Is there a link between weight training and fatigue?

BeautyFromPain

Dealio is, I have been doing weights since about august last year and ever since then i have become so fatigued all the time.
I used to be able to do 7-10 hours of cardio a week (without weights) and be fine but now I feel like sleeping all the time. I do have adequete protein levels and calories. I got blood tests done about a month ago and my iron levels are fine, I do not have diabetes and have a good average BP. All my other blood work is healthy.

My schedule looks something like this
Monday : Body balance
Tuesday : Full body weights
Wednesday : Run
Thursday : Full body weights + Sh'Bam (dance class)
Friday : Cardio recovery - walk/bike ride
Saturday : Full body weights
Sunday : Study day.

ETA : I get my full 8 hours of sleep per night.

coconutbuNZ

From my own experience with exercise, it is meant to be tiring and that's one of the reasons why I do it, it helps me to sleep whereas I could never get enough sleep when not exercising. I feel as though it's a good healthy tired. I find this sort of tiredness makes me feel better, compared to being tired from bingeing and eating too many sweets, carbs, processed food, unhealthy junk food fats like mcDs and lying on the couch all day. That yucky, lethargic and "feeling fat" type of tiredness.

BeautyFromPain

From my own experience with exercise, it is meant to be tiring and that's one of the reasons why I do it, it helps me to sleep whereas I could never get enough sleep when not exercising. I feel as though it's a good healthy tired. I find this sort of tiredness makes me feel better, compared to being tired from bingeing and eating too many sweets, carbs, processed food, unhealthy junk food fats like mcDs and lying on the couch all day. That yucky, lethargic and "feeling fat" type of tiredness.

hmm I know it's meant to make you tired but this is like I'm never really awake cept for an hour after a workout and I have to have heaps of naps. i did have glandular fever years and years ago and they thought i might also have CFS which they never really diagnosed so that could be it...

Dave198lbs

get a complete physical and make sure they check your thyroid, etc.

BeautyFromPain

get a complete physical and make sure they check your thyroid, etc.

in my blood test they completely checked everything including thyroid, iron, diabetes, cholestorol.. everything came back normal

GPSHEALTHCOACHING

I have read where every 8-10 weeks or so of heavy lifting you should take a 1 week break. A week of nothing but light cardio. Have you tried that?

BeautyFromPain

I have read where every 8-10 weeks or so of heavy lifting you should take a 1 week break. A week of nothing but light cardio. Have you tried that?

i haven't but defs will! thanks

vegannlg

Related to bloodwork / physical, I see a cat in your ticker. Is it yours? Does it go outside? If so you might want to read up on Toxoplasmosis (cat scratch fever). Sounds wierd I know, but I used to work as a vet. tech and contracted it.

At one point I could barely drag myself in the house and onto the couch to sleep without taking my coat off. I did have some swollen lymph nodes to go along with it though. A doctor checking your neck or under your arms would notice that. Anyway just a thought and fatigue was really my only strong symptom.

BeautyFromPain

Related to bloodwork / physical, I see a cat in your ticker. Is it yours? Does it go outside? If so you might want to read up on Toxoplasmosis (cat scratch fever). Sounds wierd I know, but I used to work as a vet. tech and contracted it.

At one point I could barely drag myself in the house and onto the couch to sleep without taking my coat off. I did have some swollen lymph nodes to go along with it though. A doctor checking your neck or under your arms would notice that. Anyway just a thought and fatigue was really my only strong symptom.

Yeah that little cutie is mine but all my cats are indoor cats due to too many of our last cats being hit by cars/stolen.

vegannlg

Yeah that little cutie is mine but all my cats are indoor cats due to too many of our last cats being hit by cars/stolen.
[/quote]

So sad! Good idea to have them indoors, we always did too. That rules that idea out, I'd say you just need some rest!

tigersword

It sounds like overtraining to me. Your body needs lots of recovery and rest time to rebuild. Strength training is a lot more physically demanding than cardio, and requires more recovery time. Also, do you eat enough carbs? Strength training uses glycogen, and if you eat very low carb, glycogen could be exhausted, which could also have a tiring effect, as glycogen is where your body draws quick energy to do intense actions with (like weight training,) it can utilize fat when glycogen is exhausted, but it takes much longer, and can lead to feeling fatigued.

