Today was my first day and I am disappointed

1SlimShaylee

Hi girls! So, tonight was my first night, and I have to say I am a little bit disappointed. Maybe it is because I am use to staying at the gym doing 3 straight hours of cardio, or maybe it is because I do a lot of these same things in pilates, but I was there for 35 minutes and left feeling a little empty. Maybe I did something wrong:

I did 15 pistol squat's on each leg 2x. I'm certainly not perfect at these, and can totally see lots of room for improvement.
15 T push up's
15 seated row with 50lbs
15 T push up's
15 seated row with 55lbs
15 step up's right side, 15 step up's left side
15 jackknife
15 step up's right side, 15 step up's right side
15 jackknife

Did I do the first day correctly? Did anyone else feel this way after the first day?

On a positive note, I was embarrassed at all. I had a great time starting something new, and I didn't care at all how I looked or what anyone thought. I found an area at my gym designed for these type of activities which was such a relief! Thanks for all of your helpa nd guidance!

MyOwnSunshine

Did you not use weights for your squats and step-ups? I don't think pistol squats are until later stages, and even then, you need to use the heaviest dumbells that you can manage while doing them.

Stage 1 is back squats in the squat rack with heavy weight. The heavy weight is what makes the workout work. The biggest exercise is first (squats, deadlifts) so you can challenge your whole body with heavy weight. The rest of the workout is hard because you are using all your strength (by lifting heavy) in the initial exercises.

Start your squats with the olympic bar (45 pounds) and keep adding weight in 10 pound increments until you can barely complete one set. Then, try to increase your weight ever single week. I started stage 1 at 65 pounds and ended at 115.

Same with your step-ups. If you can easily do step-ups onto a bench, then hold a dumbell in each hand. Increase the dumbells by 5 pound increments until the step-ups are so hard you can barely do them. If that means you need to hold 25 or 35 pound dumbells in each hand, then do it. I do my step-ups onto the weight bench and use 25 pound dumbells in each hand. I really focus on not using my non-working leg at all. I will probably up my weight to 30 pounds next week because my form is pretty good.

If your rows were easy, up your weight. Sometimes I do different weights for each set -- like 55 for the first and 70 for the second. Make it so hard you can barely finish your set.

Once you find a weight that pushes you to your limits, you need to try to increase it every single workout. In order for it to work the way it's supposed to, you really need to focus on the weights and push your strength to its limits.

jenniet04

I agree with Sunshine

You should be doing back squats with weights
You should have weights with your step ups
And increase the weights if it's not enough of a workout - it should be tough to finish a set.

perfect10isha

I agree with what other posters said.

However, I felt the same way after doing my stage 1 routine. I was in and out in 30 minutes or so and didn't feel like I had done much. I had previously been doing high intensity interval training, so I was used to working hard, sweating hard, and feeling somewhat exhausted after my workouts. A MFP friend did tell me the workouts are longer in the later stages, and others said they warmed up with a mile run. But yeah, I totally understand feeling like "was that it????" I had to give up my gym membership so I wasn't able to finish, but I do intend on starting again this month now that my finances are back in order. I'll probably do one day a week of HIIT and warm up with a mile run, just so I can feel like I'm getting more out of it.