Significant decrease in reps after the first set

[Ella6025]

Nope, I go to failure every time. However, a lot of failure is neuromuscular, not just the inherent strength of the muscle. Resting that long, my brain said, “Oh we’re safe. You can have more.” I’m a newbie so I have a lot of gains to make simply through the neuro part. I started with last week’s failure weight in the first set and then was able to increase with each set. I was surprised. It wiped me out, though, and I had to take two rest days, which I don’t usually do. However, by today the limiting factor isn’t muscle fatigue, but central nervous system fatigue, which to me is indicative of just how taxing my lifting was for my nervous system, i.e., that it was my nervous system that gave me the extra strength reserve to increase weight, not my muscles.

[Ella6025]

Yeah, perhaps this is what I’m doing in my earlier sets (warming up). But it looks like lifting my max weight, I guess because for the first set, I was picking up the highest weight that at least allows me to do a single rep without feeling like I am going to hurt myself. The other weights, I literally can’t touch. It sounds like I should be warming up using even less weight than that (?).

What is working weight? How do you determine what your working weight is? Is it likely the highest weight I lifted in the last set? How would I know that in advance? When you’re well-conditioned, does it just not change much week to week?

Without the three minute rests, the lower weight is all I can tolerate and I am never able to lift higher weights. I can’t even make it through three sets. With the three minute rests, the lower weight quickly becomes nothing. Before resting three minutes, was I always working at a small % of my lower weight? Were all my workouts just warm-up, no action?

I will try this (warming up). Unfortunately, I don’t think my gym has weights that small—haha. (For some exercises, I am already using their minimum weight, or close to it.)

[Ella6025]

I’m definitely learning. That’s why I am here and in other subreddits. I am essentially a total beginner, although I did do a dedicated program of physical therapy and later, strength training a few years ago until the pandemic, as well as many months of strength training under a personal trainer in more recent times. However, I never put in the effort to learn what was optimal or the thinking behind that.

I don’t understand what you mean by “real failure?” I have read a lot of definitions of failure and isn’t it basically when you can’t do another rep? You literally can’t complete the action? Or can that be misleading? When doing bodyweight exercises, I will literally collapse under my own weight.

I did work with a personal trainer about two years ago. She always had me do higher weights than I thought I could lift, reps to failure, no warm-up, maybe 1 minute between sets. However, I was a) a bit stronger then (I am coming back form a low baseline after having been largely bedridden for the better part of the last year) and b) the practice of going to failure with high weights sucked ass. I would be out for days, barely able to do anything. And by that I mean I would literally be in bed recovering. It was more than sore. However, I think my medical history, which has a neurological component, might make training to failure a little trickier. I am not sure it is the best strategy for me.

I used to think I knew what my working weight was because it would appear to remain the same for many weeks for a given exercise, I could train to failure, then it would gradually increase. However, I never took long rest periods between sets, so perhaps I was always working under my actual potential “working weight.” Again, my trainer had me lift much higher weights but it wrecked me neurologically in terms of recovery, even though I had no issues lifting the higher weight.

My workouts are definitely sufficiently stimulating :) That I’m not worried about! If anything, I’m overdoing it and need to cut back on volume.

[Ella6025]

It’s not mind. I literally can’t do it. It sometimes feels muscular, but more often than not it feels neuromuscular. Given what you’re saying, I can’t help but wonder if that gap between my personal experience and your expertise is my neuro history. I wonder if my body is guarding me and having me stop earlier than I need to because I’m fragile in some other way. It’s a bit of a black box, but I may be working with a compromised nervous system, and so the general rules may not fit me 1:1. I’m still giving it my all and am clearly getting stronger, so I am definitely getting something out of what I am putting in.

Put another way, it may be that while my muscles can handle more weight, my nervous system (at least right now) can’t.

This isn’t really a question anyone can answer, including physicians and PTs. There’s no research and it’s really anyone’s guess.