Frustrated with myself

[zinc79]

Hi guys.

Here's my predicament. On friday I was all gung ho about getting fit by working out at home. On friday, I did three sets of 50 light crunches, 3 sets of 30 quick pushups, and 3 sets of 30 situps. And I felt great. My body ached, and I felt accmplished. I thought I had really gotten something here, that if I could keep this going I could get fit withing a year. But most of all, the sweat and aching made me happy, as if I was getting somewhere.

On saturday, I did the same. Felt the same.

On sunday, I thought to rest my body.

Now, on monday, I just.. couldn't do it. I don't know what the problem was. I had assigned myself five minutes to each set, but I kept exceeding the five minutes. Additionally, I could't maintain the repititions, I only reached 2/3rd of the total exercise. And I felt I wasn't exercising properly, either going too fast or too slow. And during the crunches, my the middle of my back ached. (On saturday and friday it was my stomach line that ached, not the back).

I tried again today (tuesday). Same thing happened. I don't know what's wrong. Have I lost motivation? On the first two days I was loving the sweat and burn. No I don't have much of a threshold to it anymore. And I'm very frustrated with myself, because I won't be getting fit afterall. Feeling really down.

Can anyone help? I'll be very grateful.

Thanks in advance.

PS: I don't actually manage continuous repititions of a set. I do ten, and if I ache a little, rest for a few seconds, then do the next ten, and so on. When I've done all my sets of a particular exercise, I rest the time remaining in the five minutes. On saturday and sunday this went smoothly enough.

 

[Big_Idiot]

Take a couple of days off first.

And if im not correct, getting fit includes cardiovascular exercise. Do you want to gain muscle mass or what?

 

[zinc79]

Take more days off? Seriously?

I could do cardio too, but I'm not in a position comfortable enough to do so. A month of fasting started today (tuesday), and I've tried cardio durings fasts before, and it sucks. You just don't have stamina. I don't enjoy it a bit. I could try cardio some hours after ending the fast, but after the end of the fast is the time when I'm mentally alert and in the position to do my homework properly.

While I've mentioned fasting, I should also say that for this month (of fasting), I don't expect to lose weight as such. But I hope to maintain my weight, feel active, and retain the feel-good "burning" I felt on sunday and saturday. Losing weight, getting fit is a long term goal of around a year. But I want to feel as I'm on the path, which I didn't, neither today nor on monday.

 

[Chillen]

Hi guys.

Here's my predicament. On friday I was all gung ho about getting fit by working out at home. On friday, I did three sets of 50 light crunches, 3 sets of 30 quick pushups, and 3 sets of 30 situps. And I felt great. My body ached, and I felt accmplished. I thought I had really gotten something here, that if I could keep this going I could get fit withing a year. But most of all, the sweat and aching made me happy, as if I was getting somewhere.

On saturday, I did the same. Felt the same.

On sunday, I thought to rest my body.

Now, on monday, I just.. couldn't do it. I don't know what the problem was. I had assigned myself five minutes to each set, but I kept exceeding the five minutes. Additionally, I could't maintain the repititions, I only reached 2/3rd of the total exercise. And I felt I wasn't exercising properly, either going too fast or too slow. And during the crunches, my the middle of my back ached. (On saturday and friday it was my stomach line that ached, not the back).

I tried again today. Same thing happened. I don't know what's wrong. Have I lost motivation? On the first two days I was loving the sweat and burn. No I don't have much of a threshold to it anymore. ANd I'm very frustrated with myself, because I won't be getting fit afterall.

Can anyone help? I'll be very grateful.

Thanks in advance.

There are a lot of unknowns, but lets look at a couple of things logically for a minute or two.

Prior to the "First training session" on Friday, is it safe to assume you had not trained at all for a considerable length of time or none at all?

If this is the case, then your body (but not mind) was taken by total surprise with your training activities on Friday and Saturday; it was something completely different. You trained two days, then subsequently gave one day off (or 24 hours) on Sunday, and then followed it with another training session on Monday.

This is three training sessions in 4 days when your body had ZERO for many months of its past. Then "WHAM" you smack it with some training......

I will tell you right now, that what you are experiencing is a "positive" thing to embrace, but there is a lesson to be learned here so you can get your mind in sync in what your body is trying to tell you.

There are many variables here to consider, but the most obvious are that you hadn't trained prior to these sessions and you gave one day of recovery among three days of training.

One doesnt have to get sore to get an adequate workout. And, the "feeling" of the muscles being "taxed" or "tired" or "weak", can be caused by not allowing enough recuperation time and/or caused by an inadequate diet (severe calorie deficits, inadequate carbs, protein, etc, etc.)

