Left arm losing form

[monexs]

Hi Cathe,

I have been working out consistently since January and gradually increasing my weights (in small increments). I am doing the STS/LIS 3 month rotation and I am on week 8. Today I did STS Disc 22 Chest, Shoulders and Triceps and when I went into my 8th and 9th rep in any exercise, my left arm lost all its form and I felt like I was lifting and favoring my right side.
At one point, remembering your excellent form pointers, I decreased my weights down to a very little weight and focused on the form only.

Can you please tell me what I could be doing wrong that my left side has become so weak so suddenly and what I need to do to rectify this.

Monika

 

[Kate A .]

Hi Monika ,
I'm not Cathe [ of course ] , but I did think of a couple of things . The first was , could you just have been experiencing muscle failure in that arm ? That actually happened to me today during Hardstrikes because I was wearing new and heavier weighted gloves , and my left and weaker arm [ I'm right handed ] started to drop out a bit . But then I have a different question : Are you feeling weakness in that arm at any other time during the day ? Or any numbness ? If you are , PLEASE speak with a doctor or someone whose medical knowledge you trust . I don't want to sound alarmist in any way and I'm sure it's nothing , but it's better to be safe than sorry .
I'd really like to know how things turn out - and hope that Cathe can weigh in on this too !

Take care ,
Kate

 

[monexs]

Hi Kate,

Thank you for the reply.
Like you, I'm right-handed and my left side is definitely my weaker side. I think you are right about the muscle failure - I didn't think of that because in the prior weeks, I had no issues lifting with my left arm. I was actually consistent and feeling really good about the weights I was lifting. And then this week came along and I just couldn't lift the same as I had in the past. Workouts that were challenging, I had to take the weights down a few notches just because I felt I couldn't get through them (past 6-7 reps with good form).
I felt discouraged and bumped that I had taken perhaps one too many rest days.
There is no pain or numbness, just buckling at the elbow.

Monika

 

[Kate A .]

Hi Monika ,
I'm really glad to hear it's probably just muscle failure - I felt pretty certain is was nothing serious , but just wanted to make sure . It's funny because we both seem to be going through the same thing this week : we increased our weight loads and everything seemed fine , and then all of a sudden our left arms [ in my case , the shoulder ] just didn't want to work ! I'm doing the 90 day rotation of Xtrain , and I'm almost half way through , so I'm really trying to step it up . Today I did Supercuts and during the standing windmills I watched my left arm sway back and forth with a 5 pound weight and I generally use 10's for the whole thing . I totally hear what you're saying about feeling discouraged , because all you can do is back off , and who wants to do that ?
I think a bit of rest , good food and extra nutrients [ vitamins , whey protein etc ... ] should fix us up and hopefully fast !

Best of luck , [ and I can't wait to start STS too ! ]

Kate

 

[maddiesmum]

If it's disc 22, it must be meso 3, right? This is heavy lifting and you've already done 21 discs and now your muscles are really feeling it.

You are right handed, so this is perfectly natural. I get it too, exactly the same. I treat it in different ways:

1) while I wait for the left arm to catch up to the right strength-wise and in the long run (which may never happen btw), I will continue the set but drop the weight for the left arm only, after all, the right arm is just fine.

2) or, I will finish the set out, ignoring Cathe's rep count, and instead of doing the lift with both arms together, I will do it alternating arms. This way, I keep the weight, I finish out all the reps, but I let that left arm get a miniscule breather so it can carry on and lift the same weight. Over time it gets stronger because it is still doing the same volume of work with the heavier weight.

3) or, you can try forced reps. Again, ignore Cathe's count,let her keep her rep speed and finish out the set, while you stand still, keep the weights in hand in a static hold, and just breathe once or twice, then do one more rep, breathe again once or twice and then do another rep, etc. I often do this when trying to increase weight loads on chest and shoulders.

I can usually push through to the end of a set in one of these three ways, and I'm OK with it.

Sometimes though, that left arm has just reached failure and finishes the set early or requires a substantial drop in weight. That's OK too. You will continue to make progress, the failure signals this promise.

Depending upon which exercises it is that your left arm is failing on, feel free to swap around the order of the exercises in the DVD. For example, if a DVD has me doing chest and shoulders in the same workout and the chest precedes shoulders, I will never be able to lift for military presses what I truly can lift when fresh and this annoys me! So, I might start with shoulders, then come back to chest because this is MY workout and shoulders matter to me far more than chest, whereas for Cathe, it is the other way around!

Do what you have to to make this YOUR workout and to continue making progress, even if that progress comes in very tiny and hard won increments. With weight training, this is often the way and it's OK: it all counts.

Clare

 

[muniav09]

Great suggestions all--thanks for posting them!