Stalling / Regressing / Lack of Motivation

[Scott Stevenson]

The thing is chaps, I am motivated when I am not there.. I love training and think about it a lot. I am very merticulous with things leading up to and after training but the issue is as I am warming up I am just not interested.

The purpose of the mini cut was so that my gaining phase could be prolonged as long as possible. I don't want to have to do a typical cut to get in that optimal shape to build muscle so the idea was to do small mini cuts in order to get to that optimal muscle building phase asap which in turn allows me to build the greatest amount of muscle. I couldn't think of anything worse spending 16+ weeks again dieting down and not being in a surplus just to get into that optimal state.

Last year I did that long cut which I mentioned and it was mentally and physically tough. I took me 3-4 months to start feeling reasonable again as I was so burnt out. 3-4 months of feeling lethargic, no energy, no drive, 3-4 months of shit sessions. I am currently feeling the same lethargy as I did in that "overtraining period" and I am only 1 1/2 weeks into this mini cut and 2 weeks into my new blast.

As JP mentions.. the idea of a mini cut is for it to be no more than 6 weeks which should ensure that strength shouldn't take a hit etc however this is having an effect on my strength ALREADY and I am only 1 & 1/2 weeks in.

This is really unusual for me as the only form of cardio is coming from NEAT which is 10k steps. I could understand if I was doing 1 hour on the stair-master or something more taxing but its just walking..Like I mentioned before, I did 2 hours cardio and 18k steps on top of 2 hours tier 2 turbo whilst on a third less calories than now and my strength was increasing session by session.

This is making me question somethings up..

Is it a case that I need a few days off ? Need another cruise? I am really confused.

I think the bolded tells the story here.

You've got an interest in bodybuilding obviously, and would love to be in a place where you feel great and are kicking ass in the gym, but it sounds like you're simply not there physiologically.

I'm guessing here, but when you then go to the gym and it's time to amp up for training, this lethargy then sets in and, b/c of that, your training motivation goes down.

There is actually some evidence in humans that with overtraining via resistance exercise, there is a decrease in adrenoreceptor density, which would decrease the signal that comes form the sympathetic nervous system.

1. Fry AC, Schilling BK, Weiss LW, Chiu LZ. beta2-Adrenergic receptor downregulation and performance decrements during high-intensity resistance exercise overtraining. Journal of applied physiology. 2006;101(6):1664-1672.

This was in skeletal muscle, not nervous tissue like the brain, but it fits with what you're experiencing.

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So, I would say that you might need to drop it back and do another cruise / taper and wait until you're REALLY ready to comeback and kick ass, and then wait even another few days.

I mentioned this on the latest muscle minds (will be out next week) that I talked with a buddy who's a PL'er about his taper the other day. He takes essentially 2 weeks off from the gym and by the time the meet hits, he's so friggin' out of his mind that he just wants to tear into things.

This was the thing that Dante very much emphasized with DC training- that the DC cruise should leave you just chomping at the bitt when you come back. It sounds like your cruise didn't do the job, maybe b/c you pushed too far in that previous blast. Also, simply that you have the recent history of what seems like it really was a case of overtraining (given how long it took for you to bounce back) that you might have this tendency (supporting my guess here about what's going on).

This does not preclude that there's also something unusual going on here organically (such as whatever things are underlying the phenomenon of chronic fatigue) and that you can't benefit from doing everything in your power to enhance recovery outside of adjusting training.

If you posted some pics, it might help with getting an idea of where you body fat really is. If you're actually pretty lean, then, if you were to take another cruise / deload and reducing kcal during the point wouldn't be my suggestion. (On the contrary, if your BF is relatively high, then you could have some down time and probably also drop a small amount of body fat, which is easier the more body fat you have.)

-S