IMO, (not leaving out the variable of your diet/nutrition), that you trained far too much, didnt leave enough recovery time, and while your body was busy repairing and attempting to get stronger you trained the body parts again; when the recovery/recuperation process was unfinished.

IMO, your muscles were still in "recovery" state and thus weakened, and simply hadnt recovered from your previous sessions, and would explain your difficulty in managing the "same volume" of training on Monday.

IMO, (especially just beginning), one "can" need some additional recovery time while the body scrambles and processes:

"WTF!" "What is this dude doing to me?"

"I havent ever done this shiaaaaat before....I guess I better get my crap together and get stronger......before this dude.....smacks me again with this shiaaaaat!"

Simply speaking, you train, and then allow the body to recover and attempt to get stronger. You do this by at least allowing 48 hours between sessions. This is a base rest. It can be longer (or otherwise vary) dependent on the intensity and volume of ones training.

Listen to your body it will "most times" tell you--when it doesnt lie and want to be a lazy friggen @ss.


What are your goals?

What do you have to train with?

EDIT: I want you to read this article I wrote sometime back, there are a few points in it that are applicable to you:

The Weight Loss Intricate


Best wishes


Chillen

 

[Karky]

Try to exercise your entire body every other day at first, se how that treats you.

 

[zinc79]

Prior to the "First training session" on Friday, is it safe to assume you had not trained at all for a considerable length of time or none at all?

Yes, I had not trained for quite some time. Additionally, I had never trained before as hard as I had on Friday.

I will tell you right now, that what you are experiencing is a "positive" thing to embrace, but there is a lesson to be learned here so you can get your mind in sync in what your body is trying to tell you.

There are many variables here to consider, but the most obvious are that you hadn't trained prior to these sessions and you gave one day of recovery among three days of training.

One doesnt have to get sore to get an adequate workout. And, the "feeling" of the muscles being "taxed" or "tired" or "weak", can be caused by not allowing enough recuperation time and/or caused by an inadequate diet (severe calorie deficits, inadequate carbs, protein, etc, etc.)

IMO, (not leaving out the variable of your diet/nutrition), that you trained far too much, didnt leave enough recovery time, and while your body was busy repairing and attempting to get stronger you trained the body parts again; when the recovery/recuperation process was unfinished.

IMO, your muscles were still in "recovery" state and thus weakened, and simply hadnt recovered from your previous sessions, and would explain your difficulty in managing the "same volume" of training on Monday.

IMO, (especially just beginning), one "can" need some additional recovery time while the body scrambles and processes:

I get you, but I'm having trouble identifying my body's signs. But first, I need to try to differentiate two things for clarity. "Burning" is what I call the... long lasting ache. Its the one you feel in your muscles after a good workout, and it persists for some time. A simple "ache" is what I now refer to as short term ache. It comes and goes quickly. THIS is the one I had when I mentioned my aching back previously; the ache came quickly in a set, and when I relaxed it went away in seconds. Then it quickly came back when I resumed my set. This happened on monday and tuesday.

The "burning" sensation is the one I had from friday till sunday. The one in my stomach line, chest and legs. It felt good. The burn itself was, surprisingly, a motivator on saturday. The burning feeling made me want to exercise more, so I could perhaps ward off the burn itself. It was like the kind of situation where you feel lazy, but you actually have a lot of pent up energy that needs a release, so you feel better and energised after you've released it.

Now, with that out of the way, I had thought that the burn conveyed my body's fatigue. But it didn't, because it actually made me want to exercise on saturday, which I did. But now, i've no idea. I can't identify any indication from my body whether it needs rest or whether its ready for more. So how do I do that? My body felt normal on monday and tuesday, yet I didn not manage to work out fully on those days. How do I "listen" to my body and comprehend its language?

What are your goals?

What do you have to train with?

My goal is to get fit i.e. lose weight, then to build some muscle, and then to build stamina and keep on building it. These themselves have reasons. You know how its said that seeking knowledge is itself a virtue? I feel that getting stronger physically is also a virtue. A secondary motive is that I'm simply tired of looking so bad for the last 8 years or so, in photos, videos etc. I'm not leaving a good memory, appearance-wise.

I read your article. But I didn't get portions of it. Mostly from "Be Wise: The Body can Lie and Tell you the Truth".

And oh yeah, Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

[grayfishoval]

How much are you actually fasting? I would think with suddenly starting a new training regime and working the hardest you ever have done, you will need plenty of good fuel for your body.