Toddrific

As tiger said, might be overtraining.
I personally split cardio and weight training days and it helps a ton.

BeautyFromPain

It sounds like overtraining to me. Your body needs lots of recovery and rest time to rebuild. Strength training is a lot more physically demanding than cardio, and requires more recovery time. Also, do you eat enough carbs? Strength training uses glycogen, and if you eat very low carb, glycogen could be exhausted, which could also have a tiring effect, as glycogen is where your body draws quick energy to do intense actions with (like weight training,) it can utilize fat when glycogen is exhausted, but it takes much longer, and can lead to feeling fatigued.

I don't eat low carb, I usually have around 200 a day. Is that sufficient do you think?

BeautyFromPain

As tiger said, might be overtraining.
I personally split cardio and weight training days and it helps a ton.

I do split my cardio and weights days, cept for dancing on thursday night cos I have to do my weights with school.
M: Body balance. T: Weights W: Run T: Weights + dancing F: cardio recovery(slow walk/bike ride) S: weights S: study

BrianSharpe

I had a quick peek at your food diary - you're pretty consistently way under on your carbs. Some people function very well on low carb some don't.

Amy911Gray

I just had this conversation with a friend of mine.

Try music...

Make a couple of playlists that do this:

1. Think of the music your mom & dad, perhaps older sisters/brothers/cousins used to play, or maybe songs that were popular during that time in your life. Listen to those. It gives me child-like energy to get things done and a light spirit of "anything is possible."
2. Music with a strong base beat and play it loud--using headphones will work. You can feel the rhythm and it wakes up the body.
3. Music with a block. I really like Alanis Morrissette for this. The melodies could be broken up into 4 songs, so it blocks ambient noise from whatever situation or place you are in so that you can concentrate on what you are doing at the time. I drive a Grand Prix--not a noiseless car. I can only hear my thoughts as I'm navigating the roads. At work, it blocks all of the distractions--laughter, chairs scraping, boxes dropping, chatter, footsteps, conversations.

BeautyFromPain

I had a quick peek at your food diary - you're pretty consistently way under on your carbs. Some people function very well on low carb some don't.

Yeah... I try to aim for 200 but with the foods I eat it is pretty hard to reach. I try to plan out my days so that i have the same brekkie/lunch and different dinner. i would have like a sandwich but my biggest weakness is bread and once i start eating it it's actually the hardest for me to stop eating.

kalynn06

What you're describing sounds like exactly how I felt a few years ago when I did Slim Series back to back with some other program. I was over training, and even though my calories weren't especially low, my body just couldn't tolerate continually eating at a deficit and working out hard for such a long period of time. I would try an active recovery week and maybe eat healthy that week but don't log or if you must log keep it closer to maintenance calories. Just go for walks, and let your body heal.

Do you have allergies? I only ask because mine are crazy and that combined with slight over training would be enough to floor you.

I hope you feel better soon!

BeautyFromPain

I just had this conversation with a friend of mine.

Try music...

Make a couple of playlists that do this:

1. Think of the music your mom & dad, perhaps older sisters/brothers/cousins used to play, or maybe songs that were popular during that time in your life. Listen to those. It gives me child-like energy to get things done and a light spirit of "anything is possible."
2. Music with a strong base beat and play it loud--using headphones will work. You can feel the rhythm and it wakes up the body.
3. Music with a block. I really like Alanis Morrissette for this. The melodies could be broken up into 4 songs, so it blocks ambient noise from whatever situation or place you are in so that you can concentrate on what you are doing at the time. I drive a Grand Prix--not a noiseless car. I can only hear my thoughts as I'm navigating the roads. At work, it blocks all of the distractions--laughter, chairs scraping, boxes dropping, chatter, footsteps, conversations.

