I don't feel like I'm getting any stronger....

michlingle

Hello everyone.

I have a bit of a rant....so before I started doing all this healthy eating and exercising, I was basically eating garbage but still exercising 3 times per week...of course I lost no weight because of the poor diet. NOW, I'm doing very well combining the two (diet and excercise) and hitting the gym hard 5 times per week. I still cannot use the heavy weights, or anything more than ten for arms, for example....there's people using double what I use and that would absolute exhaust me. I am using the same weights from months ago and it's still challenging. My form is fine, so that's not the issue. I'm eating a lot of lean proteins to build muscle and I am looking a lot more toned....I still can't do pushups without doing the girl kind....and even then I struggle.....having to still do girl pushups is pissing me off.....any exercise tips on how to get stronger, or should I just keep on keepin' on....I don't have money for a trainer either....

michlingle

Hello everyone.

I have a bit of a rant....so before I started doing all this healthy eating and exercising, I was basically eating garbage but still exercising 3 times per week...of course I lost no weight because of the poor diet. NOW, I'm doing very well combining the two (diet and excercise) and hitting the gym hard 5 times per week. I still cannot use the heavy weights, or anything more than ten for arms, for example....there's people using double what I use and that would absolute exhaust me. I am using the same weights from months ago and it's still challenging. My form is fine, so that's not the issue. I'm eating a lot of lean proteins to build muscle and I am looking a lot more toned....I still can't do pushups without doing the girl kind....and even then I struggle.....having to still do girl pushups is pissing me off.....any exercise tips on how to get stronger, or should I just keep on keepin' on....I don't have money for a trainer either....

psyknife

Sometimes some of us are slower to develop upper body strength, but it can happen.

How many reps do you currently shoot for when doing your strength exercises? Do you use 10's for all exercises or do you use less for smaller muscles (like the deltoids and triceps)???

kechiemc

Hi there

Congratulations on your success. I see you've already lost 13 pounds!

I am no expert on strength training. I just wanted to post b/c I saw it was your post.:flowerforyou:

It has taken me a while to be able to do push ups too. I just keep doing them twice a day. I struggle with consistency. When I am consistent, I notice very small improvement over time.

Hang in there! You're doing great!
-Kechie.

michlingle

I guess my biggest problem is inconsistency. I work out 5 times per week, typically 3/4 days of cardio like spinning or running, but the 1/2 times per week that I do weights, I am at the mercy of a class and whatever the teacher has planned....I have to take classes or else I'll quit so that's why I'm always in a class....hmm....perhaps if each day I went to the gym I took an extra 15-20 mins to focus on developing upper body strength I would see more progress...thanks!

psyknife

So, your strenght workouts are in class format???
That could be the issue... not sure. I know a lot of classes at gyms fail to progress their students (they SHOULD progress, but if they constantly get influxes of new people it's hard to really step it up too much w/o scaring them off)... in order to see the change in strength you need to progress... you need to challenge YOURSELF and not just stop when the teacher says so.

What I would do is develop a full body strength routine you can do on your own (OR meet with a trainer for a session or two). Try choosing a weight where you are totally fatigued by reps 12-15 (meaning, you have the put the weight down because you are losing your form and you NEED to put it down). Each time you workout try seeing if you can add one more rep. When it gets to the point that 15 reps is easy, then up your weight to the next highest weight (so, go from 10's to 12's, etc.).
For push-ups... each time you do them try cranking out just one more each time you do them... just one. Once you get to 20 easily, try increasing your range of motion... if you are already almost nose-to-floor, then bring it up to your toes... do as many as you can on your toes and then drop to your knees and finish off.
Set goals... and shoot for them.
Write down what you are doing so that when you do it again you can look back and see what you need to do just to take it up on notch this time.
Be sure to give yourself adequate rest between strength workouts (do strength every other day).
Warm-up... do 5-10 minutes of warm-up first... this can be a cardio machine, or you can warm up using series of lunges and squats and whatnot.

Strength training really is tricky, because we all kind of have to learn how our OWN bodies work... something that works for one person may not work for another. This has to do with lots of things from muscle fibers, body compesition, levels of testosterone (because even ladies have some of that)... so, it may take some trial and error.

Best wishes!

arewethereyet

thanks psyk.

Nandi418

Big mistake. It won't help you change your eating habits.

Anna_Banana

What I do is do my regular reps, then rest and then do a set of as many as you can with the next size weight. For example 3 sets of 10 reps with the 10 pounders, then 1 set of 2 rep with the 12 or 15 pounders, eventually you will be able to to more with the bigger weight and you can switch up.

songbyrdsweet

In a caloric deficit, you're not going to gain any muscle size; you don't have enough of the materials to build new tissues. You can get stronger, but that will require neurological changes that you can bring about by lifting heavier weights than you would in a class setting, and using fewer repetitions. You can do this a couple ways--by dropping the reps to 6-8 and using weights TOO heavy to do any more than eight reps. Or, you can try pyramids. With a pyramid, you'd determine your one-rep max, or how much weight you can only lift one time. Then you'd do one set of 10 with 50% of that weight, one set of 10 with 75% of that weight, and 1 set of 10 at 100% of that weight. So....

If your 1RM for bench press is 100 lbs...
You'd do 10 reps at 50 lbs.
Then 10 reps at 75 lbs.
Then 10 reps at 100 lbs.

Realistically, you're NOT going to be able to do that right away. It'd look more like 10 reps, then 8 reps, then 5 reps. And that's fine. But as you got stronger, you'd be able to do more reps at each weight until 100 lbs is no longer your 1RM.

If you do static reps, you're just going to do 2 sets of 6 or 8 reps with a weight that is your 6 or 8RM. Reach failure; it's important to utilize all your muscle fibers to uninhibit the neurons that cause them to contract. Strength increases because our neurons become easier to stimulate, not because of muscular changes.

Your rests will be longer...60-90 seconds rather than the 30-45 you'd use with higher reps. This is important; it will allow you to keep using those heavier weights.

You'll want to avoid anything much higher than 10 reps. Past that point, you're moving toward growth (which won't happen) or endurance (which doesn't improve strength).