouts (4 times a week) I will do my 2 speed and 2 maximum effort workouts every 8 days. That will give me 1 day between each workout which working out on back to back days really kills me. Another thing I read is that supplementing with tyrosine right after the workout can really help after high intensity work. I'm also going to give this a try.
I am confident that I am on the right track. What I am doing now workout wise is quite a bit easier on the body than what bodybuilders do (high volume has much quicker burnout than high intensity according to the research noted strength coach Eric Cressey has seen). A lot of the lighter weight powerlifters use a much higher volume program than I am using but lower intensity. I think I just need to take it a touch easier, and use better supplementation.
From what I can tell, I handle high-intensity work better than high volume work.
Either way, I am going to keep pushing myself to see what I am capable of and be certain not to back off too far and become complacent. I am very new to the sport and have one opportunity to make huge gains and that time is right now. The body can adapt to huge amounts of stress if given the chance and the proper tools it needs. I'll keep changing the variables around until I figure it out. I'm not arrogant enough to think I can be extremely competitive in this sport while doing a lot less than the best.
Matt
__________________
"In my experience, if you stay with the essentials you WILL build a repeatable swing undoubtedly. If you can master the Imperatives you have a champion" (Vikram).
The reason you can't sustain the lag is because you are so eager to make the club move fast (a reaction to the intent of "hitting it far"). So on a full shot you throw it away too early, which doesn't happen for your short chip. (bts)
[Bugler Smiley Face] . . . Sorry, this is the best I could do!
haha
__________________
"In my experience, if you stay with the essentials you WILL build a repeatable swing undoubtedly. If you can master the Imperatives you have a champion" (Vikram).
The reason you can't sustain the lag is because you are so eager to make the club move fast (a reaction to the intent of "hitting it far"). So on a full shot you throw it away too early, which doesn't happen for your short chip. (bts)
A book you might also want to check out is one called "The Mood cure" by Julia Ross.
__________________ The student senses his teacher�s steadfast belief and quiet resolve: �This is doable. It is doable by you. The pathway is there. All you need is determination and time.� And together, they make it happen.
Hybrid Mode
