What to do when you've begun to lose belief

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Workout4Health
Workout4Health Posts: 447 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Today was a rough day for me. I'm not used to morning exercise, but I've been on a roll. I went to do some stairs around 8 am and could only go up and down twice. The stairs were about 250 steps. As a matter of fact, I was already weakening just warming up. In the past when I was more out of shape, I could at least go up 4 times. That was when I could do the stairmaster only 8 minutes, now I could do the stairmaster an hour. That was when I could only ride 12 miles, now I routinely ride 25-30 miles. So I thought I would at least go up and down 10 times. But even the warm up was tiring me. Could it be that I am just not used to the mornings? I haven't really worked out early in the mornings for years. But I've been on a roll, and just hopped out of bed and went. I did have some breakfast though as I rode 25 miles yesterday so needed some energy for today's workout. After I went to the gym and did 8 sets of leg press, 6 sets of curls, 4 sets of calves, and I was pretty much done. No more oomph to do more and more cardio. This is a typical example where you start to wonder if all you have done all these months was a complete waste and absolutely for nothing. But I have no other choice than to keep trying everyday, I'm just a little down with my performance today. I couldn't believe just the walk to the stair got me tired. That hasn't happened in a long time. But again, I hope it was just my body wasn't used to the morning workout.

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  • fvtfan
    fvtfan Posts: 126 Member
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    Do you give yourself rest days? Sounds like your body is telling you that you need one. Just a thought
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
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    What are you losing belief in because you haven't stated your goals?
  • annaskiski
    annaskiski Posts: 1,212 Member
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    That's a definite sign that you need to take a rest day, and then change up your exercise routine for a week or so.
  • Adc7225
    Adc7225 Posts: 1,318 Member
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    Accept that some days are like that . . . if you have had the honor of having a long string of good or even great days and accept those you have to accept the random bad day :smile:

    The trick now is to not buy into it, accept that your workout was not what you envisioned and tomorrow or even this evening it may be different. I have days when I think I will sail into the gym and have a great run and once on the treadmill I just cannot get my stride together and I just move on. It is not worth the risk of injury or harm to force it.

    It could be your bodies way of saying it needs a rest . . . remember the body will always win!
  • AllOutof_Bubblegum
    AllOutof_Bubblegum Posts: 3,646 Member
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    Everyone has off days. The idea is to get to a point where there are more "on" days than off. Keep plugging away, and you'll get there.
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
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    Rest day schmest day!

    Put it in your mind that you're going to crush every single workout before you even begin to work out. It's all mental. Physically you can do anything your mind believes you can.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    Some days some workouts are harder than other days, for most of us. It's not an excuse to give up on exercise unless you want it to be.

    250 steps four times is practically climbing the Empire State Building. Take a break.
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
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    It's just one day. Maybe you overtrained recently, under-slept last night, ate something yesterday that quietly put your tummy and thus electrolytes out of sorts, are fighting off a virus you don't know about either because you don't have symptoms yet or because you're succeeding in beating it down before it makes you sick. There are a zillion things that can throw you off for a day or a week that mean nothing long term.

    You are having a "bad body" day. Meh. It happens. So now there's a choice--have a bad body day and feel bad about it, or have a bad body day and just recognize "I'm having a bad body day" and move on.

    If it persists for a week then you might see a doc to see if you're coming down with something.
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
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    Rest day schmest day!

    Put it in your mind that you're going to crush every single workout before you even begin to work out. It's all mental. Physically you can do anything your mind believes you can.

    :huh:

    Yeah. Until you ignore your body's signals and it decides to break on you.

    I believe I can fly. It has yet to happen. Maybe it's because I take rest days.
  • OldSportOldsport
    OldSportOldsport Posts: 275 Member
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    You need a rest day. However I would say one thing, if the weakness continues or gets worse, get yourself checked out by a doctor. There's a couple of illnesses that manifest in lower limb weakness.
  • amy8400
    amy8400 Posts: 478 Member
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    ...you start to wonder if all you have done all these months was a complete waste and absolutely for nothing...I hope it was just my body wasn't used to the morning workout.

    I have never worked out in the morning and this would probably kill me to switch it up. Don't expect peak performance if you're not a morning person. Give yourself a couple of weeks and then see what you think. If you're stilling dragging, I'd see a doctor.