 

[zinc79]

Well, the fast starts around 5.15 am and ends at around 7.30 pm. And yes, I'm eating fatty foods for it (The reason I'm definitely not expecting a weight loss for the month). But I just switched to using bran bread, and hopefully tomorrow I'll start eating porridge too before the fast.

 

[Chillen]

Well, the fast starts around 5.15 am and ends at around 7.30 pm. And yes, I'm eating fatty foods for it (The reason I'm definitely not expecting a weight loss for the month). But I just switched to using bran bread, and hopefully tomorrow I'll start eating porridge too before the fast.

Why are you fasting in the first place?

You are starving your body for 12 hours and expect it to perform? How many calories in the other 12 hours?

What are your approximate calorie needs for a typical day?

You think this approach is smart? Is there a religious reason?

I will respond to you other post, later tonight.

I believe your entire workout needs to be restructured, in addition to lowering your reps on your core (unless there is a specific reason you need endurance). Core reps (IMO) should be kept to less than 25, unless there is a need for endurance (such as PT tests, etc).

Best wishes

Chillen

 

[zinc79]

Why are you fasting in the first place?

I'm Muslim. Its Ramadan. Its a duty to fast in this month.

You are starving your body for 12 hours and expect it to perform? How many calories in the other 12 hours?

Uh, yeah. But I'm pretty new to this whole thing. I kinda thought that unless I felt tired and weak, nothings wrong. And no, I don't really get to count my calories. Most of the stuff is home-cooked, so there aren't any nutrition values for me to read. BUT, the month of Ramadan comes every year, and I fast every time. And I've never really exercised in any of those months. At the end of it, my weight stays pretty much the same as it was at the beginning.

What are your approximate calorie needs for a typical day?

No idea.

You think this approach is smart? Is there a religious reason?

??
No. No to both. But I didn't think this approach was too bad either. I wasn't intending to go all-out and make every move a calculated one.

I believe your entire workout needs to be restructured, in addition to lowering your reps on your core

Oh. And "reps on your core", as in repititions per set?

See, I read and heard that by using light weights and spending more time, you lose weight instead of gaining muscle. Thats why my exercises were quick but large in repititions.

 

[Chillen]

I'm Muslim. Its Ramadan. Its a duty to fast in this month.


Uh, yeah. But I'm pretty new to this whole thing. I kinda thought that unless I felt tired and weak, nothings wrong. And no, I don't really get to count my calories. Most of the stuff is home-cooked, so there aren't any nutrition values for me to read. BUT, the month of Ramadan comes every year, and I fast every time. And I've never really exercised in any of those months. At the end of it, my weight stays pretty much the same as it was at the beginning.


No idea.


??
No. No to both. But I didn't think this approach was too bad either. I wasn't intending to go all-out and make every move a calculated one.


Oh. And "reps on your core", as in repititions per set?

See, I read and heard that by using light weights and spending more time, you lose weight instead of gaining muscle. Thats why my exercises were quick but large in repititions.

We have another member, Phate89, who is muslim, and he made a couple of threads about his fasting period (last year), and many members (including myself) assisted him with it.

You may want to do a search and find these threads. If you cannot find them, I will locate them for you.

I just wanted to find out the rationale in fasting for 12 hours. Now I have a clearer picture, and understand why.

It will do you of great service to determine your approximate calorie needs for a 24 hour period. Then you can use this caloric figure to assist with your nutritional needs during the 12 hour period you are allowed to eat.

This way, at least you will know you are getting the calories and nutrition to feed your fitness activities.

By the way.....list "specifically" what your goals are.

I will start you off on how to calculate your calorie needs:


Within the Nutrition 101 thread you will find some valuable information to configure your calorie needs.

Or you can use the ready made input web page in the 2nd link.

What you to do is to post your Maintenance Line of calories and list the multiplier you used to configure your approximated Maintenance Line.

Go here and read on some basic and fundamental information:

Nutrition 101

Delaware Consumer Health Information Services (Originally Posted by Wrangell)

=========================================================

Reps = repetitions. For example, I performed 1 set of 25 repetitions on weighted half-up decline situps.

It is not uncommon for the body to have its ups and downs, and though we want facts to guide our decisions, sometimes they just cannot be explained when one is healthy and "trying" to do things right.

But, we always allow education to guide us, and have a plan of action. I will write about this later. I plan to respond to your other post about: The body can Lie and tell you the truth. Because the aforementioned statement is indeed a fact.


Best wishes for continued success.

And, I wish you well with......Ramadan.