Hahaha I'm a singer and play the keyboard and guitar fair sure I know what music is

ElizBald

You might want to consult your doctor and have some blood work done. Fatigue can be a warning sign that something is wrong. Voice of experience here.

BeautyFromPain

You might want to consult your doctor and have some blood work done. Fatigue can be a warning sign that something is wrong. Voice of experience here.

If you read my full question you would notice I already answered that I got my full bloods done only a month ago for this exact same reason.

mamitosami

I had the opposite when I moved from tons of cardio (I was training for half marathon) to weight training. However, if I go too many weeks in a row, I feel like what you describe. I generally take a full week off every 3 months and that seems to help. I also switch my routines a bit. I went from New Rules, to my own program, to Stronglifts, and now back to my own. I find if I'm not eating enough and training too much I'm bone tired. I take 1 or 2 rest days a week too...

I hope you find your solution...

AlSalzman

Do you have allergies? I only ask because mine are crazy and that combined with slight over training would be enough to floor you.

This. When I was training like crazy, undereating carbs to cut weight, and fighting allergies I wound up with similar symptoms.

BeautyFromPain

I had the opposite when I moved from tons of cardio (I was training for half marathon) to weight training. However, if I go too many weeks in a row, I feel like what you describe. I generally take a full week off every 3 months and that seems to help. I also switch my routines a bit. I went from New Rules, to my own program, to Stronglifts, and now back to my own. I find if I'm not eating enough and training too much I'm bone tired. I take 1 or 2 rest days a week too...

I hope you find your solution...

Ahh. I haven't taken a week off weights since I started... could be the cause.. thanks

BeautyFromPain

Do you have allergies? I only ask because mine are crazy and that combined with slight over training would be enough to floor you.

This. When I was training like crazy, undereating carbs to cut weight, and fighting allergies I wound up with similar symptoms.

To fish and bees. That's about it.

Lolli1986

I had a quick look at your diary - clicked through about 2 weeks worth. What do you use to count your exercise burns? MFP? They seem low compared to mine, but your routine seems similar. I measure mine with a HRM - I average 330 a day, but in reality I often take 2-3 full rest days a week at the moment.

Are you hungry? you might be fairly severely under-eating for the amount of work you're doing.

I think you may need to eat back more of those exercise cals.

If you go into 'reports' how do your net calories look over the last 90 days? Have they been generally above 1200, or below?

BeautyFromPain

I had a quick look at your diary - clicked through about 2 weeks worth. What do you use to count your exercise burns? MFP? They seem low compared to mine, but your routine seems similar. I measure mine with a HRM - I average 330 a day, but in reality I often take 2-3 full rest days a week at the moment.

Are you hungry? you might be fairly severely under-eating for the amount of work you're doing.

I think you may need to eat back more of those exercise cals.

If you go into 'reports' how do your net calories look over the last 90 days? Have they been generally above 1200, or below?

I was counting my calorie burns through my HRM but ever since I found out how off it is for weight training I've been a bit iffy about using it again. I pretty much hit a plateau for 4 months which was actually cos my HRM was telling me I was burning 700-900 but in reality was not burning any more than 500.

The net calories have generally been above 1200.

BeautyFromPain

also, could it be linked to my PTSD?

Lolli1986

well, i'm stumped. in your position with that info, i'd do as others have said - take at least 2 weeks off from anything other than walking and eat at maintenance.

i hope you feel better soon

carolemack

I know you said you had your blood tests done but did they check your B12 level as well? That was my problem...I had to have B12 shots once a week for six months and know just once a month...made a huge difference in my energy level. Just a thought.

mmapags

I'm in agreement with what Tiger said earlier in the thread. You are overtraining. You are doing either strength or cardio 6 days per week. If your intensity is fairly good, you don't have enough rest built in. With the agressive schedule you are keeping, at least 2 rest days should be built in. Possibly 3. You are at a place of diminishing returns.