Weights Newbie- Getting A LOT Harder Before Easier?

megsi474
megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
My current workout schedule is this:

M-W-F - 10 minute cardio warm up, 5 minute push ups, 10 reps, 4 sets of squats, rows, lunges, shoulder presses and curls with a #10 weight (think ZERO muscle strength to begin with).

T-Th-S - HIIT on treadmill, abs and calf training

I am a novice to strength training and have been doing this schedule for a week and a half. I enjoy it, I'm getting results but I'm concerned about how difficult the weights are getting to be for me. At first, rep 8 was kind of hard and 9 and 10 were really hard and by the last set, 10 was failure. This week, Monday and today, I'm faltering at 5 during the second set with the curls and having to take a break. The lunges flat out failed at 5 in the second set- I'm not injured but my quad felt like it was splitting in half on the right side and I fell to the side. The shoulder presses are getting easier but I don't know I'm doing something wrong with the rest of it or if it's par for the course with a new way to exercise. The squats need more rest time. I certainly don't want to quit and I'm not all that jazzed over the prospect of picking up my pastel weights again, but I don't want to hurt myself, either.

Any insight would be helpful for what I do at this point- smaller reps? Fewer sets? Lower weights? Go to failure no matter the number?

Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • maliabarcy
    maliabarcy Posts: 11
    Im no expert at working out. Novice like you. But it sounds like you are doing a lot of different exercises m-w-f and not targeting a certain part of your body. I personally alternate. I do 8 minutes of warm up walking and then either do "arm day" for 30 minutes and "leg day" the next day for 30 minutes. During those 30 minutes I do ab exercises whether it is leg or arm day. Then I make it a point to burn 300 calories on the treadmill in under 30 minutes.
  • maliabarcy
    maliabarcy Posts: 11
    oh and when I am working out I continue to do my reps until I can't do them anymore.
  • megsi474
    megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
    Im no expert at working out. Novice like you. But it sounds like you are doing a lot of different exercises m-w-f and not targeting a certain part of your body. I personally alternate. I do 8 minutes of warm up walking and then either do "arm day" for 30 minutes and "leg day" the next day for 30 minutes. During those 30 minutes I do ab exercises whether it is leg or arm day. Then I make it a point to burn 300 calories on the treadmill in under 30 minutes.

    As solid an idea as any, thank you! It didn't really occur to me that it may not be enough rest for the muscle groups.
  • bokodasu
    bokodasu Posts: 629 Member
    Cut out one, or better, two of your HIIT days - yes, it's a really great way to exercise but it will cut into your recovery ability for your lifting days. AND you're doing abs & calves those days, so yeah, too much to start out with. You can do a little light cardio on those days - think "active recovery", not "TORCH TEH FATZ!" When you've built up a little more, you can add the second day back in, but three is probably overdoing it even if you are an elite athlete.

    All those exercises should probably need different weights - if you're shoulder pressing the same as you're squatting, either you're cheating yourself on squats or overdoing shoulders (possibly both! But probably that first one.) Check your form and your ankle and hip mobility, those could be limiting your squats more than your muscle strength. Lunges are just hard, so I wouldn't worry about that one. :wink:

    Your goal is to fatigue the muscle and then let it recover; the recovery part is when the stronger happens. If you don't do both parts, you won't get the results you want. More weight + more rest = better results in less time.
  • megsi474
    megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
    Cut out one, or better, two of your HIIT days - yes, it's a really great way to exercise but it will cut into your recovery ability for your lifting days. AND you're doing abs & calves those days, so yeah, too much to start out with. You can do a little light cardio on those days - think "active recovery", not "TORCH TEH FATZ!" When you've built up a little more, you can add the second day back in, but three is probably overdoing it even if you are an elite athlete.

    All those exercises should probably need different weights - if you're shoulder pressing the same as you're squatting, either you're cheating yourself on squats or overdoing shoulders (possibly both! But probably that first one.) Check your form and your ankle and hip mobility, those could be limiting your squats more than your muscle strength. Lunges are just hard, so I wouldn't worry about that one. :wink:

    Your goal is to fatigue the muscle and then let it recover; the recovery part is when the stronger happens. If you don't do both parts, you won't get the results you want. More weight + more rest = better results in less time.

    Excellent advice, thank you so much. I didn't want to invest in more weights until I knew I wouldn't bail on the entire thing but I do feel like I can go up with squats. They're hard but not to failure hard. For once, I'm glad I'm off the mark but by overdoing, not the other way around and selling myself short. Tweaking it can only be a good thing.
  • eevincheezburger
    eevincheezburger Posts: 163 Member
    Oooh this happened to me. I had to eat some starchy carbs before working out to finally get my strength improving again. I don't know how your macros are but if you're low on carbs, make sure you eat some about 30 mins before strength training (you don't really need them for cardio). Definitely what I had to do and it fixed it right away!
  • eevincheezburger
    eevincheezburger Posts: 163 Member
    Cut out one, or better, two of your HIIT days - yes, it's a really great way to exercise but it will cut into your recovery ability for your lifting days. AND you're doing abs & calves those days, so yeah, too much to start out with. You can do a little light cardio on those days - think "active recovery", not "TORCH TEH FATZ!" When you've built up a little more, you can add the second day back in, but three is probably overdoing it even if you are an elite athlete.

    All those exercises should probably need different weights - if you're shoulder pressing the same as you're squatting, either you're cheating yourself on squats or overdoing shoulders (possibly both! But probably that first one.) Check your form and your ankle and hip mobility, those could be limiting your squats more than your muscle strength. Lunges are just hard, so I wouldn't worry about that one. :wink:

    Your goal is to fatigue the muscle and then let it recover; the recovery part is when the stronger happens. If you don't do both parts, you won't get the results you want. More weight + more rest = better results in less time.

    Great points as well!
  • megsi474
    megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
    Oooh this happened to me. I had to eat some starchy carbs before working out to finally get my strength improving again. I don't know how your macros are but if you're low on carbs, make sure you eat some about 30 mins before strength training (you don't really need them for cardio). Definitely what I had to do and it fixed it right away!

    I'm not really shying away from carbs, even though my diary may look that way. I just love me some meat and nuts.

    And only kinda sorta meant that how it sounded. :noway:
  • Showcase_Brodown
    Showcase_Brodown Posts: 919 Member
    My reaction to your question is that you might be wearing yourself out. With trying to do the same strength exercises 3 times a week, you may not be giving yourself proper recovery time. I try to split out my exercises over 3 workouts during the week. During a workout, I usually only do 3-4 exercises and not repeat an exercise until the next week. Seems to keep me from stalling out. You might try emphasizing more weight (intensity) over volume (reps). But that's just what seems to work for me.
  • megsi474
    megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
    My reaction to your question is that you might be wearing yourself out. With trying to do the same strength exercises 3 times a week, you may not be giving yourself proper recovery time. I try to split out my exercises over 3 workouts during the week. During a workout, I usually only do 3-4 exercises and not repeat an exercise until the next week. Seems to keep me from stalling out. You might try emphasizing more weight (intensity) over volume (reps). But that's just what seems to work for me.

    It looks like that just may be it. Too much repetition and not enough rest. Congratulations on your success and on finding what's working for you.

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