Best regards,


Chillen

 

[tracyclang]

Chillen I admire your drive. I have a certification in nutrition and I am a personal trainer and try hard to stay on track and motivated, however, sometimes, I just can't or don't or whatever. But then I read one of your posts; always inspirational and smart. I workout every day, eat right and yet sometimes I'm just so lacking energy. I guess I should start journaling too. Anyway, thanks!

 

[Chillen]

Chillen I admire your drive. I have a certification in nutrition and I am a personal trainer and try hard to stay on track and motivated, however, sometimes, I just can't or don't or whatever. But then I read one of your posts; always inspirational and smart. I workout every day, eat right and yet sometimes I'm just so lacking energy. I guess I should start journaling too. Anyway, thanks!

Thank you for your comments.

What I have in highlight is a good idea!......

What have you been doing to identify the "source" or "sources" of the problem?

Uh.......dont tell me you have done everything......."close the lips".........uh, thats better.......


"I have tried everything" causes:


Many personal SLIPS.

Do not let this phrase pass from your LIPS....

(Disclaimer: If you are trying to lose fat tissue, believing this phrase will lead to weight staying on the HIPS)

So, get a GRIP, pull out the "ROCK-ON" WHIP, let it RIP, and take a frigggggen TRIP (I KNOW!, he, he)

oh........dont give me any LIP, you will just sink your SHIP...get a GRIP........ mentally EQUIP.......


And,,,,,,,,,,,,let yourself ZIP!.........THIS ROCKS!


Yes baby!


Got that?

You haven't tried the one that works yet.......

And, its there.......for all.


Best wishes


Chillen

 

[tracyclang]

I think I need to eat more. I'm participating in a lot of races...triatholons, duatholons, on top of coaching student athletes 4x week at cross country. I'm the kind of coach that runs with the kids, does the indian runs, ladders etc. Plus trying to continue with own weight workout regimen 2-3 times weekly. Did a duatholon this morning...20 mile bike, 5 mile trail run in 1hr.43 min. I live in New England and I don't think there is a loop that is not hilly. The ride was pretty intense. My point being that with all this intense training I'm down to 106 lbs, 5 ft 2 in. and losing weight quickly, which makes me think (actually I know) I need to eat more, burning a lot and not the greatest about replenishing. Was never a huge eater but will be sure to get enough protein, carbs for fuel and good fats. Logically, I think this will help with the energy crisis (my own that is...ha-ha). Thanks.

p.s. gonna start journaling too

 

[Chillen]

I think I need to eat more. I'm participating in a lot of races...triatholons, duatholons, on top of coaching student athletes 4x week at cross country. I'm the kind of coach that runs with the kids, does the indian runs, ladders etc. Plus trying to continue with own weight workout regimen 2-3 times weekly. Did a duatholon this morning...20 mile bike, 5 mile trail run in 1hr.43 min. I live in New England and I don't think there is a loop that is not hilly. The ride was pretty intense. My point being that with all this intense training I'm down to 106 lbs, 5 ft 2 in. and losing weight quickly, which makes me think (actually I know) I need to eat more, burning a lot and not the greatest about replenishing. Was never a huge eater but will be sure to get enough protein, carbs for fuel and good fats. Logically, I think this will help with the energy crisis (my own that is...ha-ha). Thanks.

p.s. gonna start journaling too

And, Journaling I assume you mean, starting a journal here on the forum.....

That would be cool.........Look forward in seing it........


Best wishes

Chillen

 

[tracyclang]

yup, gonna do it

 

[zinc79]

Hi.
Sorry I didn't come back. Was kinda of busy, still am. As for the weight training, I've dropped it for the month, feeling kinda weak these days. But I wish to do something after ramadan, so I still have questions to ask before that. Questions that really trouble me.

We have another member, Phate89, who is muslim, and he made a couple of threads about his fasting period (last year), and many members (including myself) assisted him with it.

You may want to do a search and find these threads. If you cannot find them, I will locate them for you.

You mean, "Bulking during Ramadan?"

I read Nutrition 101 a few days ago, and also Bulking during Ramadan. I think understood the former, but not the latter very much. I get a BMR of 2000, with daily maintenance calories at 2400 - multiplyer is 1.2.

My goals, specificially, are:-
1. To lose fat from my stomach enough so that atleast I have straight belly line when I look at my body sideways in the mirror, w/ shirt on.
2. To lose fat, and then build muscle, on my chest.
3. To lose fat off my a**
4. To lightly build the rest of my body to complement the front of my torso (if and when that happens)

That's as specific as I can get.

Reps = repetitions. For example, I performed 1 set of 25 repetitions on weighted half-up decline situps.

And what did you mean by "core"? And I don't know those kind of situps, I just know the normal ones.

Yes, do tell about the body lying.