I'm certainly no expert, but my guess is that working out 5 days a week, you're not giving your muscles enough downtime between workouts to heal. Try backing it down to 3 days a week and see if that improves anything.
this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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to be clear, 3 days, 20 minutes a pop?
I'd start there, yeah. If the exercise is getting harder, not easier, as the weeks go by, what you're doing is too intense. Drop the frequency until it's easier, then work your way back up to 5x a week if that's your goal. If you really want to do 5x a week, then lower the weight/duration/whatever until it begins getting easier week by week. But remember- if you never rest, then your body can never recover. 5x a week is quite a lot to start out with.
Echoing what others have said - look into a gym or classes. It could be that your form is also bad which only serves to sap you of energy and risk injury without getting the reward of increased strength or endurance. Also, I would look to do longer sessions, fewer times per week. 3 x 45-60min workouts per week engages your muscles long enough to make an impact and gives them ample time to heal in between. Also, diet can't be overstated here.
Do you enjoy the exercises you have picked? I used to force myself to run, but like you, the minutes seemed to drag on. I made the switch to cycling and found that I couldn't get enough. I mean, technically my body can only handle so much time on my bike, but the mental strain was significantly reduced.
Consistency is key, and doing exercises I actually enjoy helps me consistently show up.
i tried running, it had the same effect, probably worse cause with ti i was heavily out of breath in a VERY short amount of time
and no, i do not have an exercise i actually enjoy, and i frankly do not know how i would go about finding on. exercise to me isnt really something to be enjoyed
It's understandable if you're out of breath after a short amount of time when starting out. You're only a few months in, and it takes several months / years to condition yourself mentally and physically. Assuming you don't have a medical condition, start slower, and try to find a pace that is manageable for longer durations.
As for finding an exercise you enjoy, that is personal and depends on your circumstances. I started with running, then tried rowing, and finally settled on cycling. There are even more options for cardio, like hiking, swimming, jumping rope, dancing, etc. You just have to try them out and see which one is the most enjoyable. Try as many cardio exercises as you can, and you should find yourself enjoying one more than the rest, even if they all suck. If you do that, you can focus on that exercise for a few months and see what kind of progress you make. That approach worked for me, and maybe it will work for you.
This is good advice-- Resistance training (i.e. lifting weights and stuff like that in the more conventional "gymming" category) is very efficient for improving fitness, but many people have modest enough fitness goals that they'd be better off doing a sport they like... Dance, rock climbing, boxing, jiujitsu, cycling, etc.
Off the top of my head, maybe:
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You're pushing yourself too hard and not giving your muscles time to repair. You don't build muscle during the workout. You build it during the rest in between; especially sleep.
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Diet is wrong. Weigh and log everything you consume and make sure you're hitting your daily requirements.
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Drinking too much alcohol, which inhibits the bodies ability to repair and grow (remember, it's a poison). Same goes for smoking and most drugs.
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Old. Takes longer to repair.
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Possible health issue. If none of the above apply, see a Dr and get a blood test to be sure it's not something else. I imagine all/most vitamin deficiencies impact muscle growth.
Also, machines aren't the best to build real strength. Free weights require balance and a larger range of motion so work more muscle groups. They build practical strength instead of vanity muscles, which is better for long term bone density, posture, and overall health.
very detailed, alright so
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when it comes to diet, im actually weighing it so it wont go over a certain threshold in terms of weight, no fried food, no red meat, more soja alternatives and so on, so while it certainly may be wrong (cause im dumb lel) but it is better than anything i have eaten before this
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im not sure what you mean with old takes longer to repair? might just be my english, apologies.
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can you recommend some free weights for woman? are there like...gendered version? does it even matter?
2 - I think they just mean as you get older, it takes longer for your body to repair. If you're in your early 20's, you can throw lots of stress at your body and recover quickly... But as you get into your 30's, 40's, and beyond, you have to be more careful about the activities you choose.
3 - Free weights aren't gendered. You just pick a weight that works for you-- Not so light that there's no effort, and not so heavy that you can't do the exercise properly. Free weights usually mean dumbbells, barbells, and kettlebells.
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ooooh, okay, that makes sense lel
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ill look into these weights as an alternative then thanks
The REAL shit started when i actually worked out (we have workout machines in a nearby park), for almost 3 months im doing 20 minutes workout a day (5 times a week) and every. single. time. it feels like its getting more difficult to do than before.
Because it is...Go light a few days and see if you start recovering. If it's just pain every day, you're going too hard. There's a baseline level of hurt you'll deal with if you exercise regularly...and you start to kind of like it (which is what everyone means when they say "it gets easier"). But if that starts getting to be too much, then you're just going too hard.
I think you'd be better off doing 40-60m every 2-3 days than trying to maintain 20 minutes every day.
