# CNS fatigue



## Iron1 (Oct 8, 2015)

I'm curious about those that have experienced CNS fatigue first hand what it felt like for you, what you did to get through it and how you felt afterwards.


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## DocDePanda187123 (Oct 8, 2015)

You mean like overtraining? Bc if you lift regularly you'll almost always be in some state of CNS fatigue. 

I've overtrained a couple times until I began learning the warning signs. I experienced a sudden drop in libido (I mean absolutely no sex drive and for a perv like me that's worrisome), loss of strength, loss of motivation to do anything but sleep, no appetite, aches and pains all over, headaches, felt constantly dehydrated, my sleep cycle got fukked up worse than it is, etc.


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## jennerrator (Oct 8, 2015)

I'd have to say I only experienced the following and really just took a day or two off:

1. Whole body just tired - I mean the type of tired that you need to lay down right then and sleep..

aches and pains are always there lol


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## Iron1 (Oct 8, 2015)

DocDePanda187123 said:


> You mean like overtraining? Bc if you lift regularly you'll almost always be in some state of CNS fatigue.
> 
> I've overtrained a couple times until I began learning the warning signs. I experienced a sudden drop in libido (I mean absolutely no sex drive and for a perv like me that's worrisome), loss of strength, loss of motivation to do anything but sleep, no appetite, aches and pains all over, headaches, felt constantly dehydrated, my sleep cycle got fukked up worse than it is, etc.



That sounds surprisingly familiar.

What did you do to get back into the swing of things?


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## Milo (Oct 8, 2015)

Constant tiredness, lack of appetite, no motivation to do shit. I will usually take a few days off, sometimes a week.


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## DocDePanda187123 (Oct 8, 2015)

Iron1 said:


> That sounds surprisingly familiar.
> 
> What did you do to get back into the swing of things?



Had to deload and get in some extra sleep and food.


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## ToolSteel (Oct 8, 2015)

He stopped eating cheese


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## DocDePanda187123 (Oct 8, 2015)

ToolSteel said:


> He stopped eating ch**se



I did that before I started lifting in preparation for overtraining lol


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## Iron1 (Oct 8, 2015)

DocDePanda187123 said:


> Had to deload and get in some extra sleep and food.



Over how long though?

I remember reading how when some burn out their CNS it takes months to get back on their feet.


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## DocDePanda187123 (Oct 8, 2015)

Iron1 said:


> Over how long though?
> 
> I remember reading how when some burn out their CNS it takes months to get back on their feet.



It really depends on how advanced you are and how overtrained you are. A national or international level lifter could take a month or maybe longer but for me it took about a week to feel better and by the second week I was normal again of normal applies to me


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## Seeker (Oct 8, 2015)

DocDePanda187123 said:


> Had to deload and get in some extra sleep and food.



Same here. Not too long ago as a matter of fact. Stress also factored into my crash. My friend pob switched my program a bit, I worked on the stress part. I came back and hit pr's. Stress is a mother fuker. It will tear you down really fast.


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## DocDePanda187123 (Oct 8, 2015)

Seeker said:


> Same here. Not too long ago as a matter of fact. Stress also factored into my crash. My friend pob switched my program a bit, I worked on the stress part. I came back and hit pr's. Stress is a mother fuker. It will tear you down really fast.



POB is really good about adjusting shit on the fly.


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## Joliver (Oct 8, 2015)

It felt like I couldn't apply 100% force to anything.  I didn't have any other sides.  I just felt like I was in one of those dreams where you can't hit pink hard enough to knock him out or run fast enough to get away from being raped.  

If you run into it, deload, and/or conjugate.  I never subscribed to the theory that you can fatigue yourself to the point where it would take months to come back, if you're given enough rest. 

Eventually the CNS adapts to overtraining and conforms to your iron will, even if you are destroying it regularly.  It is a grueling process to push through.  This is how the Bulgarians and Russians did it.  Max Aita talked about his CNS fatigue under Ivan Abadjiev.  His performance dropped significantly and then he slowly came around.  I think he was front squatting 230kgs and within a few months dropped to 160kgs...then began to adapt to hit PRs within the year.


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## Iron1 (Oct 8, 2015)

Cornelius Cornerstore J. Oliver said:


> Eventually the CNS adapts to overtraining and conforms to your iron will, even if you are destroying it regularly.  It is a grueling process to push through.  This is how the Bulgarians and Russians did it.  Max Aita talked about his CNS fatigue under Ivan Abadjiev.  His performance dropped significantly and then he slowly came around.  I think he was front squatting 230kgs and within a few months dropped to 160kgs...then began to adapt to hit PRs within the year.



So that begs the question; what's a better course of action, taking a break or attempting to force your CNS to adapt?
Which one has a longer term benefit?

It would seem that once one finds themselves with CNS fatigue they're inadvertently arrived at a crossroads.


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## Rpmbrickman (Oct 8, 2015)

Will creatine help this in any way been thinking about getting some I get tired alot


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## PillarofBalance (Oct 9, 2015)

Only happens to me after a meet. Lasts a couple weeks but I just do hypertrophy stuff. If this is happening to a non competitor or competitor outside of competition yoi need a better training plan.


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## mickems (Oct 9, 2015)

I got to the point one day when it felt like my body just completely shut down. the only thing I could do is rest for a week. then I started back on routine as deload week.


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## Aopocetx (Oct 14, 2015)

I just wanna say that I believe 100% that overtraining exists and some of the symptoms I've gotten is swollen lymph nodes, lack of motivation, inability to produce power well (ie. you're weaker), lowering of immune system resulting in getting sick... anyway, what I really wanted to say is that I find it amazing how there's whole bodybuilding communities who generally agree that overtraining is a myth - something that's happening in at least one forum that I visit that is not this one. With that said, I'm happy to be here at this forum.


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## Joliver (Oct 14, 2015)

Iron1 said:


> So that begs the question; what's a better course of action, taking a break or attempting to force your CNS to adapt?
> Which one has a longer term benefit?
> 
> It would seem that once one finds themselves with CNS fatigue they're inadvertently arrived at a crossroads.



Well, now that I've built up the suspense for a while, I'll answer this question.  The answer is.......42.

Jk pal.  The crossroads, of which you speak, can have multiple angles of attack.  

Situation 1) You are a classed lifter at the top of your weight class.  Push through the CNS fatigue, maintain your weight, get stronger, not heavier.  

Situation 2) You want to continue to gain muscle and climb through the weight classes.  Vary your volume vs intensity loading and stay on the knife's edge with regard to adaptation.

Situation 3) Your squat OR bench OR dead is stuck.  Push through the fatigue to crush the plateau with volume AND loading.

Situation 4) You are a drunk, at the end of your rope.....the IRS is closing in...the only solution in sight cost 89 cents and its looking pretty tasty.  You can go either way with your training.  Up to you bud.

There are plenty of scenarios where either methodology would work.  Most often the solution is using both.  If you aren't a professional lifter, there isn't much logic in constantly pressing for neural adaptation.  It makes sense to load some days and work with higher volume on others.


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## Mason (Oct 14, 2015)

Good stuff Cornelius, 

The main early symptom i look for is when bar speed gets slower for the same weight. Another way to put it would be RPE is higher for a given weight than it was previously. So i usually go a bit lighter for two weeks or so when that happens. Or i just do heavy accessory work instead of the main lift.


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