Sup people. I have a question (this is my first post by the way). I’m currently peaking towards a bench press single (hopefully PR) somewhere this month or early January, but i have some stubborn fatique partially in my chest, it feels just like soreness from training but it’s located only partially in both pecs (just under my armpit towards my front deltoids). I rest between 5-7 days (try to train as frequent as possible). I almost had 2 weeks of rest and still had a bit of soreness, but i trained anyway. I did a set of 4 and back-off sets (also 4) at a reasonable RPE. But, there’s still soreness. Is this just because i trained quite hard for the last few months (almost took no deloads) and as a result fatique has built up? Do i rest until it’s gone? And if it has no effect on training performance, do i just continue? Btw, it’s not if it’s a lot of soreness, it’s local and minor but it doesn’t seem to go away.
How often do you bench/train chest per week?
What does your bench volume look like? Competition lift and accessories?
I wouldn’t think muscle soreness and fatigue are correlated with each other. They are fundamentally two different things.
If it doesn’t have an effect on performance then it’s not fatigue, and you could just continue training.
However if it is affecting your training performance significantly, then maybe you could try to decrease the training volume for a week or so.
Thanks for the tips guys! I lowered the volume yesterday and only did 3x3 with RPE 8. I’m probably going to do a light session in a few days to increase frequency again. It feels like muscle soreness but it doesn’t have a great effect on performance (just a little). My workouts look like this: one top set of 1/2/3/4/5/6 at RPE 8-9, 3-5 back-off sets at RPE 8. Accessoires are tricep extensions, OHP, close grip bench, larsen press. But try to avoid those if fatique is inhibiting performance during the session.
I definitely think spreading your volume out throughout the week will help you feel less sore and probably help you lift a bit more on the accessories. Just be mindful of RPE and even if you need to drop the back off sets to an RPE 7 for a bit (I’ve done this on Deadlift).
Best of luck mate! Hope it works out.