The other thing, 3 months isn't really that long. You should start rolling out of the initial hurt by then, but that depends on your age and how out of shape you are. Lighten your load a little and keep at it. It WILL pay off.
i would consider myself not that out of shape but certainly not an athlete.
3 months isnt that long yes but the baseline doesnt feel like it changes at all, like the first day feels like the last.
im 30 btw
I've got a decade on you. I really let myself go in my late 30s and picked up a bunch of sports in my early 40s.
I hurt, but mostly it's a good hurt. There are days when I know I have to take a light day...or a light few days. I don't know how to explain that other than I kind of know my body these days. We hate each other, but we do talk. :)
But, seriously, go light for a few days and see how you feel. Then go hard again. It took me a while, but after 2 years or so of picking it up, I'm in the 2nd best shape I've been in my life. (I'll never beat early 20s me when I was playing basketball and soccer daily).
oh hey, thank you for the info
but 20 minutes is hard? than what would you recommend?
What I mean by that isn't the length of time, rather the number of reps and intensity of your work out.
So I just do some basic power bands in the mornings. Usually I'll do 3 sets of 15 on each exercise. If I'm sore from the day before, maybe I'll only do 2 sets...or I'll do 3 sets of 10 reps...or if I'm really hurting...skip a day.
You said you're using the park stuff...so...for example...if I'm in a good mood, I'd try for 3 sets of 10-15 pull ups as one of my exercises. If I'm hurting that day, maybe I'll do 3 sets of 5.
I play hockey 1/week and do TKD 3/week. Both of those vary a lot depending on who I'm playing...or if the Master is in a bad mood. Thus, my daily work outs vary a lot due to that.
What specifically are you doing during your workout, and in what way does it feel more difficult?
Are you feeling pain? If so, what kind? Nausea? Persistent fatigue?
How are you eating and hydrating a few hours before and after your workout?
Those details will help figure out what's going on. You're not supposed to feel bad. It's supposed to feel challenging and draining to some extent, and you might feel sore afterwards, but it should be manageable, and eventually rewarding.
What specifically are you doing during your workout, and in what way does it feel more difficult?
Steps, pullups and i think its called rowing, those are the main free im doing
Are you feeling pain? If so, what kind? Nausea? Persistent fatigue?
persistent fatigue is the big one
How are you eating and hydrating a few hours before and after your workout?
im drinking during it and i have lunch roughly an hour or two afterwards
Okay, good info. And what kind of intensity? Are you just grinding away for the whole 20 minutes straight? Are you breaking your exercises up into sets, and taking breaks between sets? Most people spend longer than 20 minutes on their workout, but aren't actually exercising the whole time... Sometimes spending more time taking breaks than actually working 🙃
Also, pullups are pretty hard (unless they're assisted somehow). Do they feel hard for you? Do you feel like you need to "cheat" to finish them?
Just trying to get more info to see if there's something odd about what you're doing. What you've described so far doesn't sound like you're necessarily overdoing it (even the 5 days a week part), but there might be some detail that would help explain.
its a pullup machine, so its assisted, im basically pulling my own weight up with it. im not really doing a break during those 20 minutes, not counting getting a drink in (and really short catching my breath stuff)
Sorry for leaving you hanging-- Got distracted. But yeah I'm not sure I really get "you're working out too often" vibes from your situation... It sounds more to me like something that I didn't see anybody bring up:
Nervous system fatigue.
If you just go for 20 minutes without stopping, you could just be running your nervous system into the ground and burning yourself out... Even if the exercises aren't that challenging. So you just feel trashed, sometimes for days, and don't seem to be much stronger next time (cause you're not).
Some general rules-of-thumb for a typical 20-minute workout might be:
- Pick 1-3 movements (e.g. squats, rows, chest press... idk, doesn't matter too much)
- Plan to do 3 sets of 10 reps each
- Pick a difficulty (weight, etc.) such that you might be able to do a few more than 10, but you'd fail if you tried to do 15 or 20
- Do a set, rest for a minute, then do the next set-- If you can't complete 10 reps, rest for a little longer next time
All of that can be tweaked, but the principle of the third bullet is critical: Finding an appropriate challenge. You should need the rest between sets. You want to challenge the muscles, and challenge your cardiovascular system, while minimizing nervous system fatigue... But a workout that you can do for 20 minutes continuously is kinda the opposite of that 🙃.
Re: your update:
Update: was trying to do 40min every two days, couldn’t even get through the second training day, barely reached 30 minutes The biggest problem now is the massive weight of boredom and the crushing responsibility of keeping my own thoughts in check as a result I just can’t do this shit man
I'm sorry to hear that it's still not going great :\ There's some amount of "find a form of exercise that you like," but also some "stick with a form of exercise until you convince yourself that you like it." It'd help if you could figure out a way to get some of those "post workout euphoria" benefits that people (including me) talk about, and then maybe the experience could start becoming satisfying again... But it's tough when you feel perpetually trashed after. Hopefully you find some advice here that can at least get that hurdle out of your way.
thank you for this very detailed response. I wish i knew how to get this euphoria, it feels like a mystery everyone just says they have.
