my workouts are worthless...

**chevy44** · 10-08-2004, 12:56 AM

alright boys and girls. most of us here know that after doing a certain workout for x amount of time, your results cease and you hit a brick wall. now i have been told several times, that to overcome this dilemma you can take a break, change your diet/routine etc etc.. now my predicament is that i seem to hit these "brick walls" every two months... wtf? for example i was given a workout to by a member on here. the workout is football related; football related training?
now at first my strength increased, i lost lots of fat and got incredibly tone. then this cont'd for about 2 months and in the 3rd month my strength decreased and my workouts were less fulfilling (you know the feeling). the same thing happened to me when i first started my new workout at the college i was attending (also for football). the first 8 weeks were incredible, i gained 10 lbs dropped about .3 on my 40 and everything was great... after those 8 weeks, same thing happened.
now when i come across a brick wall i get very discouraged, and i take a break. but the thing is i dont think i should be taking breaks every 2 months. so what do you guys think is going on? what should i do? any help will be greatly appreciated thanx..

**imann** · 10-08-2004, 01:46 AM

you need some motivation.try to find a patner that has a lot of intensity and train balls to the walls. I know the days i don't feel like pumpin', my buddies are always ther with a motivating you're a b***h or does your p***y hurt? We always have great lifts bc we all feed of each others intensity.

**Dude-Man** · 10-08-2004, 07:07 AM

I take a break every 2 months... a whole week off. It's my way of making sure i don't get overtrained.

**bluethunder** · 10-08-2004, 07:17 AM

Sorry bro happens all the time. One cannot expect increases forever but you can maintain strength. I agree taking a week or two off or evan workout twice a week for awhile. I replied to the thread about- Overtraining-, so I would suggest you read it. Basically, loss of strength is just one symptom of overtraining.

**63190** · 10-08-2004, 09:32 AM

Just try chaning to a new routine every 8 weeks. This one dude I know never has two workouts the same for a reason similar to yours. Says that his strength fluctuates no matter how a scientific his approach is. So he just never does the same exercises for each body part. IE: week one will have seated military press, hamer strength press, DB lateral raises. The next week he'll do DB shoulder press, cable lateral raises, and Arnold presses.

**chevy44** · 10-08-2004, 01:38 PM

good **** guys.. thanx

**se11** · 10-08-2004, 08:05 PM

also, if you go on a bulking plan, and gain some weight, you can probably add some size(i think). not 100% sure about this tho.

**chevy44** · 10-09-2004, 05:19 AM

yeah i def. would love to put on 10 lbs of solid mass, but not if it means sacrificing speed.

**SwoleCat** · 10-09-2004, 06:31 AM

Originally Posted by chrisAdams

I take a break every 2 months... a whole week off. It's my way of making sure i don't get overtrained.

Wish I could get myself to do that!!!!!

Kudos to you in being able to do this.

~SC~

**Powrlftr** · 10-11-2004, 12:06 PM

Taking a full week off is a good idea if you got yourself into an overtrained state, well it's also just a good idea to prevent overtraining too. I hope you are not training all out maxing and training as heavy as you possibly can for 8 weeks and think you are not going to overtrain. If you want to lift continually and not take time off you need to throw a light week in there say every 3rd week. Drop down in weight considerably and increase the reps for that week then go all out again.
As someone else said, you need to change your routine and sometimes training style every couple of months or your body will adapt and you wont make gains. The best workout in the world will stop working for you if you constantly use it.

**ToJuice,OrNotToJuice** · 10-11-2004, 03:25 PM

If you follow the MAX-OT program it calls for a week off every 8 weeks, then when you come back you switch up the routine. PM me if you want a site that has all the info

**Hypertrophy** · 10-11-2004, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by ToJuice,OrNotToJuice

If you follow the MAX-OT program it calls for a week off every 8 weeks, then when you come back you switch up the routine. PM me if you want a site that has all the info

My current periodization is set up to take a week off every 8 weeks. Last week I supercompensated, and today I am stronger than ever. It works every time like that "for me."