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Low energy when lifting

L

Lazarus52980

Senior member
Does anyone have any advice on how to keep my energy high when lifting? I find myself getting tired really fast when I do squats, and I find myself failing the lifts lately due to energy issues, not strength issues...

Anyone know where I can buy Ephedrine? 🙂
 
are you doing any type of cardio or just heavy lifting? Might wanna throw in a few runs or HIIT
 
HN said:
are you doing any type of cardio or just heavy lifting? Might wanna throw in a few runs or HIIT
Click to expand...

I had not been running (mostly becuase I find it too boring...) I could add some morning sprints into my routine if that would help.
 
What kind of routine are you doing? Reps, sets, how much time going down, how much time at the bottom, how much time coming back up, how much time between reps, how much time between sets. What percentage of 1RM is your working weight?
 
blackdogdeek said:
What kind of routine are you doing? Reps, sets, how much time going down, how much time at the bottom, how much time coming back up, how much time between reps, how much time between sets. What percentage of 1RM is your working weight?
Click to expand...

Lots of questions, I will try to answer:

I do a mark rippetoe style routine (except I do high bar squat instead of low bar)
3 sets of 5 reps and currently at 305 lbs.

Time going down and time at the bottom? I don't "drop" but I go down quickly, and come back up as quickly as I can. I also take as little time as I can between reps. Mostly just long enough to breath and sometimes take a few breaths if I am tired before doing the next rep

I currently take 4 or 5 minutes between sets, using a stop watch

I rarely do 1RM, so you would have to calculate it from a 305 or 310 for 5.



Is that the info you were looking for?
 
Lazarus52980 said:
Is that the info you were looking for?
Click to expand...

Yup. Keep in mind the squat is an extremely taxing movement so it would make sense that it could get exhausting.

As others have mentioned, have you been getting enough sleep? I don't usually get enough sleep so I have a cup of coffee about an hour before lifting to keep my energy levels up.

What is your diet like?
 
coffee plus an apple before your training. Also you can buy bronkaid at any pharmacy,if you want to try ephedrine, about 15$ for 60 caplets in Washington, I don't know about other states. You have to ask a clerk for the bronkaid it is behind the counter and they scan your ID to keep track. You can also sometimes buy it online at amazon or walmart.com.
 
blackdogdeek said:
Yup. Keep in mind the squat is an extremely taxing movement so it would make sense that it could get exhausting.

As others have mentioned, have you been getting enough sleep? I don't usually get enough sleep so I have a cup of coffee about an hour before lifting to keep my energy levels up.

What is your diet like?
Click to expand...

I find dead lift to be much more taxing, energy wise. But my back is a lot weaker than it used to be due to an old injury.
 
just get yourself a preworkout..

just a few you may want to try:
superpump max
c4
Jack3d
MTS clash
Assault
1MR
 
Sounds like central nervous system fatigue. How long have you been lifting and when was your last break? At what % of your 1RM are you lifting? Rep and set scheme?
 
Being "elderly" (and an all-round lazybones, in general), I cannot do without my pre-workout boosters to get my blood pumping and brain focused. Right now, my cocktails of choice are BSN Hyper FX (30 minutes before lifting), and Scivation Xtend (15 minutes before). I am pretty sure that it's the Beta Alanine and caffeine that do the trick. These are also labeled as intra workout supplements, although I never use them in that fashion.

Some days, I feel like a rag doll. My pre w/o "syrup" takes care of that. I also often have to try to get myself "angry," a trick I learned from one of many deadlifting gurus.
 
blackdogdeek said:
Yup. Keep in mind the squat is an extremely taxing movement so it would make sense that it could get exhausting.

As others have mentioned, have you been getting enough sleep? I don't usually get enough sleep so I have a cup of coffee about an hour before lifting to keep my energy levels up.

What is your diet like?
Click to expand...

The best word I can use to describe my diet is...inconsistent. I am currently working on my discipline to eat under 2000 a day to try to cut, but I generally only acomplish that every other day...

Other than that, I take protein powerder and creatine in the morning, and get over 100g of protein every day. its just that some days I have WAY too many calories (I am sure its like 3500 or 4000)

If you are looking for overall content, its not terrible. I don't do much in the way of soda, or simple sugars becuase my wife makes almost everything from scratch.

As far as sleep, I am doing the best I can, but I get 6-7 hours of sometimes interrupted sleep (I have a 7, 6, 5, and 1 year old, and my wife and I do foster care and somtimes have 1-2 others of ages 0-5).

I have generally been trying to avoid caffeine, since it tends to effect me heavily and I can't get to sleep.
 
SociallyChallenged said:
Sounds like central nervous system fatigue. How long have you been lifting and when was your last break? At what % of your 1RM are you lifting? Rep and set scheme?
Click to expand...

I have been lifting for about 2.5 years, and other than a missed day here and there, I have not really taken a break. That having been said, I am sometimes lazy and skip either my deadlift/power clean, or my bench press/overhead press, but I always do my squats.

I would guess I am working at about 90% of my 1RM or so. I had been trying to go with 3 minutes of rest in between, but I have extented that out to 4 adn then 5 minutes trying to get this. I am trying to get back to 3x5x315 that I had about 3 months go, but have gone backwards for some reason.
 
Lazarus52980 said:
As far as sleep, I am doing the best I can, but I get 6-7 hours of sometimes interrupted sleep (I have a 7, 6, 5, and 1 year old, and my wife and I do foster care and somtimes have 1-2 others of ages 0-5).
Click to expand...

I think this is why you're tired. How do you even find time to hit the gym? >_>
 
Lazarus52980 said:
I have been lifting for about 2.5 years, and other than a missed day here and there, I have not really taken a break. That having been said, I am sometimes lazy and skip either my deadlift/power clean, or my bench press/overhead press, but I always do my squats.

I would guess I am working at about 90% of my 1RM or so. I had been trying to go with 3 minutes of rest in between, but I have extented that out to 4 adn then 5 minutes trying to get this. I am trying to get back to 3x5x315 that I had about 3 months go, but have gone backwards for some reason.
Click to expand...

It's suggested that you take a week off from lifting every 10-12 weeks and do some active recovery (fun sports stuff, light jogging, etc). If you don't, you get what's called central nervous system fatigue. It comes about as a result of constantly challenging your CNS and it's slower to recover than your musculature. It has to do with neurotransmitter alteration (specifically serotonin, maybe dopamine). To alleviate it, you take a week off and allow it to recover. Each time I've done a break like that, I've come back sleeping better, lifting better, and feeling better in general.
 
When I'm tired I take time off. I've been bicycling like a fool after quitting it for a couple years. When it catches up with me I've been taking days off and doing nothing physical at all not even walking fast. I find throwing those in periodically helps a ton. I get my energy back and I can start making gains again instead of just keeping pace or going backwards.
 
Alright, based on the advice from here, I will take a week off of lifting and then try some caffeine to help after that.

Thanks all. 🙂
 
Lazarus52980 said:
Alright, based on the advice from here, I will take a week off of lifting and then try some caffeine to help after that.

Thanks all. 🙂
Click to expand...

a week off sounds like it is in order... but if it was cns, you would be feeling it all the time. You would be tired/fatigued all the time, not just during a workout.
 
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