Hi,
During the COVID lockdown I didn’t train for months and lost interest in barbell strength training. Since the gyms reopened after the lockdown (around 2 years ago in the UK) I’ve been training in pretty much a bodybuilding manner doing only isolation exercises for hypertrophy. The exercises that I have performed in each session are:
- Strict press
- Lat pulldown/row (alternate each session)
- Dumbbell bench press
- Leg press
- Bicep curl
- Tricep pushdown/extension (alternate each session)
- Cable side lateral raise
- Calf raise I started out by training 3x per week, doing 3 sets per exercises and gradually increased the volume to where I am now, training 4x per week, doing 5 sets per exercise. I perform all exercises to around RPE 8 to 9. Throughout I saw decent results from a hypertrophy standpoint which I can only assume was due to the increasing volume over time.
Lately, however (last few months), I’ve began to feel more and more fatigued during my sessions. Very recently (last few weeks), I’ve also began to feel more pain in a couple of areas (lower back, groins). Usually when I start feeling pain during or after training, I continue to train as normal, and it usually goes away after a few days. I’m concerned however that the pain I’m experiencing now is due to something that you mentioned in a podcast episode: not being able to tolerate training stress. My questions are: 1. How does one determine when to increase volume in a training program and is the increase ongoing forever? (My sessions are currently just under 2 hours which already feels like too much)
2. Is it possible that I’m doing too much? (Feeling pain more frequently, feeling more fatigued during sessions and enjoying training less over time)
3. What should one do if they’re unable to tolerate the volume that is required to drive the adaptations they desire? As a background I’m 26 and before COVID I trained casually for a few years before doing the SSLP a couple of times, the Bridge a couple of times and your Hypertrophy template a couple of times. I currently don’t do any aerobic conditioning but have just purchased a smartwatch so I can start running while monitoring heartrate as per your recommendations. However, I’m hesitant to begin if I will be accumulating more excess fatigue.
Any guidance would be appreciated.