where did my strength go?

About a month ago I was doing about ~200lbs for reps benching. I was doing
3 sets of 8 reps.
I went down in weight and doing more reps and sets. I went down to doing
130lb for 5 sets of 10 reps.
After I took a couple of weeks off I could barely do 130. I have since
gone down to 110 for 5 sets of ten reps.
What happened to my strength? I don't think I was really over-training
but I guess it could be possible. Maybe I could take a few weeks off and
see if I come back stronger?

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:59:43 -0500, TheGist <fake@nospam.net> wrote:

>About a month ago I was doing about ~200lbs for reps benching. I was doing
>3 sets of 8 reps.
>I went down in weight and doing more reps and sets. I went down to doing
>130lb for 5 sets of 10 reps.
>After I took a couple of weeks off I could barely do 130. I have since
>gone down to 110 for 5 sets of ten reps.
>What happened to my strength? I don't think I was really over-training
>but I guess it could be possible. Maybe I could take a few weeks off and
>see if I come back stronger?

Why did you drop from 8x100 to 10x130? You could have raised reps
without dropping so much. Sounds to me like your body just took a
break for a month. I wouldn't take even more time off. You should be
able to get the strength back in a month if you work at it.

In article <3FpAh.24985$NI1.8407@newsfe14.lga>,
TheGist <fake@nospam.net> wrote:

> About a month ago I was doing about ~200lbs for reps benching. I was doing
> 3 sets of 8 reps.
> I went down in weight and doing more reps and sets. I went down to doing
> 130lb for 5 sets of 10 reps.
> After I took a couple of weeks off I could barely do 130. I have since
> gone down to 110 for 5 sets of ten reps.
> What happened to my strength? I don't think I was really over-training
> but I guess it could be possible. Maybe I could take a few weeks off and
> see if I come back stronger?

Train more frequently, not less, if you are sure there is nothing
seriously wrong.

If you are not sure I'd get a complete check-up.

--
Keith

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:14:38 -0600, Hobbes <khobman800@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>In article <3FpAh.24985$NI1.8407@newsfe14.lga>,
> TheGist <fake@nospam.net> wrote:
>
>> About a month ago I was doing about ~200lbs for reps benching. I was doing
>> 3 sets of 8 reps.
>> I went down in weight and doing more reps and sets. I went down to doing
>> 130lb for 5 sets of 10 reps.
>> After I took a couple of weeks off I could barely do 130. I have since
>> gone down to 110 for 5 sets of ten reps.
>> What happened to my strength? I don't think I was really over-training
>> but I guess it could be possible. Maybe I could take a few weeks off and
>> see if I come back stronger?
>
>Train more frequently, not less, if you are sure there is nothing
>seriously wrong.
>
>If you are not sure I'd get a complete check-up.

I didn't think of that since I am generally healthy. If it is a
symptom of illness it could be very serious.

On Feb 13, 2:59 pm, TheGist <f...@nospam.net> wrote:
> About a month ago I was doing about ~200lbs for reps benching. I was doing
> 3 sets of 8 reps.
> I went down in weight and doing more reps and sets. I went down to doing
> 130lb for 5 sets of 10 reps.
> After I took a couple of weeks off I could barely do 130. I have since
> gone down to 110 for 5 sets of ten reps.
> What happened to my strength? I don't think I was really over-training
> but I guess it could be possible. Maybe I could take a few weeks off and
> see if I come back stronger?

I seem to suffer from the same situation...
Every time I take a break from training; particulary if it's for more
than a week or so, I find that my strength goes down considerably. I
usually spend most of the time in my new routine just trying to re-
gain what strength I lost from before (particulary if I used creatine
before, and am currently not using it).
I think that the biggest factor involved is neuromuscular. If you go
so long w/out lifting, your nervous system will adjust and accomodate
only what it needs to (highly reduced level of load).
My biggest piece of advice is to make sure you remain consistent and
don't go too long w/out lifting (blast each muscle group once a week),
take an occasional week off and then GET BACK ON IT!