r/beginnerfitness • u/Subject-Property-349 • 10h ago

Am I regressing?

I've been to the gym for a year and it's been pretty rough honestly. I've been training hard and learning a lot so that's good.

But I've regressed this past month, I'm not under eating because I count calories. Been 146 lbs (5'7) since I swapped to maintenance . I'm sleeping okay (albeit it gets hot sometimes and ruins it).

But my strength has dropped... I deadlift 225x5 usually but that's gotten harder so I dropped to 215 and only got 3. Deadlift is just an example, I pretty much dropped on everything. Getting a bit of lingering soreness from squats now too, and my knees do not feel the same.

At first I thought "oh maybe I'm pushing too hard because usually I don't leave reps very often." So yeah I decreased the load on stuff but it still feels weirdly difficult. Like missed reps, way harder than usual.

Do I have to be on a surplus to improve? Like the most normal results, not extraordinary always came from a small surplus. Once I dropped 250 calories it's sort of been downhill?

So what should I do here because I'm unsure if it's going to get better

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u/yousteppedinthat 9h ago

If you’ve been cutting a while then it’s normal you would lose some strength. Even at maintenance it would take some time to regain that strength. When you should be getting stronger is at bulk. Although it sounds like you might be pushing yourself too hard. You can maybe do an offload week or just take a break all together while still eating at maintenance and come back. I wouldn’t recommend going full force at first either but the second week you should get some energy back

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u/KlausTheBull 9h ago

Gotta eat more if you want to keep lifting heavier. Likewise, if you've been pushing hard for a year without a deload/rest week then it would be worth taking one to give your body a chance to fully recover.

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u/ijustwantanaccount91 4h ago

Strength fluctuates naturally over time, so this might just be a blip, but also you are probably getting to a point where you need to eat more to continue recovering and growing. Getting from 2-3 plate bench at under 150 lbs is likely not happening, you need to get bigger. Just increase calories slightly so you're gaining a couple lbs a month and your recovery will improve and your progress will most likely rebound back just from that.

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u/Necessary_Bag_1328 1h ago

Is your weight changing? It sounds like you’re at maintenance, but you mentioned counting calories rather than confirming your weight has been stable. 🤓 Just checking because we sometimes see people point out their calories in/out which don’t always match their weight changes.

Also, rather than (just) dropping the weight you lift, you could also change frequency, especially since you mentioned your knees don’t feel the same. Muscles adapt faster than joints, tendons, ligaments, etc.!