Age: 20 Weight: 190 lbs Height: 6-0 Been lifting since about seventeen. Lifting rigorously since about 18 and some months. It'll take you till the bottom to understand my problem though. I've gone through routines that were insane absolutely GRUELING THE likes of which were harsh. Those are in the past though. The last year and a half I cleaned up, rested more and stopped being the insane endurance (3 hours of basketball 2 of lifting like nobody's business). I was using a 10/10/10 10/10/10 program where I'd go M: Chest, Triceps 10 sets, 10 sets T: Shoulders, Legs 10, cheated sometimes on legs didn't go to 10 W: Back, Biceps 10, 10 Repeat exactly for Thursday, Friday, Saturday except I used different exercises for the most part and cheated by not doing legs. My ab routine was never very consistent. I did it for the most part, just wasn't set. I always did the benchpress though. ALWAYS Basketball was also included in that. Sunday was my lone day of rest. Changed it up as I've really started getting nicked up a bit more lately. I moved a day of rest in between the rotations so let's say Thursday now would get rest and then Monday would get rest. It's an eight day rotation. I took bench out of my second chest workout and have gone completely in favor of a barbell vs. dumbell routine. It's pretty effective although I worry about compromising mass. My problem is this. I'm a HECK OF a lot stronger than I should be based on my size. Not one person I've ever gone to the gym with or person that hasn't seen me lift has predicted with accuracy how much i can lift. Expert, amateur you name it. It's good in a way since it's surprising strength (I have the power too, I have pretty solid muscle endurance). For example on chest arguably one of my weakest muscles I can bench oh say 275 4 times without a spot on a good day. I can alternating curl 60-65 lbs for a healthy let's say 6-10 rep set on biceps. When healthy (left elbow is killing me), I've done 8 reps on a 125 or so skullcrusher. I used to think it was related to technique and that I was cheating. However I've asked again and again and I seem to be doing it correctly. It just makes no sense. Even if I were not eating enough in general to grow it would (I'm not sure that's true I think I am and I do get a very high total of protein) I should be able to show the strength in some sense. At this point I'm stuck as a guy with some size that's in fact muscle, but it does not appear cut. It almost feels like I've gone down a powerlifting path without trying to (I hardly do max reps). Is this just genetics or something? Could it be that this is normal and I simply am comparing myself to others who use creatine or more serious supplements?
Off hand that looks like a serious case of overtraining. If your goal is to cut the bulk you currently have cut back on the weight and add more reps with a feww less sets, if your diet is clean you should be just fine since you already have a good base to start from. If your problem is too much strength than I dont know what to tell you, I have never seen any books out there on "How to lose strength in 10 days". It looks like you have worked hard for a long time so you should enjoy the fruits of your labor. And yes genetics play a HUGE role in bodybuilding, some people I know cant gain the muscle or the strength to go with it no matter how hard they work, and others have a more natural ability to "grow". GL and keep it up for the most part.
I would say 10 sets a body part is too much in most cases. I'd cut it down to maybe 6-8, if that. I used to overtrain all the time too. I just recently started cutting down the reps and rest time in between. Definitely still kicking my *** bc I'm almost always sore the next day. But yea, props to you though man it looks like your work is paying off. I don't think anyone ever says, "Well, my problem is, I'm just too insanely strong." lol My friends would be like, "Yea, yea *******, stop bragging."
Thanks guys for the responses. I know it sounds like bragging but it's not. There are plenty of people who can lift naturally and still kick my *** in there either full on athletes or or much bigger or older people. I do plan on cutting back a bit in there. Funny thing is Slick it's just about impossible for me to get sore anymore in the upper body. It just drives me crazy any time I hear someone say you know should put on a little weight and get big like your friend so-so (the guy who never works out and has his fat spread out to chest, shoulders, legs that makes it look like he has bulk). LMAO. No I don't intend to lose the strength in ten days. Now that would be an interesting book although I do know how to do it. Go on vacation, stay sedentary, don't eat well AT ALL and you'll shrink possibly even eight to nine pounds by the time you're back. Or... Get the stomach flu.
So far the program seems to be working well. The push days are tough, brutally tough because they're most free weights, heavy dips etc... Because of a change in nutrition I've dropped about six pounds of fat or so (mostly rice and deserts). No strength change.
