I'm losing strength, feeling weak, please help

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becess96
becess96 Posts: 57 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I'm in week 5 of Insanity and it's great, I've lost many pounds and I'm really happy with it. My obsession was always to do calisthenics, especially pull-ups, chin-ups, muscle-ups, but I've never had enough strength to do more than 2 pull-ups. So I was reading here and there and someone suggested me to do 3 sets of negative pull-ups and 3 sets of negative chin-ups everyday (I used a chair to get over the bar and then I lowered myself in 5 seconds). I did this for a whole week, so today I tried to do more than 2 pull-ups, and I actually couldn't even do a pull-up haha. My muscles aren't sore and my diet is the same since I started Insanity. What happened ? And, do you have any other advice on how to do more pull-ups ?By the way, I'm 18, 5'8 and 150 lbs. I wish everyone a great monday ! :smile:

Replies

  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Take a rest day, recovery time is almost as important as the actual exercise which is why you'll usually see people scheduling strength one day and cardio (or rest) on alternating days. Fatigue is cumulative (you didn't mention how much sleep you get but it too is essential)

    Secondly, your diary is closed. It could also be partly related to how you''re eating. An open diary will make it easier for others to make constructive suggestions.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Eat more... how much are you eating. The minimum in the diet guide for the program is 1700, so eat at least that much. As a teem guy, I would suggest eating quite a bit more than that, since you are already close to underweight for your height. I would suggest eating maintenance or a slight surplus of cals
  • LotusAsh
    LotusAsh Posts: 294 Member
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    ^what they both said. Don't feel bad, I can't even do a pull up either
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    If you're eating the same as you were before you started training, then you probably aren't eating enough. Strength training requires additional calories.
  • becess96
    becess96 Posts: 57 Member
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    Thank you everyone. Well, right now I'm eating about 1500 calories a day and as I said before I'm usually eating chicken breast, tuna, pasta, bread, eggs, vegetables, and rarely fruit. I've been eating about 1500 calories since I started Insanity and at first the weight loss was faster, but obviously right now is slower since my BMR is actually lower since I weigh 20 pounds less but that's okay. Any other advice is highly appreciated, and thanks again to everyone who helped :smiley:
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    You are 5'8, do insanity and eat only 1500 cals a day????? No wonder you are weak, Eat more food, you can't run your car without fuel, why would you do it to your body?
  • becess96
    becess96 Posts: 57 Member
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    I did it because at first I started Insanity at 2200 calories and lost like half a pound in two weeks so I had to go lower and when I went to 1500 I was losing 1-1.5 lbs per week
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    edited December 2014
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    There's a lot of room between 2200 cals per day and 1500.

    Could just be a bad day, too.
  • jorbjorb
    jorbjorb Posts: 26
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    you probably peaked out man. honestly i use to try and bump up the weight all the time but now that i lift lighter with better form i'm seeing way better results. if you can barely do pullups use the pull up assist machine and get 12 reps. doing 2 reps of your body weight is *kitten* all.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    naw, no chance they've "peaked out", this is purely in the realm of performance limited by inputs.

    Eat more, or rest more. It's one of the two.
  • feralX
    feralX Posts: 334 Member
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    becess96 wrote: »
    So I was reading here and there and someone suggested me to do 3 sets of negative pull-ups and 3 sets of negative chin-ups everyday (I used a chair to get over the bar and then I lowered myself in 5 seconds). I did this for a whole week, so today I tried to do more than 2 pull-ups, and I actually couldn't even do a pull-up haha.

    Lack of calories has been covered. But if I'm reading this right....with very little prior exercise experience you undertook 6 sets/day of eccentric exercises for a week straight with no recovery time between sessions. Eccentrics cause much greater muscle damage than standard reps. They also require more recovery time, you broke down muscle tissue and didn't allow the time to repair and grow stronger. I'm amazed that you weren't sore, but I'd suggest you only do these every third day. Good luck.

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