I don’t visit fit but I figure this is the best place to get an answer, at least quickly. Anyway, I’m a 21 year old male, 6’1 200lb. 2 years ago I could do several reps for a bench press at 225, I started around 200 and worked up to that over several months at a high school gym class. Didn’t lift before, did do a lot of cardio for a while during that time. I was 180 then. Today, I am barely able to do 135-145. Don’t have the endurance either. I always feel tired and like shit and even if I don’t feel tired and can do cardio I feel weak strength wise and can do barely any reps(don’t have the endurance for that either, unlike back then, even when I first started I had better endurance for cardio).
I’d like a reasonable explanation for why I lost so much strength. I’m really afraid that I have ms and that’s why I have gotten so weaker or perhaps some sort of auto immune condition(which I do have signs of). Other than those things I don’t know why I would have lost so much strength and endurance in such a short time. It’s not like I lifted for years, stopped and went back to where I was initially. I regressed to bring a lot weaker than my starting point.
>in such a short time two fucking years is a long time, you got fat and weak
Brayden Lee
Did you lift at all during this time? Are you seriously asking why you got weaker when you stopped lifting?
Joshua Taylor
Did you not read what I said? How could I get weaker than my starting point? My muscle mass didn’t decrease and more weight is usually an advantage when it comes to weight lifting. Like I said, I’d get it if I trained for several years and built my strength, stopped and gone back to where I started but that’s not what happened, what happpened is I got a lot lot weaker than where I was and currently I’m not progressing In the gym no matter how hard I try.
Brandon Diaz
But how could I get weaker than my base level? I started at 200 and quickly got to 225. I should be at around 200, shouldn’t? I should be able to progresss but I’m not able to.
Luis Brown
You used to be active and now you're sedentary. Yes doing any activity at all meant you were stronger than now when you aren't active at all.
Alexander Watson
Fat has a catabolic effect if you carry enough of it. You probably have less lean mass than you used to.
Isaiah Evans
I have MS and I’ve only gotten stronger desu
Elijah Flores
I mean I didn’t measure my arms, so I don’t have hard figures but it really doesn’t seem like I lost any muscle mass. I have a high protein diet, that usually preserves muscle mass. And isn’t more fat helpful for strength? Something to do with a mechanical advantage with the muscle connection to the skeleton.
Logan Gonzalez
Are you pissing yourself/going blind/unable to walk?
The onset of a disease like MS is pretty severe. You're probably just losing muscle mass bc you're not as physically active.
Lincoln Torres
strength is only granted if the nervous system allows it
how have you been since you last lifted? injuries? stress? sleep quality?
Owen Price
just start lfiting, and you will regain your strength very quickly. Muscle mass isnt the be and end all for strength. what happened was that your CNS just atrophied. Lift u fkin ffgt
Ryan Sullivan
I’ve been trying to get back into it since last June. Haven’t progressed much. Stopped for a couple months because I started to feel really tired and weak And now seriously getting back into it. Stress and quality of sleep aren’t really any difference since then. Like I said it might be something else but ms can have a lot of different symptoms, one being weakness, decline in mental faculties, strange sensations. It’s usually not as severe as you described. I’m afraid that I have it and that it’s just early.
Xavier Nelson
It's unlikely you have ms, if anything nervous system related you likely have a dysfunctional vagus nerve (overactive sympathetic)
cold showers, cold water on your face, deep abdominal breathing and gargling might help you feel better. try it and if you improve you know you're on the right track
Elijah Morris
The older you get the more conscious you have to be about maintaining your body. Some people nosedive pretty early. Also autoimmune disorders are disregarded by doctors because they can almost always be completely suppressed by proper diet and exercise. Stop looking for reasons to not believe you're the lazy fat fuck you actually are.
Adam Bell
btw if you do these things, 2-3 times a day of each. i can expand on this if you need
Brandon Collins
I’ll try that, still id like to see a neurologist and for my doctor to not just dismiss me because I think I have something rare and rare for a person of my age. I mean maybe but 2 years? I don’t even look different than I did back then. I didn’t lift before that class either.
Ryan Wood
Also, if it makes any difference around that time I tried some sarms for a month. I’m not sure if that could have somehow fucked me permanently. Another thing, I’m on dutasteride and this might be a possible cause for my weakness(don’t have a baseline for before me starting the medication).
Brayden Garcia
nice. some chiros can help with nervous system dysregulation
cold showers - 1 a day, can end your hot shower with one. 30secs-4 mins. you can leave your head out of it if uncomfortable cold water on face - 20-30 seconds of splashes (no submerge) gargling - 2 x 30 secs, performed with the tongue protruding forward (important) deep breathing - 5 secs in 5 secs out, 2 mins. deep diaphragmatic breathing
Jonathan Stewart
>I think I have something rare and rare for a person of my age stop this bullshit, it will only lead you to an unending cycle of different medications that only marginally reduce the symptoms of the previous meds.
