The roll of shame & feeling discouraged

kathrynjean_
kathrynjean_ Posts: 428 Member
edited November 24 in Fitness and Exercise
Well ... I'm 6ish weeks into SL5x5 and I had to do the roll of shame this morning for the first time. Squatting is definitely my favourite part of the program and is also the one that I've been able to progress the most with. I was doing great and so proud of myself when I hit 100lbs at the end of last week ... but I've been stalled there for a couple of sessions now and feeling discouraged. Plus, having to do the roll of shame is never exactly an ego boost.

So, despite the fact that I'm feeling kind of crappy today, I'm objectively trying to focus on:

- The fact that of course I can't continue to progress at adding 5lbs per workout forever, and I'm still eating at a deficit so stalls come sooner
- I've still made a lot of progress, and the name of the game is slow and steady - I need to be patient with this, just like anything else
- Remembering that 6 weeks ago I was terrified of talking to anyone at the gym, and now I'm at the point where I work in with people regularly and can do so confidently

I was actually working in with someone today who I've seen around the gym often and definitely seems to look like he knows what he's doing. After the roll of shame, he talked with me, said overall my form was actually good and gave me some pointers to improve. So that's positive and another thing to focus on.

All in all, I logically know that this was a good learning experience ... but they just don't always feel that way at the time, do they? ;)

Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    I've had to do the roll of shame twice in one workout... made me want to cancel my gym membership and live as a recluse, lol.
  • kathrynjean_
    kathrynjean_ Posts: 428 Member
    IsaackGMOON wrote: »
    I've had to do the roll of shame twice in one workout... made me want to cancel my gym membership and live as a recluse, lol.

    I was proud of the fact that I didn't just immediately walk out of the gym ;)

    Thanks though, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one.

  • hill8570
    hill8570 Posts: 1,466 Member
    Failure is part of the game, especially since you're running a deficit. Six weeks in, you're probably starting to come to the end of the newbie gains, and getting to the point where you'll need to add muscle to progress...difficult to do on a deficit. You can eke out a bit more by getting your form picture-perfect. Pick up a set of 1.25 pound plates so you can progress slower. If you're running out of gas on the last couple of sets, stretch out the recovery time between sets (3 minutes or more), and maybe even drop volume to something like 3x5. Just remember that when you're running a deficit the goal is to maintain muscle mass, so don't get discouraged if you're not progressing quickly.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    My philosophy is: if you never fail then how do you know if you've been pushing yourself hard enough?
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    Failing is part of the game. I failed hard on a rep yesterday, and honestly, my coach was happy that it happened, and happy that I knew why it happened. Shook it off and nailed the next two singles.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Eh, no shame in the roll. If people only tried when they knew for sure that they'd win/succeed at something, we'd have one person Olympic events and ball teams running around fields without anybody to play against. Boring!
  • tank1539
    tank1539 Posts: 55 Member
    edited September 2015
    Hahaha. I do the "roll of shame" all the time! Never heard it called the "roll of shame" till I got on here. If you look at it that way and think of it that way it will mess you up mentally I look at it as progress. As for your lack of weight gains on lifts, the way I understand it is if you're in a deficit you have the muscle you have. Now let's step back a second and look at that our central nervous system (CNS) has a fail safe system where it tells your muscles not to contract too much or injury will occur but if you're a beginner/ returning to the game or changing training up, the "fail safe" is set low. Through training you teach your CNS to lower that fail safe lower and lower till you're to the point of the fullest, safest contraction your body allows. So without adding more mass to train, you can reach a ceiling. And yes, there are TONS of other reasons for strength gains to plateau, I know but this is something I don't hear a lot of people mentioning. I'm at a plateau right now and will probably stay here till I bulk late this fall but I still go so to keep my white muscle fiber (quickest to deteriorate without training) and my CNS trained to that point. Anyone with different knowledge on this, Please stop me if I'm wrong.

    Dissclaimer: again, this is how I understand what I've learned about one aspect of plateaus.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    edited September 2015
    I've never heard it called the roll of shame for squats, only for bench press. I do a lot of these.

    Of course, when I fail at squats, it's not a roll. It's a crash and a bang as I tip backwards :sweat_smile:

    I figure I'm not going to get better than my current best without failing. Kind of have to fail to know how hard to push and to have a max to measure against, yes?
  • tank1539
    tank1539 Posts: 55 Member
    edited September 2015
    Oops wrong button
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    Everybody has done it at some point. Nothing to feel bad about.
  • moribunny
    moribunny Posts: 417 Member
    Never heard of the roll of shame for squats before, but failing is completely normal especially when trying to progress in weights. I think you have the right attitude overall for moving onward.
    When I first started lifting, I failed at squats and just fell ungracefully on my butt, hitting my head on the bar when trying to duck out, so...been there. I was then taught how to "fail with grace." lol
  • Karen_can_do_this
    Karen_can_do_this Posts: 1,150 Member
    Omfg I love that I'm not the only one!!!!
  • piperdown44
    piperdown44 Posts: 958 Member
    Every time that happens I think of taking up knitting.....
    Then, I get a bit mad, and think "this damn chunk of iron isn't going to beat me".
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
    Roll of shame?

    Glad I'm a runner. We don't try to shame people.
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    mwyvr wrote: »
    Roll of shame?

    Glad I'm a runner. We don't try to shame people.

    Because all runners are nice people.. lol.
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
    IsaackGMOON wrote: »
    mwyvr wrote: »
    Roll of shame?

    Glad I'm a runner. We don't try to shame people.

    Because all runners are nice people.. lol.

    Fer sure.

    Yes, some are a$$es. City runners more than trail runners. But institutionalized shaming? Not in the circles I run in.
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
    ps, I'm kinda kidding here, I realize this is a move not a Roll Call of Shame.

    On the other hand the context of the comparison on my mind was roll of shame vs walking (for runners). Many if not most experienced runners actively encourage new runners to not consider walking as "shameful" but a component of training progress.

    I guess running is just less macho or something. :smile:
  • kathrynjean_
    kathrynjean_ Posts: 428 Member
    Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone for making me feel better about my first (and definitely not last) failure with this! On the bright side, I had a really good session this morning because I went in with the attitude that it literally couldn't be any worse than last time ...

    Also @hill8570 - thank you for your support and info! I've done a ton of reading, watching, and researching over the past few days and have started to figure out where my form is weaker at these weights. I'm also looking into getting some fractional plates.

    Thanks again to you all! :)
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