I always feel like its not enough

byrdamy

Ok, quick history: I work out with a trainer 3 days a week, then the other two days I do his bootcamp. He is very well respected in my area and I have had great results. We do a total body workout on my exclusive 3 days, which consists of heavy weights followed by body weight resistance for same muscle group, followed by intense cardio for 3 minutes. Its a circuit, so for example: loaded barbell squats, followed by box step ups with hand weights (12lb), followed by 5.5mph jog on treadmill 2 min. Mixed in there would be arms or back, or shoulders, and some abs. I am telling you this to show that he likes to use your own body weight with a lil add to work the same muscle group without blasting it the entire workout (we workout an hour). When I leave him I am completely spent, I KNOW I got worked out, my muscles are sore, so I am pushing the limits.


The other two days he has a bootcamp which is a total body workout too, so I would do the classes but try not to stress if I couldn't make it through every exercise the entire time.

I have lost several inches and about 10lbs. I would lose more but I screw it up with drinking too much on weekends.

A few weeks ago I started running in mornings (about 3 miles) to help burn calories, then doing him in evenings to add muscle (which burns calories). I think my body got too worn out, I have only been doing this for 4 months, so I am still conditioning it to exercise period. I started at couch potato/drunk party girl, I couldn't run a block in the beginning.

Well Friday he tells me that I should rest more and that I am lean enough, to stop stressing over burning more calories with cardio, to concentrate on giving 100% to the lifting (I was so wore out from doing too much that I wasn't able to give 100%) because I will still burn calories with lifting, and let the cardio I do during his workouts be sufficient. He thinks I am tiring my body with all this extra running, an although I am burning calories, that I am not getting sufficient rest.

This has me completely freaked out, I want results NOW, but I am trying to trust his 20yrs experience. I don't want to stop running because I want to do a 5k. I don't want to give up weights because I want bulk muscle. I don't want to stop his two bootcamps because I feel that is giving up VALUABLE time....I don't want to give up alcohol because I am weak, lol!!!

Is there anyone else who feels like enough isn't enough?

KelseyPalmtree

I've felt like that before. I think it's natural to want things to change as fast as possible when you decide you want them to change. Weight loss and fitness is a change that takes time. Try to rush it, and you're going to hurt yourself. If you keep pushing yourself too hard and not getting enough rest, you'll likely injure yourself, which will cause you to have to take a BIG break.

I speak from experience when I say that having to take even a week off from your exercise routine to recuperate from an injury really messes with your fitness progress. It's like your body goes "oooh, i can be lazy again? Sweet!!" then when you get back to your routine, it's pissed off that it can't be lazy anymore. It's like taking a bunch of huge steps backward as far as progress goes.

If you really want extra cardio, do something easier. Go dancing on the weekends. Take a nice long walk. Or go swimming. You sound like you're getting plenty of exercise in, so you don't need the extra cardio. Trust me, there's a fine line between doing more, and doing too much. And you're teetering on that line. Listen to your body, and your trainer, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Don't overdo it. It may seem like it's helping now, but in the long run it may actually be detrimental.