Julian Jackson
What do you think about the above Im on dutasteride so my dht levels are low, I’ve read that plays a role in neurological strength and other things. I was off the medication for many months though and my strength didn’t improve so I’m unsure if it’s this. I’m not a neurologist so I can’t say, I’m not sure even a neurologist would know since my endo didn’t know anything about dutasteride even though it’s a drug dealing with a major hormone.
Mason Brown
I don’t know if I do, I’m just saying it shouldn’t be dismissed. Like I said, a possible cause is dutasteride but I have no way of knowing if that’s the case.
Carson Jackson
I'd caution against using antiandrogens unless completely necessary Duasteride inhibits the 5α-Reductase enzyme from functioning. Let's see what that does
>5α-Reductase type 1 inactivated male mice have reduced bone mass and forelimb muscle grip strength, which has been proposed to be due to lack of 5α-reductase type 1 expression in bone and muscle.
>It was first discovered in indigenous cultures of Papua, New Guinea, where children were born with feminine genitalia in the absence of endogenous DHT during pregnancy, but with the surge of testosterone during adolescence, changed to males at puberty.
>Congenital deficiency of 5α-R3 at the gene SRD53A has been linked to a rare, autosomal recessive condition in which patients are born with severe intellectual dysfunction and cerebellar and ocular defects.
Drugs like this always have far reaching side effects outside of their target. Get off it asap, the longer you're off it the better.
These things take months to shift back to normal without intervention
Jeremiah Baker
I really can’t, I don’t want to lose my hair. I don’t have the luxury of good genes when it comes to hair, I can’t be like Arnie and do grams of test every week for years and retain my hair.
Parker Wood
Hair is cosmetic, enzymes are responsible for many functions in your body
Health vs vanity
Good luck!
Camden Adams
if you had to pick weakness + hair as belonging to male or female, which would you categorize it as?
Cooper Carter
I’m hoping it’s not the medication, since from reading online a lot of men do just fine with it and don’t lose any strength or experience negative side effects like that. If it is the medication, fine then I know the cause but is there a way to prove it’s what caused my strength loss?like I said I don’t have a baseline for my strength before I started duta.
Lucas Anderson
tldr
Aaron Mitchell
I know it’s vain, but I’m young and shouldn’t be dealing with hair loss. I don’t want to be bald. it’s very depressing and I freaked out when I first figured out I was losing hair. Plenty of manly muscular men have hair, long hair too, baldness is just a result of dumb genes that make hair follicles On the scalp react badly to dht.
Jason Nguyen
Yeah it sucks, but you need DHT to function properly as a male
Bentley Foster
>I’ll try that, still id like to see a neurologist and for my doctor to not just dismiss me because I think I have something rare and rare for a person of my age.
Take it from a veteran hypochondriac: specialists are very dismissive of patients who present with vague symptoms like that. MS by definition requires multiple episodes to be diagnosed, so if this is the first time you've had an episode, you won't get a diagnosis. Plus the tests aren't sensitive enough to detect that slight nerve damage.
>weakness, decline in mental faculties, strange sensations
See your primary. Given your age, it's probably nothing. Anxiety, a pinched nerve, prediabetes.
Jaxon Gutierrez
>born as a female >turn into a male at puberty Are these those "traps" I've heard so much about?
Owen King
>It's probably not the medication, the vast majority of people online say they're not having side effects! >I wish my doctor took me seriously when I told him that I think I'm a 21 year old with MS Pick one faggot.
>but it really doesn’t seem like Yeah, this shit is sneaky like that. But muscle memory is real, the strength will come back faster than you gained it the first time. >And isn’t more fat helpful for strength? Carrying around fat increases your estrogen level. Saying it's advantageous is permabulk cope. On the other hand, you do lose some muscle during a cut, so you can't have abs while at the upper limits of the strength you're capable of. That's why strongman competitors look like they do.
Josiah Thomas
That’s what people on forums say for the most part but some say the opposite. I don’t know these people, I don’t know how many would notice strength loss, it’s not that common of a medication and there aren’t really any statistics research on it. I honestly can’t say how common strength loss is, of course I am hopeful that the medication isn’t the cause because I don’t want to quit it. I don’t think it’s too much to ask to have a doctor give me a medical reason for my side effects and give me proof. I’m willing to accept its in my head, that I simply got out of shape and that it’s perfectly normal and I can get back to where I was. Like this user said Im a hypochondriac. So I assume the worst.
