Weightlifting vs. Bodyweight Training

xilka

I don't have access to a gym here, but I do have 12 lb dumbbells, 50 lb barbell, and YouTube.
I've been doing a 25 minute full-body routine 2-3 x weekly, with lots of compound moves.

I teach a bodyweight training class twice a week.
My most consistent student is looking and feeling fabulous and fit, as I was before getting the weights.

Now, I'm feeling drained and clunky since I incorporated the weights into my routine a few months ago.

It seems like everyone who tries weights LOVES them. Why is it not clicking for me?
Could it be that some body types are better off without? Should I just stick to bodyweight?

Angimom

Looking for answers also.

MisterDerpington

The name of the game with STRENGTH training is progression of intensity. With weights, this is easy. You increase intensity by adding more weight to the bar. With bodyweight, you can add weight to some exercises, but increasing resistance with different angles or grips is mostly how you do it. Going from regular pushups to decline pushups for example; or Squats to Pistol Squats.

Lots of people want to do a lot of pushups or situps. I'm not dogmatic about that. Sure it helps with muscular endurance and can probably help with some definition, but that's not really training for strength.

SezxyStef

My guess not enough protien.

I looked at your diary and I saw 65g one day...ouch.

Goal should be .8grams of protien for each lb of LBM...my current lower goal for protien is121g a day and I hit it consistently and don't feel drained or clunky.

TrainingWithTonya

Sounds like you are over training. Not that 5 days a week is considered over training, but because you are using the same muscle groups every day instead of giving them 48 hours rest in between, the individual muscles are over training. I'd recommend doing 2-3 days a week of either the body weight resistance or weighted resistance and just do cardio the other 2-3 days a week so that you can get some rest for those type two muscle fibers. Or you can split it up so that you are not doing total body resistance workouts and replace them with resistance for a specific body part or couple of body parts so that the individual muscles aren't working with resistance so often.

renewondergem

my guess is also not enough protein.

When i started working out, i felt sleepy , quite early at night..
my dietician looked at my diet and instantly saw that i was not eating enough meat.
I changed my diet to include protein in every meal. and I doubled the serving of meat in my dinner.

within a few days I felt better.. nowadays I use protein shakes.

anyway, I love bodyweight excercise for its simplicity and I do those regularly. But I do for endurance.
For strength gain and muscle growth, I use weights. (deadlift, squat.. etc)

hope this helps!

Dragonwolf

It sounds like you just might be doing too much and may not be feeding your body the fuel it requires to keep up. Weighted training often takes quite a bit more calories than people realize, and if you're doing a full body weighted routine 2-3x a week, plus a bodyweight class twice a week where you're at least doing enough to show your students, that's quite a bit of work. Try adding some extra calories and see if you start feeling better (edit - and I second the others on here - eat more protein).

Also, it may be the type of weighted working out that you're doing. Most people will either do powerlifting (a heavy weight routine in its own right and not usually something done "in addition to" much else), or will weight their bodyweight exercises (pistol squats with dumbbells, pull ups with weight belt/vest, etc). So, they love it either because it's a full, simple workout routine (the power lifting), or it's another progression in their already preferred workout routine. It may help to change what your routines are. Perhaps do the same bodyweight routine you teach, but a more advanced/weighted version on your workout days.

xilka

Thanks!
Lots of great tips, and things to think about.

contingencyplan

If you enjoy bodyweight training more you should stick to it. But if you want to see results you need to use progression, by that I mean as you get stronger you need to find ways of increasing the difficulty of the exercise itself--not simply adding more reps. With bodyweight training that means progressing to variations of the exercise that are not only more strength intensive, but also more balance and flexibility intensive as well.