Energy loss, can anyone relate?

[WallBilly]

ps, in more defense of Rip:

I am certain that I was not "doing the program." I was certainly trying to do LP, but at the same time I was trying to learn the lifts without coaching until I got desperate and got great coaching for a day. I continued to play hockey during LP, did not eat 4,500 calories a day, or drink a gallon of milk a day. Probably did not get enough protein or enough sleep or recovery, maybe I ran a few times.

If I was a 19 year old athlete trying to make the big time, I should have done all those things. But I was a 52 year old trying to find my way. "Lifted" my whole life, along with sports, but I learned that my form on free weights was brutal and I did mostly machines. Again, I thank Rip for getting me to "starting strength". I would not trade it for anything.

Invaluable gateway to TB.

[Maxrip13]

Hello TB fam,
Lately I've had huge drop in energy levels and overall motivation to train. This is a bit strange for me, normally I love training, It's something I look forward to.

I was coming up on my last week of a Black block paired with Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength (needed the LP) and by my last 5k tempo run it pretty much hit me. I had barely hit the halfway point and my legs were on fire. Following the crappy run, loss of energy and will to train. Initially I wrote it off as over training and decided to take a week or two off to collect myself. That two weeks has since turned into a month. Normally on days I'm not feeling so hot, I just grind my way through the sessions and still complete them. But this type of energy loss has had me avoiding the gym, track, and trails and not performing as I used to during daily unit PT. I haven't gained or loss any weight since this started, either and I've stopped taking all supplements (protein, creatine.) and vitamins. I thought maybe Zinc was the problem (fatigue + sluggishness) so I stopped taking it. I use OptiZinc, 30mg with 3mcg of copper, it adheres to a 10 to 1 Zinc/Copp ratio. That didn't do it either.

My diet is decided by the Chow Hall. I eat what they serve, like it or not. Normally they have everything I need, steak, chicken, etc. But some days the main entrees may only have 20-25gms of protein, no kidding.
My sleep is just as shitty as any other military athlete. Of course I try to get as much of it as I can but sometimes it can't be helped. To put it in perspective, all of last week we were waking up at 0200.

So as I approach my one month anniversary of being a slob, I ask you Tactical Barbell fam, can anyone relate to this?!

I second what everyone else says about you doing too much. You can only get by with LP for so long.
I am doing some volume building strength work right now, but if I want to do any conditioning and recover I just use the bare minimum sets on OP I/A. When things get really hard I even have to choose between back squats snd limited conditioning or Pistols and a high conditioning load.

If I do more than 3x5 on any weighted lift, there is no way I can recover with a high volume of conditioning.

When I was in the military I would deadlift heavy one day and then use a second session for bench/pullups or similar. There was no way I could deadlift heavy, squat heavy and do any other lifts heavy with that level of volume from morning PT. These days I would use OP i/A abnd go by feel.

[thebadmattan]

ps, in more defense of Rip:

I am certain that I was not "doing the program." I was certainly trying to do LP, but at the same time I was trying to learn the lifts without coaching until I got desperate and got great coaching for a day. I continued to play hockey during LP, did not eat 4,500 calories a day, or drink a gallon of milk a day. Probably did not get enough protein or enough sleep or recovery, maybe I ran a few times.

If I was a 19 year old athlete trying to make the big time, I should have done all those things. But I was a 52 year old trying to find my way. "Lifted" my whole life, along with sports, but I learned that my form on free weights was brutal and I did mostly machines. Again, I thank Rip for getting me to "starting strength". I would not trade it for anything.

Invaluable gateway to TB.

Yeah, I definitely was not hitting all of those parameters either, lol. I remember the last set of Deadlifts I did, I put that bar down after the last pull and felt like I was going to pass out. At the end of the day I was doing conditioning + frequent maximal lifting. Sounds like a recipe for disaster looking back on it.

[thebadmattan]

I second what everyone else says about you doing too much. You can only get by with LP for so long.
I am doing some volume building strength work right now, but if I want to do any conditioning and recover I just use the bare minimum sets on OP I/A. When things get really hard I even have to choose between back squats snd limited conditioning or Pistols and a high conditioning load.

If I do more than 3x5 on any weighted lift, there is no way I can recover with a high volume of conditioning.

When I was in the military I would deadlift heavy one day and then use a second session for bench/pullups or similar. There was no way I could deadlift heavy, squat heavy and do any other lifts heavy with that level of volume from morning PT. These days I would use OP i/A abnd go by feel.

