Anyone else feeling weak at the gym?

klight1236

I'm mostly a cardio girl I can run 5+ miles stop for 20 mins and be ready to go again and recently i've been hitting the weight room at the local gym because even if my arms look toned they're not! I lift like 20-30 pounds and i'm done!. So everytime i'm at the weight room trying to do chest presses and other things I have to move the thing from Lvl 17-20 to lvl 3 and it makes me feel so weak. I'm like who can lift that much and i'm on the floor struggling to do 5 push ups and these guy beside me are blowing through 20+. Its really just makes me feel kinda pathetic. Maybe it's cause i'm the only girl that uses the weight room at my gym when i'm there so I don't get to see other girls struggling?

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Shawshankcan

Or if you compare your beginner strength tomseomenwhomjas been around for a while, you will feel out classed. I started weak, now I have people calling me an animal.

QuietBloom

Oh yes. Been there, done that. Just think to yourself 'Well I'll be they couldn't run 5 miles as fast as I can' whenever you are feeling weak. It's what I used to do. But keep at the pushups etc. because you will get strong before you know it!

lacurandera1

With practice comes strength. Most people are not just amazing at something when they're born. You gotta work at it.

Keep adding pushups. Progressively load your lifts. You will see progress.

dunlol

If you want to see improvements in strength you can't overdo the cardio and result in an extremely low net caloric intake. Also, if you are doing a ketogenic diet, make sure to re-feed your glycogen stores with energy by having one day every 2-3 weeks where you replace your fat and protein macros with calories from carbs.

taso42

All that matters is YOU making steady progress and not injuring yourself. There will always be someone bigger, faster, stronger. Tomorrow you will be bigger, faster, stronger than you were today.

meeper123

Hell i am weak. BUT i have been working on it. Will i ever be gi jane uh no probably not but i will be stronger than when i started

DopeItUp

Nope, I feel like a total bada$$ when I leave the gym. Even if there are people lifting 2x as much as me there. Make progress and enjoy the results of your success, that's all I can say.

whitebalance

I beat my last weight at something every time I go. Why would I feel weak? I'm getting stronger. So are you, if you're showing up and working at it. Keep at it, and compare yourself with... yourself.

arcticfox04

Since I moved to a 5-2 carb cycle I've feeling weak 2 out of 4 days. Though thats just due to lack of carbs.

Ely82010

I'm mostly a cardio girl I can run 5+ miles stop for 20 mins and be ready to go again and recently i've been hitting the weight room at the local gym because even if my arms look toned they're not! I lift like 20-30 pounds and i'm done!. So everytime i'm at the weight room trying to do chest presses and other things I have to move the thing from Lvl 17-20 to lvl 3 and it makes me feel so weak. I'm like who can lift that much and i'm on the floor struggling to do 5 push ups and these guy beside me are blowing through 20+. Its really just makes me feel kinda pathetic. Maybe it's cause i'm the only girl that uses the weight room at my gym when i'm there so I don't get to see other girls struggling?

Hit the weights first and then do cardio or do cardio the days that you don't lift.

honeysprinkles

are you doing weights after cardio? if so, try doing weights first so you're not worn out! that might help.

I just use the machines at the gym, and I do not have a lot of arm strength at all, but I do what I can and I try not to compare myself to anyone else! I always have to lower the weights when I get to a machine!

Otterluv

You are just a new lifter. It's fine, you'll see huge improvements over time. Just keep at it.

bunbunzee44

I still feel weak after 6 months at the gym :P lol.. slow progress..

gmallan

Read this article http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/04/04/comparison/

TLDR; The only person you should compare yourself too is yourself yesterday. Progress not perfection.

A beginner female definitely shouldn't compare themselves to any male lifter - not even in the same ball park. Everybody starts somewhere. Be proud that you've begun and remember to keep track of your stats so you can look back in a month/6 months/1 year to see how far you've come

stacyhaddenham

Lets just say that there is a reason I prefer to go to the gym at my apartment complex when no one else is there. lol But I am improving. I try to remember that my youngest brother is by most standards a monster, but he started out as a 110 lb. weakling just looking to not get his head handed to him when he joined the Marines. That mental image helps when I find myself lowing the weights from 100 lbs. to my measly 20 lbs.

cats847

It's ok. The gym is a place for progressive improvement. It is not a contest. Every strong person you see at your gym was once weak.

