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I have been working out moderately for 1 years now, and the last year I have been training to develop more strength (~85-90 max weight, 5-3 reps range) but seem to hit a plateau where I experience soreness after every single workout which is fine but after 2 weeks or so of continuous training the soreness becomes excessive and it takes away from my enthusiasm and energy so I have so stop and rest a week so the soreness goes away and I can train again.

I still get results but it seems to be at a very slowly rate(it takes about 6 weeks to be able to add 5 more lbs). So my question is this a good sign saying yes my workout is being effective or is it a sign that I might be putting too much strain? Or is it cause more of nutrition and/or rest? Or is this what I should expect from this kind of training?

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  • I edited some formatting and some useless double question marks, but the first paragraph is still one monster sentence. You might want to be a bit more careful HOW you write your questions, if you want replies. Remember, we put as much effort into our answers, as you do your question.
    – Alec
    Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 8:55

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You are getting sore because you are dramatically increasing your volume (sets times reps times weight) instead of progressing it slowly, thus not recovering. Then even worse, you stop altogether, and start over at full speed which gives you more soreness.

Take it slow, keep track of your volume per bodypart to learn how much you can get away with. Generally, doing more is always better from both strength and hypertrophy perspective but you need to work up to it over weeks, months and sometimes years in order to recover properly. When you start over again, remove some weight (keep 2/3 to 3/4 of the weight), and remove some sets (keep 2/3 of the sets) and keep the exercise selection very strict. On your first few sessions, you shouldn't be getting even near tiredness and you should leave the gym frustrated that you didn't do more. Then over the following few weeks, work up to the planned weight and sets by small increments. Then go past it, by doing more sets, using more weight. That's how progress is made, and it's the essence of progressive overload.

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You typically want to give each muscle 72 hours to heal. To maximize your results try breaking your body into 3 parts. Push muscles( chest, shoulders and triceps), legs, and then pull muscles( back and bicep). Ideally you'd like to be getting 1 gram of protein for every body pound.

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  • Well that's possibly true if it was 1998. New research is proving that theory wrong. For years now it's been proven HIIT is light years ahead of any other types of workouts. You burn calories for up to 48 hours with a process called EPOC. However, there is scientific research done over numerous years that the Health and Fitness Industry, and pharmaceutical companies don't want to be released. With a fitness program that a certain Doctor made, it is showing that with a 7 minute workout and the right nutrition that the body and brain will reverse itself and we could live to be 120-150 yrs old.
    – user17883
    Commented Dec 1, 2015 at 1:00

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