Performance drop in General Strength and Conditioning

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Dear Dr. Feigenbaum and Dr. Baraki,

I had a good run during the Strength I template, where I was able to hit a max squat of 130kg@10 on week 13 and a 150kg@10 deadlift on week 5 (because I was feeling overconfident and overshot). My overall results from the end of Strength I is as follows:

Squat: 130kg
Deadlift: 141.5kg
Bench: 87kg
Bodyweight: 73kg

Currently I am on week 7 of the General Strength and Conditioning template. While my bench press has increased gradually, my low-bar squat and deadlift have dropped significantly.

My current lifts at the end of week 6 for the Big Three are:
Squat: 122kg 1@8.5
Bench: 86kg 1@9
Deadlift: 130kg 1@9
Bodyweight: 70kg

To be fair, there have been many stressors in the past 7 weeks, especially with school and relationships. My nutrition and sleep have not been up to par either. I have been consciously eating less because I got into a relationship and am trying to shred to get abs for the bae (but still tried to maintain the same protein intake).

All this has led me to overshoot my RPE because I couldn’t handle the fact that I was lifting less weight than I was during Strength I #NeedToLeaveEgoOutsideTheGym

Is it possible that part of the reason why I am not progressing as aggressively as I was during Strength I is because I am doing less supplemental lifts for the squat and the deadlift? There seems to be more slots for pressing movements than for squatting and pulling movements overall in the General Strength template.

Regarding nutrition and sleep, which articles written by you should I refer to?

Sincerely yours,

Eddie Mun

2

Hey Eddie,

Thanks for the post and I hope you’re doing well.

Let’s take a closer look at this and see if anything stands out:

  1. The e1RMs for your reported squat and bench on GSC are higher than they were on Strength I. The DL is 4.5kg off where you were at the end of the strength I.
  2. I don’t know that nutrition has anything to do with this if you’re not losing substantial weight or way under on protein. I think it’s possible to nocebo yourself if you place too much importance on day-to-day nutrition. Pro tip- Only other men care about visible abs. That said, if you want to get shredded that’s cool with me.
  3. Life stress is a thing that can acutely affect performance. Our advice would be to autoregulate your training, which you’re already doing by using RPE.
  4. You’re also not running a strength specific program right now, which may be contributing (though it really seems like you’re doing fine)>

So…I’d probably relax a bit and try and enjoy the training, the new relationship, and the process overall :slight_smile:

-Jordan

2 Likes
3

Dear Dr. Feigenbaum,

Thank you so much for the encouragement! I will try not to nocebo myself and enjoy training. Thank you always for your efforts on educating the public!

Sincerely Yours,

Eddie Mun