Why Did My Performance Drop In The Gym Last Week?

If your performance was down in the gym last week, DON’T PANIC!

Have a look at the common reasons/check list below to understand why this might have happened, to help settle your mind, and also possibly prevent it from happening again.

1.Whats your sleep been like? Delve into all that lovely data your tracking device has been recording. Check the quality as well as total and see if there have been any changes leading up to when you noticed your performance was off😴 . Research shows that reduced total sleep and sleep quality impair muscular strength, speed, and other aspects of physical performance.

2.Have you been adding in extra sessions or activity? Did your total volume of exercise increase before you noticed a drop in perfromance? If I add in an extra run or weights session, I’ll know about it by my last session of the week. Especially if you are losing weight and operating in a deficit anyway, a greater output of exercise means you will be training in a larger deficit which will take its tole on performance. Equally, it reduces your recovery times between sessions which again will have an impact.

3.Are you having adequate recovery? If performance is starting to drop regularly, especially if this is your primary goal over weight loss, you may need to reassess the amount of recovery time you are having. Sometimes less is more and dropping to 4 sessions instead of 5 or 6 might be the difference between progression and no progression in the gym. A good indicator of this is HRV and to see if its heading in a downward trajectory or not as you’re noticing a decline in performance! 📉

4.Did you fuel yourself well before a session or recovery optimally the day before? ❤️‍🩹 If you have the odd bad session, check to see if you fuelled yourself appropriately. Try upping the amount of food you eat before a workout, carbohydrate in most cases will be most appropriate, and notice how you feel and if you performed better. If you are in a deficit, try and be smart with timings of training close to when you eat so you can maximise performance even when in a deficit.

5.Are you in a calorie deficit and trying to lose weight? If you are trying to lose weight then you have to be in a calorie deficit which means you will have less energy coming in then you require. ⚖️ We are always therefore under fuelling so can’t expect PBs and our best performance and have to accept this if weight is our primary goal.

However if we begin to have a steeper decrease in performance and energy is constantly low, this could be because you have been in a deficit for a long time and might be a sign you’re in need of a diet break to recharge and recover from the impact of the prolonged deficit.

6.Are you well hydrated?If we are dehydrated by as little as 2% body weight, performance will be impacted 💦. Especially with hot weather, we will lose more water through sweat. This is also true if we increase the intensity of exercise. Also remember that the suggested 2 litres a day is a general guideline. If you are a bigger human, you’ll also need more! 35ml per KG bodyweight to be exact!

7.Is total stress on the body high at the moment? Total stress is the sum total of training, diet (surplus or deficit), work, family, relationships, conflicts etc. If there is an increase in this, it takes its toll on our nervous system as a result we may see a decrease in performance. Again HRV can be a great indicator of this so a great health metric to track. A lower HRV means more sympathetic dominance.

8.Where are you in your menstrual cycle? For women, where you are in your menstrual cycle will effect performance. Research suggests that you will be strongest on day 14 of your cycle when you ovulate with a spike in testosterone, and generally have better performance and strength in the first phase of your cycle (follicular) compared to the second half (luteal).

During your luteal phase, you may not be able to hit max lifts, and may feel worse in training compared to the first part of your cycle. So track your cycle and see if it explains patterns in your performance.

I hope this has given you some understanding on factors effecting performance and maybe a few things to change or implement to help maximise your own.

Have a great week

Lizzie

The One Percent Cub