    As for the wondering if it's all a complete waste...WHAT? After all that you've achieved?

    Exercise is never a waste. You are always in a mode of continuous improvement. Eat well. Sleep well. Perform better. Rinse and repeat.
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
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    Rest day schmest day!

    Put it in your mind that you're going to crush every single workout before you even begin to work out. It's all mental. Physically you can do anything your mind believes you can.

    Cushman, sorry, this is physiologically incorrect. Exercise gives your body the signal to build and repair, but the actual building and repairing happens during the rest-periods between exercise.

    Young men have fast metabolisms, so their bodies may get enough 'down-time' between morning and evening workout sessions. But older men (hah! late 20's as "older") need an overnight rest, as do most other demographics, and somewhere between 40 and 65 that can increase to 2 days for some people depending on other health factors.

    If you over-train then you do need a rest day--or more if you are actually injured.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    It's a long road. It's hard. There are ups and downs, obstacles and naysayers. Sometimes you do everything right and the scale doesn't budge.

    Only you can decide if reaching the goal is worth all the work, dedication and frustration.

    If the path your on isn't working, you can trudge along and hope it gets better, you can take a different path and see where that goes or you can just quit the journey.

    Up to you!! What do you want to do?

    Do what you want and be happy. :)
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Keep the faith.

    Do, or do not, there is no try.

    Just do it!

    Hang in there baby!

    And other various motivational sayings.

    Simply go back and re-read what you wrote...you gave several examples of how you've excelled with practice and time. Obviously you're not wasting your time. I personally suck at morning workouts. Sometimes I'll get up and go for a run anyway because I know it's going to be a hot day and I won't do it later. It's a bad run, I might stop and walk a few times and seriously think about quitting (good thing about running outside, you have to get yourself back home and running is the fastest way), but I still get it done and that's what counts.
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
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    Somebody help me with the name for this, but among runners there's the concept of 'peak training', I think? It's something like biorhythms but actually has some basis in fact. The idea is that not every day is going to be a day of peak performance. There are troughs too. The trick to winning races is to work with your natural rhythms and nudge them a little so your peak days happen on your competition days.

    The troughs are normal and necessary. Don't fault yourself, it's just biology.
  • Stripeness
    Stripeness Posts: 511 Member
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    Somebody help me with the name for this, but among runners there's the concept of 'peak training', I think? It's something like biorhythms but actually has some basis in fact. The idea is that not every day is going to be a day of peak performance. There are troughs too. The trick to winning races is to work with your natural rhythms and nudge them a little so your peak days happen on your competition days.

    The troughs are normal and necessary. Don't fault yourself, it's just biology.

    Sorry, the term is escaping my brain too. But yeah, there's actually at least 2 ways cycles are used in training:
    1. pounds/mileage doesn't just keep increasing every week. There's a cycle of say 4 weeks where things increase, then you drop back a little and ramp from there.
    2. annually, it's pretty common to peak for a few key events and also purposely ease up (crosstrain, etc.) at times. A triathlete might spend little time in the weight room during race season, and most workout time lifting in the "off" season.

    Even for non-competitors, it's sound to include downcycles and for sure rest days.

    OP, I'm worried that you're beating yourself up way to early in this game, as your ticker shows 0 lbs lost and 50 to go. And you're really sounding self-hateful about this ONE workout. It's just one, and there will be many more. You may come to enjoy morning workouts or may decide it's not your thing.

    Please please please read these links and think about how to achieve your goals in healthy way - which means rest days and ALL kinds of workouts from awesome to "bleh...but at least I showed up!"

    MFP classic:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    Apologies for title, I'm not calling you obese. There is a lot of positive common sense here though:
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the-obese-beginner.html

    FWIW, *I* think you've got this! :drinker:
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    So I thought I would at least go up and down 10 times.
    Wait- You thought you could at least go up and down 250 steps 10 times? :frown:

    Being tired is a symptom of overtraining.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining

    If you just started this a few months ago and expect to do it daily, you're on the road to injury, illness, burnout or worse. Real athletes don't just push through it. They train responsibly. Successful weight loss isn't about hours of working out daily, either.

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