Definitely time to make the switch now. Staff Sergeant is convinced we've all gotten soft, so he runs some miserable PT sessions in the morning. Only Fighter or Op with minimum squat sets can save my legs now!

[Maxrip13]

I second what everyone else says about you doing too much. You can only get by with LP for so long.
I am doing some volume building strength work right now, but if I want to do any conditioning and recover I just use the bare minimum sets on OP I/A. When things get really hard I even have to choose between back squats snd limited conditioning or Pistols and a high conditioning load.

If I do more than 3x5 on any weighted lift, there is no way I can recover with a high volume of conditioning.

When I was in the military I would deadlift heavy one day and then use a second session for bench/pullups or similar. There was no way I could deadlift heavy, squat heavy and do any other lifts heavy with that level of volume from morning PT. These days I would use OP i/A abnd go by feel.

Definitely time to make the switch now. Staff Sergeant is convinced we've all gotten soft, so he runs some miserable PT sessions in the morning. Only Fighter or Op with minimum squat sets can save my legs now!

Fighter or OP I/A with a very conservative training max is the way to go. I wouldn't do any other conditioning unless the PT sessions are lacking something completely. The strength work will keep your strength levels up there and the work PT will cover most other attributes.

Even though army PT sessions are generally stupid, they do build a weird kind of fitness that I have never been able to reach with more planned and scientific training approaches. It probably has something to do with having no choice in the session and having to pace yourself accordingly to finish them. It seems to cover off that 80% long continued performance zone required of the military and similar.

[Aelian]

I second what everyone else says about you doing too much. You can only get by with LP for so long.
I am doing some volume building strength work right now, but if I want to do any conditioning and recover I just use the bare minimum sets on OP I/A. When things get really hard I even have to choose between back squats snd limited conditioning or Pistols and a high conditioning load.

If I do more than 3x5 on any weighted lift, there is no way I can recover with a high volume of conditioning.

When I was in the military I would deadlift heavy one day and then use a second session for bench/pullups or similar. There was no way I could deadlift heavy, squat heavy and do any other lifts heavy with that level of volume from morning PT. These days I would use OP i/A abnd go by feel.

Definitely time to make the switch now. Staff Sergeant is convinced we've all gotten soft, so he runs some miserable PT sessions in the morning. Only Fighter or Op with minimum squat sets can save my legs now!

Fighter or OP I/A with a very conservative training max is the way to go. I wouldn't do any other conditioning unless the PT sessions are lacking something completely. The strength work will keep your strength levels up there and the work PT will cover most other attributes.

Even though army PT sessions are generally stupid, they do build a weird kind of fitness that I have never been able to reach with more planned and scientific training approaches. It probably has something to do with having no choice in the session and having to pace yourself accordingly to finish them. It seems to cover off that 80% long continued performance zone required of the military and similar.

x2 on all of Maxrip's recommendations. LPs are extremely limited for what we do imo.

I slot that weird kind of fitness in the "work capacity" category. Funruns fall in that category for me too.

[Stefan Olsson]

I can sort of relate. Not in the military but a desk jockey. I do fighter (Sq/Be/Wpu) and run 2-3 times/week 8-15km per session. It usually gives me 3 "rest" days per week. I often feel an urge to do more, but have learned from experience that enough is enough (for me)

My advice. Either scale back to fighter. minimum sets on squats. Give your body a break and start from there. Or ditch strength for a week and do minimum conditioning and ease in to it again. If you feel later on you can slowly add in Another session alá Operator.

Good luck!

[DocOctagon]

LP is great for novices, but at the end of the day, if you are doing it right, you are setting a PR every single workout!

Gee, I wonder why you are getting run down?

And even Rippetoe says that during your LP, you should eat like a horse and do little if any conditioning. His idea is to get strong and fat really fast, then go to a continuation protocol with conditioning.

Consider switching to an approved TB protocol for adequate recovery.

This x 100. WallBilly hit the nail on the head. During the later stages of an LP you are basically trying for a PR with every lift, every workout. Good for teenagers or young adults fresh out of the gate for the first 6 months of their training careers, and that's really about it. Once people hit a stall with LP, there are very few that progress meaningfully beyond that stall no matter how much they pig out. And then pigging out, no cardio, and weight gain bring about their own set of problems (especially for crosstraining athletes).