Constantly Feel Like I'm Not Doing Enough...Am I?

ShodanPrime

Aly, if you have a trainer, follow her work plan or fire her.


Have you run a sanity on your work down by checking the inol values? You're either not putting in enough volume or intensity if all of your workouts are all over the place. You have a goal that doesn't seem supported by the work you are doing.


Why?

miss_aims

eeejer wrote: »

do stronglifts and forget all this fancy stuff. Focus on the big main lifts and go as heavy as you can. You'll feel satisfied after that.

This. You'll feel like a total boss when you start lifting heavier than you ever thought you could. That's some motivating stuff right there.

AnvilHead

peaceout_aly wrote: »

BZAH10 wrote: »

That's a LOT of time spent in the gym. I mean, I love my gym and the whole gym atmosphere overall, but IMHO the "constant" feeling of not doing enough and "feeling like a failure" seems to me much more of a mental issue than a physical one. Now, please note, I did NOT call you "mental". I just think that you are already doing a lot. What if you get injured? I'd scale down and try lower reps, heavier weights, less time as was suggested.

My lift sessions are only 40-60 minutes and that's because I give a lot of rest time in between sets. The extra half-hour is cardio typically and I just started adding it in since summer is right around the corner. And the failure aspect tends to come from comparing previous gains (being able to up weight weekly) that were made quickly to now coming to a plateau and having it take almost a month to up any significant amount. Just makes me question the set routine. What is considered "low reps"? I see people that do 5 x 5, in which case I assume you would drastically increase the weight? Or would 3-4 sets of 7-8 suffice?

Your gains in the beginning will come relatively quickly due to neuromuscular adaptation. At some point those gains will start to taper/plateau regardless of what program you're following. If you're eating in a deficit, continuing to build significant strength will become harder and harder. Just as weight loss isn't a linear process, neither is strength gain. If it was possible to continue gaining strength indefinitely at the "noob" rate, there would be people bench pressing 2000+ pounds and squatting 5000+.

Don't compare noob gains to what you're able to do further down the road. It won't continue to happen that quickly and easily. Even the strength-oriented programs like SL 5x5 acknowledge that if you're cutting (eating at a deficit), it's going to become more and more difficult to keep adding weight to the bar.