energy through the workout

[GOMAD]

hey all,

I'm only 10 days into my program, starting essentially from scratch. The weights, for me, are getting heavy and each exercise is now pretty taxing - I'm breathing hard and as I change weights between I'm taking my time and resting about 3mins between each set. I'm starting to feel more fatigued towards the end of the w'out (d'uh) but I hate not being able to put in what I think is 100% into the Deads or what will soon be the pull ups.

My BW has gone from 215 to 220lbs. I'm running an excess of calories but don't want to put on any more fat. My macros are 240g protein, 200g carbs, and about 100g of fat (this varies usually on the downside). I'm at the limit of fitting into my clothes...

Does anyone take an energy drink or coffee during or immediately before the work out? I currently take about 20g whey, 20g carbs from cereal (Cheerios) and about 3 espressos 30 mins prior to starting my squat warm-ups.

Thanks in advance.

So far: squat - started at 205 now at 255
Press - started at 95 now at 105
deadlift - started at 225 now at 265

[Miro]

I do hope you are resting longer than 3 minutes between your work sets, though.

[GOMAD]

not by design. So I rest for 3mins and then get under the bar so that takes about an additional 30secs before I work again. I have seriously limited time so I try to get a complete workout done inside of an hr or 70mins max.

[Miro]

How often do you train? If you can do 4x/week then doing one lift per day might make more sense for you, given your time constraints.

[GOMAD]

I try to train every other day but recovery is not always there. I'm finding once every two days xooxooxoox etc is what's working best. Is there any loss in efficacy in doing one exercise per day?

[Ryan Arnold]

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

[Gerhard]

I find myself consuming anything from 300-500mg (mainly through coffee and what not - I cannot recommend caffeine supplementation or energy drinks) of caffeine prior to a training session, and upon it's completion. If things go on, I have a stash of biscuits and cereal bars in my gym locker. So you aren't alone in energy crashes, but I would not recommend doing what I do, merely think of something that may work for you. Incidentally though, one thing I can recommend, and this is where my cereal bar/biscuit stash comes into the mix.

A certain recently anointed Doctor around these parts, recommended that I should aim to get 25-50g of carbs (sweets, biscuits, energy gels, etc) intra-workout if I experience energy crashes. I also believe he has recommended this course of action to others as well. So there is that, and it's coming from a medical health professional too!

[Serack]

The Program:

The easiest way to stop your progress between workouts is to fail to finish all the reps of all the prescribed work sets. And the easiest way to make this happen is to fail to rest long enough between work sets to allow fatigue from the previous set to dissipate before you start the next set.

The First Three Questions, Mark Rippetoe

Question 1

How long are you resting between sets? This is usually the reason a kid is stuck, because he’ll usually say, “Oh, at least 2 or 3 minutes.” Strength training is not conditioning, and if you do not recover from the fatigue induced by the previous set, then accumulating fatigue limits your ability to complete the sets and reps required by the program. In a novice program, fatigue is not a variable we wish to introduce, because force production is the adaptation we want, not conditioning

Strength is the goal of the novice program, and its close friend muscular hypertrophy. We’re trying to get bigger and stronger here, and taking the squat from 115x5 to 335x5 accomplishes this task every time. With 4 months of constant progress, this can be accomplished even given a missed workout or two (for funerals out of town and such). So you do whatever you have to do to make this happen, and it’s quite obvious that if resting 7 minutes between sets alleviates the fatigue from the previous set, which is necessary to complete all three sets of 5, then you rest 7 minutes. Maybe 8. We’ll get hot, sweaty, and out of breath later – now, we’re getting big and strong.

Again, this question is first because it is the Number 1 Error made by novice trainees. It’s easy to fix, so fix it. If time is a factor, start the warmups of the next exercise, but rest enough between work sets to get all the work done.

It's not the answer you want, but it's the answer you need. Rest more between sets!

As for supplements, try Scivation Xtend BCAAs.

[lou t]

not by design. So I rest for 3mins and then get under the bar so that takes about an additional 30secs before I work again. I have seriously limited time so I try to get a complete workout done inside of an hr or 70mins max.

definitely not long enough intraset rest. My minimum is 5 minutes up to 7. Ya, its a time killer but you will grind yourself into the ground and waste more time not getting anywhere at some point.

Process of elimination - diet, sleep, stress, weight jumps, recovery, intraset rest

[GOMAD]

Thank you gents. I really need to commit to this. I have to make the time and rest more. I know I could have had those two final reps if I'd rested an extra minute or two. Dammit!

Sleep is also something I've had to skimp on, on account of the kids starting to wake up at 6am now (45mins earlier than usual...) so I should hit the hay earlier it seems.

Glad to know it's variables I can and should control. Grateful for the help.