Recovery and Stress: Why am I getting weaker?

[Mr.City]

Hey gang,

I've been having recovery issues since the third of fourth week of the Texas Method. The volume days would beat the shit out of by the time I was hitting 320 or 325 for 5x5. I wouldn't even be able to finish my recovery day squats. I figured that maybe TM wasn't for me, so I switched over to 5/3/1, however the same issues started popping up.

I'm only on my first wave and I'm struggling to get one or two more reps on the last set on my squat and deadlift days. (My bench and press are still progressing linearly, although those might be over soon) My old 5RM on TM was 355, but I could barely get one rep on 5/3/1. I'm currently on the deload on my first cycle, but I've been feeling worn out all week.

I've also been dealing with some stress outside the weight room in the form of tax trouble. My mom was supposed to take care of a trust fund for me while I was a child. She didn't file the taxes on it very well, and now the IRS is coming after me, saying I owe them over $160,000. In addition to this, I work a shitty cashier job that stresses me out.

Can outside stress fuck my recovery this badly? I want to get strong, but the outside world seems to sapping my strength

[Sami]

Stress can and will utterly fuck you over. For some things, think about if there's even anything you can do. If not, try not to stress over it. If they want $160,000, and you know you can't pay that shit, then try not to stress about it. Find someone that knows about that stuff, and ask him what you CAN do. There are numerous consumer advice boards where lots of knowledgeable people/professionals in that field volunteer their time to help people out (kinda like Rip come to think of it). They're not going to "take your case" but they could give you options and point you in the right direction.

If it's something you kinda do have control over, like your job, then it can be a bit more difficult to cope with, imo. On one hand you feel you're more valuable than that and could work towards something better, but on the other hand it's a little difficult to just "go and get a better job".

Whatever it is, decide that you can set it aside, at least for decent chunks of time in the day/week/year, and just focus on something more productive.

[misspelledgeoff]

For what it's worth, I went from squat of 280X12 week 2 of first 5-3-1 cycle to 275X5 week 1 of second cycle after the deload week. Lost MASSIVE amounts of strength in just 5 weeks. Not eating enough and stress could have been a contributor for me. But I don't think I'll do that program again.

[Paul Sousa]

It may not be what alot of people on here would suggest, or what you want to hear, but this could be a time for you to back off on your training. Maybe go to a two or three day split with lower volume. You obviously have a ton on your plate right now and it may be best to get all that sorted before you go all out in your training again. I will probably get crucified for such a notion, but oh well.

[Carlos Daniel]

If the stress on volume day is too high for you to recover, why don't you just cut a set?

[mstrofbass]

If the stress on volume day is too high for you to recover, why don't you just cut a set?

Agreed. I wasn't eating enough when I got a few weeks into TM, so I dropped it to 3x5, and kept everything the same. Still got linear progress until I hurt my knee (not because of squats).

[Carlos Daniel]

Agreed. I wasn't eating enough when I got a few weeks into TM, so I dropped it to 3x5, and kept everything the same. Still got linear progress until I hurt my knee (not because of squats).

Well, maybe not 3x5, more like 4x5 first. It think Rip recommends trying 8x3 too, it's in PP if you care to check it, on the chapter in TM.

[mstrofbass]

Well, maybe not 3x5, more like 4x5 first. It think Rip recommends trying 8x3 too, it's in PP if you care to check it, on the chapter in TM.

Yeah, I would start off just dropping one set. I only tried it because it worked for a buddy of mine.

[misspelledgeoff]

If I remember correctly, he did drop a set on the volume day and got the same (overtrained) result.

[misspelledgeoff]

I've never had an IRS problem, but if I did I'd go buy the most hard-fucking-core tax lawyer I could afford. Do you have any parents around that would help you out financially on getting a lawyer?

I've also been dealing with some stress outside the weight room in the form of tax trouble. My mom was supposed to take care of a trust fund for me while I was a child. She didn't file the taxes on it very well, and now the IRS is coming after me, saying I owe them over $160,000.