Seekerman

Yeah, I feel good when I do upper body lifts but I feel like a weakling when I do legs. So I avoided this area to much. Product of not training and injuries. Time to change

3laine75

Just add 5lbs every time you go. And hit the weight room first so you have more energy

tallmansix

1. Don't compare with others at the gym, always someone who can do ten times more, and always someone who can do ten times less. It doesn't motivate me to see that so I concentrate on my own goals.

2. Do some cardio to warm up before weights, I try to do 10-20 mins of it to get sweaty and warm and I seem to perform better at the weights.

jstarz002

Honestly not ever and I'm 5ft even and 90 lbs.... I saw a weak guy at the gym doing dumbell presses with two 21.5 lbs weights when I'm using 25lbs dumbells for my chest presses.... I can deadlift 135lbs and am still working on my form; I know for sure that if I train my deadlift eventually I can do 200lbs at the very least. I can also do parallel dips. I am actually a beginner too considering I have only been lifting around 5 months but I train progressively and add weight every time.

I don't know what kind of gym you go to but I go to a commercial gym and I see tons of weak guys using machines and they don't even look like they lift. Barbells and free weights are superior to machines. I very rarely use machines except as an accessory/isolation exercise once in a while. I stick to dumbells, barbells and compound exercises.

Lots of weak guys at my gym here who can't even squat 135 parallel; they are all doing quarter squats. It's actually very pathetic really. I think I've only seen one guy squat parallel so far. Rarely see any guys deadlift over 2 plates. Most guy have horrible form when they deadlift too. Guys using just 25 lbs and then moaning like it's actually heavy. And then the curl monkeys who never work legs or only do leg press and never squat and deadlift and have legs that look like twig. I may be smaller than them but I feel strong due to the fact that I can barbell squat over my bw and probably will be able to bb squat 2x my body weight while these losers are afraid to touch a barbell.

I also always LOL when I see guys using a pad to squat in the smith machine or gloves to do curls and cable lifting. I think to myself "Is this real life"? I'm smaller than all of them and bb squat with no pad and no gloves. I take pride in my hard work and calluses.

So, no. I never feel weak.

The key to get stronger is to train progressively. Once I can do 10 reps I up the weight by 2.5 lbs for upper body... for lower body more. Push yourself really hard and watch videos on form. Soon you will be lifting as much as the weaker guys in the gym and laughing at guys doing quarter squats with light weight. It's also important to eat in caloric surplus and sleep a lot.... I am eating in surplus and very high protein (150-180 grams).... and my strength gains have gone up like crazy. I didn't start out strong either; when I first started the bar alone was heavy.

alisonlynn1976

The most that I can lift is nowhere near what people on here consider "heavy," but it's the most that *I* can lift, and that's what counts. I just keep working on trying to improve without comparing myself to others.

emelia_

From your diary it looks like you sometimes under eat and I know from experience that this is a big contributor to that weak feeling. 1,200 calories is not going to cut it if you hit the weights and run 5 miles.

cwolfman13

1) why are you comparing your strength to male counterparts? It'll never be there.

2) why are you comparing your strength as a beginner to people who have been lifting for YEARS, not weeks or months?

3) i would recommend actually doing a tried and true program that is progressive in nature if you really want to make some headway. Just willy nilly picking up some weights and doing whatever in the weight room isn't very efficient and won't get you very far.

4) Are you eating enough? You need energy (calories) to actually train big.

sallysoldiergirl

Tailor you workout; alternate your days to topheavy workout cardio and topheavy workout weights. females looking to tone need to do light weights high repetition.
Body builders do high weights low repetition as they are trying to tear muscle fibres to grow muscle (tear and repair) To tone muscle that is already there lighter weights at high repetition is advised. on days you do weights add a little extra lean protein to your diet for recovery this may help with the feeling weak. hope this helps

cwolfman13

females looking to tone need to do light weights high repetition.

No they don't...They can lift just like a male body builder and they will "tone". Only genetic outliers and steroid users will bulk.

JustYandy

If you feel weak you probably are,but that's ok you go to get stronger.I didn't realize how weak I am in certain muscles groups til I started going to the gym and so I'm working on them to fix that.