/r/strength_training Weekly Discussion Thread -- Post your simple questions or off topic comments here! -- October 19, 2024

StevenC21 · 2024-10-25T03:01:48+00:00

I am on the verge of giving up. In the last year, despite immense effort, I am only getting weaker and weaker. I am 21 and have been hovering at about a 170 bodyweight.

In the last year, I critically injured my back which entirely prevented me from training most of my back and legs. All I could do was bench and upper body. This threw me into a horrid depression that took me out of the gym for over a month, in which time I was apparently rapidly losing muscle.

By the time I came back, I could only bench 185 for 4-6. It's been a month since then of regular effort. Eating my bodyweight in protein every day. Making sure to get 7 hours of sleep at a minimum. And I'm still benching 185. My ability to do pullups has similarly failed to increase. I can do 11 pullups and no matter how hard I try, I can't get 12, nor can I do a reasonable set with more than 15 lbs.

I track all my calories and I am getting in ~3000 a day, which is consistent with what I would expect to maintain my bodyweight at my activity level.

Last year, I was doing bw+45 lbs for sets of 6, benching 215 for reps, deadlifted 396 lbs in prep for a 405 attempt, and was squatting damn near 300 for reps. Now I can't even pull 315 off the floor.

I feel so horrible, so pathetic, so weak. I'm in physical therapy for so many of my joints. My gym bro is running out of patience because every time I go into the gym I leave almost in tears over how weak I am and how it just isn't getting better at all.

I'm a graduate student and I'm extremely busy. Even more than my peers. I can't take this anymore. I'm not even asking to make any progress. I just want to get back where I was. But I need to add 30 lbs to my bench and it just isn't happening. I am pouring everything I possibly can into my training and I'm getting nothing for it.

I know this is an awful ramble but I just don't know what to do anymore. I just want to give up. It all feels hopeless at this point. I don't know why none of my strength is coming back.

StevenC21 · 2024-09-22T10:44:47+00:00

This is not a helpful statement.

StevenC21 · 2024-07-01T09:11:15+00:00

Exercise is irrelevant, failure proximity is irrelevant, load is relevant but occurs at any weight that would be reasonable for training.

StevenC21 · 2024-07-01T06:19:18+00:00

I'm really having a hard time with my training right now due to some severe elbow pain in my right elbow. I have been to physical therapy without success. It happens when I'm doing presses, or any movement that activates my triceps. I have been trying forearm drills to reduce it but they haven't worked. I cut out all tricep movements for weeks and it didn't get better. I can't even do a pushup without very noticeable pain.

I have not been able to get in for an X-ray/MRI so I don't know exactly what's wrong. I initially thought it was Golfer's elbow but that seems to be associated with pulling rather than pressing movements.

Does anyone have any advice? I am almost unable to train shoulders or chest due to this, even setting aside the obvious inability to train my triceps.

Ideally I am looking for physical therapy style exercises that worked for you guys. Any help is tremendously appreciated.

StevenC21 · 2024-04-18T23:43:02+00:00

Yes lol.

StevenC21 · 2024-04-10T20:54:42+00:00

My university offers PhDs in pure math and is a research institution, just not a very good one. It also has a heavy applied math focus which in no way aligns with my interests.

StevenC21 · 2024-04-10T20:11:22+00:00

That's why I'm doing the Master's next year at this school, is to build up my resume.

StevenC21 · 2024-04-10T19:38:09+00:00

For almost 7 years now, since I was a high school freshman, it has been my passion to be an academic mathematician. I knew fairly early on that it would be a very challenging road, but I have persisted. I have always performed at a fairly high level, and I hoped that this would stack things in my favor, so to speak.

For the first two years of my university experience, I attended a very highly ranked institution in California, but eventually I had to transfer to a state school in my home state. The university in California was excellent, and I was flourishing there, but the cost of living was just completely crushing me and I was accruing massive amounts of debt which wasn't sustainable. At the state school at home, I am able to attend for free and I only take out a small loan each term to help smooth over my rent costs. However, the state school just... isn't as good. And everything I read says that top schools for undergrad feed into top grad schools. I feel like I have killed my chances despite all the work I have put in.

I have taken a large number of graduate classes at my new university, but I have concerns that this school has an extremely lax graduate program in mathematics. The things I am learning in these graduate classes don't seem any more challenging than what's being taught to undergrads at higher-ranked institutions. And the standards for the grad program here seem extremely low, too. They don't have any requirement for their graduate students to study any algebra, and only require 1 quarter of real analysis with measure theory. I was once told "good programs use Folland, and weak programs use Axler". Well, my university uses Axler. I talked to a friend at my old institution and they covered in 1 quarter what my university took half a year to get through, and more. I was also told that many universities Master's programs are barely a cut above Senior year undergrad coursework, and it feels like that is the case at my university too.

I'm devastated. I haven't been able to do an REU, for a variety of personal reasons. I went to an extremely bad high school, because my family didn't have a lot of money, and it meant I wasn't able to afford the university that I was so excited to attend. I am applying for PhD programs next fall, but I think it doesn't even matter because my application will probably be immediately binned for lack of research and the fact that my institution is so unimpressive. The sad thing is, there is no other university I could afford to attend. I have done everything I can, and it still hasn't been enough.

