Why have my strength gains slowed down with each workout?

There are many factors that can attribute to why your strength gains have slowed. You can be overtraining, lack of sleep or even improper diet. Overtraining is actually very common where people are so excited to get the results that they want that they workout out too hard on too many days which burn out the body. Lack of sleep can play a big component if you don't have the energy you need for your workouts. Also if you are not feeding the body correctly with the proper nutrtion you can feel drained during your workouts as well. So bottom line space out your workouts correctly, get enough sleep each day and feed your body the nutrients it needs for your workouts.

There are a lot of reasons for slowing in strength gains. The first is to recognize that in the early stages of a strength program the bulk of the progress is neuromuscular. This means that your nervous system becomes more efficient at contracting the desired muscles to do the desired action. This neuromuscular change is the primary strength adaptation early on. If however you have been training for a long time and you feel that your strength has hit a plateau then you need to shake up your program. Programs require change but not just change in exercise choices but wholesale change to the way your body is pushed within your fitness program. Get some help but look at other exercise modalities (ie reactive training, balance training, strength-stability training, flexibility training) take these other training protocols and fit them into your overall program then rotate back to your old strength exercises. The change will allow your body a chance to be "shocked" again and that will facilitate strength increases.

Without a doubt, strength gains come very quickly for most when they first begin an exercise program. You'll notice that while your strength goes up rapidly, you are not getting bigger each workout. The rapid strength increases experienced by beginners are due to an increased coordination between their muscles and the nervous system. After this neuro-muscular adaptation period, whether you get stronger or not depends upon your training style, nutrition, and recovery. Remember how awkward it felt the first time you did a dumbbell chest press? Well, after a few workouts your nervous system learned how to coordinate the actions of your chest, triceps, and shoulders, while simultaneously learning how to have other muscles keep you still and steady. Basically, you already had that strength, you just did not know how to use it for that particular movement. Weight training exercises are complex tasks that require coordination and practice to perform properly. Imagine you wanted to golf. Very few people can pick up a club for the first time and swing properly and effectively. However, with instruction (lessons) or practice, you become better and your perceived leaps in strength gain will slow down.