There is no advice that achieved getting over this "hurdle" as mildly as you may call it that helped yet.
I can barely reach 30 minutes, yes i do breaks too now, nothing changed
Yeah, I mean the "euphoria" thing isn't necessarily like a mind-blowing MDMA experience or anything... It's kind of more like how I think my dog feels after he gets to play some fetch: Content, relaxed, the opposite of pent-up. The intense euphoria isn't something that (most) people experience just from a regular workout... But you might get very occasionally during moments of extreme exertion: When you dig deep to finish a marathon, or complete a super heavy deadlift close to your maximum ability.
There seem to be two problems with your effort:
- Your workouts leave you feeling trashed
- You aren't actually that fired up about your fitness journey
Does that seem right to you? I don't want to put words in your mouth or anything, but that's my sense.
For the first one... Yeah, it's been elusive to figure out what's going on. I can think of three broad approaches:
Troubleshoot
I'd be happy to help you just go point-by-point to troubleshoot (as I'm sure lots of people here would be), but it's kind of a process: Reviewing what you're doing in detail, and modify things one-by-one until the problem is isolated, or some other clues emerge. Like debugging: Methodical, tedious, usually effective eventually.
Triangulate
Another approach is just to mix up what you're doing and triangulate the problem from there: Find a yoga routine or bodyweight routine for beginners on YouTube (or Piped 🙃), do that for a week or two, and see if you still feel the same this-doesn't-feel-right burnout. Can you go swimming? Drop in on a pickleball game? Climb some rocks? Go for a slightly-intense-for-you uphill hike? At first, I'd lean toward something where there's a little more guidance from an instructor-- It's hard to go wrong with the YouTube yoga routine, for example, because the person is taking you through every moment of the session.
If you notice that activities A, B, and C leave you feeling like a cigarette butt, but activities X, Y, and Z give you that "dog who just finished fetch" feeling, then that's good data! You can either just stick to X, Y, and Z, or figure out what the pattern is and go from there. Remember that you aren't necessarily planning to stick to any of these activities, just see if they feel different... So if your local kickboxing gym offers a free trial week, that'd be a great thing to experiment with.
Model
Just pick someone who does something that you do (or would do) and produces content about it, and copy what they do for awhile. Try to figure out how they eat, when they work out, what their other activity levels are like, etc. If this person is already super fit, dial their routine down, but try to form a detailed mental model of what they do and follow it closely. Steal their wisdom-- they won't mind.
If that goes well, you can start to figure out what to adjust to fit your life better... For example, if they're a vegan and you don't want to be a vegan, you might try their diet for a bit, but eventually reintroduce meat. "Right for them" might not be "right for you," and it can be hard to know in advance... So it's okay to just bail if it's not working and try someone else.
As far as not being that fired up...
I guess nobody asked the "why?" question... Which, fair enough-- it can be kind of annoying if you're like "I need help with X" and someone is like "But why do you even want X?"
But since we're talking about it: It might be helpful to know why you're trying to introduce this into your life. Both because it'll suck less if your activity is aligned with your goals, and also because there might be a shorter/easier path to what you want. Lots of people waste a ton of effort on exercise that doesn't help them get what they want... Which is fine, if they just like spending their time that way... but you kinda hate it right now, so you'd better make sure it's at least gonna pay off 🙃
i had written out a lot of stuff but i accidentally hit the refresh key on my keyboard so ill leave it with these points.
1.i did 3 different cardio routines before workout, each felt terrible, like workout 2. i really dont wanna start studying fitness personalities like animals 3. i dont have much opportunity to do other things outside of workout (and frankly thats too much fo a time investment too) 4. why? cause i wanted to feel better about myself, doing workout? feels awful, not doing workout? feels awful as well 5. i started eating better a year ago (no fried stuff and basically no red meat)
You need to either alternate the muscle groups that you work every day (leg day, arm day, core, back, etc.) Or your take one day to recover. And 20 minutes doesn't sound like a lot if you work out your whole body.
You should reach out to a private trainer/kinesiologist to help build you a plan and instruct you how to properly execute the referees. Doing an exercise wrong can hurt you.
Tell them your objectives and they'll give you a list of exercises you can do depending on how much time you want to dedicate.
Normally if your have a gym membership, they usually offer a free session every 6 months or so. Otherwise it's worth spending a few bucks on one session to build the plan properly.
Update: was trying to do 40min every two days, couldn't even get through the second training day, barely reached 30 minutes
The biggest problem now is the massive weight of boredom and the crushing responsibility of keeping my own thoughts in check as a result
I just can't do this shit man