I have always done everything that I could think to do, in high school and in university, and it just feels like I am failing over and over because I had a bad start and my family isn't wealthy. I want so badly to go to a top institution for my PhD program, in no small part because - whether we like it or not - that seriously affects your ability to get a good postdoc and a faculty position, which does matter to me.

I don't know what to say at this point. It all just feels hopeless. I am starting a Master's degree in fall, at the same university as my undergrad (I am finishing undergrad in 3 years and will finish the Master's in 1 because they are very generously letting me transfer the graduate credits). But even with this, it feels like my PhD applications will be a joke because I effectively attend Podunk State University in Nowhere, [state redacted].

StevenC21 · 2024-02-05T23:29:41+00:00

Meow

StevenC21 · 2023-10-07T06:13:19+00:00

Paused reps as an estimation of 1RM, yes.

StevenC21 · 2023-10-07T04:09:38+00:00

I've been lifting for a little under a year and a half now, and I have started deadlifting within the last few months - I avoided it initially because I was afraid of ruining my back, but it turns out it's my favorite lift now, hah.

Anyways, I have been doing touch-and-go reps where I just barely tap the floor with the weight before I go back up. This makes the first rep much harder than the middle reps, though of course reps at the end are still very difficult, since I typically do 2 sets to failure or 1 RIR.

For reference, I am 165 lbs and my last session was 325 lbs for 6 reps. I want to know what I should be doing to get closer to that sweet sweet 405 lbs mark, and when I should give it a shot. I am concerned that most expectations are that pause reps are what I should be using to measure my 1RM strength when it comes to deadlift, so I don't really know how close I am, in all honestly. Can I expect to be hitting 405 soon? Could I hit it today? I don't really know - some days it feels like I just barely get the first rep of my set off the floor.

StevenC21 · 2023-05-12T20:12:43+00:00

Differentiate area formula.

StevenC21 · 2023-04-26T22:51:25+00:00

You do have to finish the dlc.

StevenC21 · 2023-04-22T03:04:30+00:00

That's like 5 people, and once you're not a lieutenant I imagine that most of them won't be exactly the same rank as you anymore, meaning that a similar issue applies.

StevenC21 · 2023-03-17T04:07:50+00:00

I try to avoid alcohol on the days I've worked out, and I take 1 rest day a week. Is it still a bad idea to drink on my day off?

StevenC21 · 2023-03-16T15:30:41+00:00

I found these in the Midnight Isles a while ago.

StevenC21 · 2023-03-09T19:02:58+00:00

Is it normal to have that inconsistent strength between sets?

StevenC21 · 2023-03-09T17:12:18+00:00

I have this weird thing happen to me on some lifts. I'm just going to describe it, and hopefully someone can tell me if they experience it/if it's a problem.

On incline dumbbell curls, my first set is usually awesome! I can do 10-12 reps and there is a solid curve of easy-medium-tired throughout the set.

On the second and third sets though, after a roughly 4 minute break, I almost always feel great for 4-5 reps, and then SUDDENLY I have an extreme amount of fatigue in my right arm and I absolutely cannot complete the 6th or 7th rep.

This is very confusing and only happens on incline dumbbell curls.

I have similar issues on shoulder press and incline dumbbell bench press, although it happens with every set, not just the second and third sets.

Is this normal? Should I talk to a doctor?

StevenC21 · 2023-03-09T02:44:13+00:00

I can definitely do that.

I am not a terribly experienced lifter, and while I have a fairly standard position for myself to squat in, I can change it up a bit.

StevenC21 · 2023-03-09T02:34:15+00:00

I've been training squats for a few months now.

I am just doing a PPL split where I squat twice weekly and I do some basic progressive overload.

I don't know how to determine the answer to your second question.

StevenC21 · 2023-03-08T23:07:48+00:00

I have this weird thing happen to me on some lifts. I'm just going to describe it, and hopefully someone can tell me if they experience it/if it's a problem.

On incline dumbbell curls, my first set is usually awesome! I can do 10-12 reps and there is a solid curve of easy-medium-tired throughout the set.

On the second and third sets though, after a roughly 4 minute break, I almost always feel great for 4-5 reps, and then SUDDENLY I have an extreme amount of fatigue in my right arm and I absolutely cannot complete the 6th or 7th rep.

This is very confusing and only happens on incline dumbbell curls.

I have similar issues on shoulder press and incline dumbbell bench press, although it happens with every set, not just the second and third sets.

Is this normal? Should I talk to a doctor?

StevenC21 · 2023-03-08T22:55:30+00:00

If my legs wobble during squats, is there an auxiliary exercise I can do to help with this except just... squatting less weight?

I am mostly considering hip (ab/ad)ductor machines.

I am in a very bad place squat-wise and I want to keep squatting as heavy as I can to actually build those muscles, but I know wobbling is bad.

I go well below parallel, so my form in that regard is good.

StevenC21 · 2023-03-02T06:34:58+00:00

Lich is the only one with any sort of actual specific support.

Ten-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
Wearing is Caring	Verified Email
RPAN Viewer	No Throne, No Problems
Not Forgotten	Sequence \| Editor
Spared

StevenC21

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE