Slow progress on my strength gains, am I doing something wrong?

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girlalmighty08
girlalmighty08 Posts: 130 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey MFPers,

I'm 28 and am on a weight loss/fitness journey. I've lost a total of 60 pounds since my heaviest weight, but I still have 40 more to go. I do a lot of different exercises during the week... primarily consisting of kickboxing, and mixed cardio/strength training classes (i.e. Tabata, HIIT, etc.). My workout schedule is typically 5-6 workouts/week. I love the classes as they are high intensity and I feel like I get a great calorie burn, but I don't find I'm getting all that much stronger. For example... I still can't do "full" push-ups and have to modify to my knees. And I've been stuck at the same weight for many of the exercises for a lot longer than I feel I should be.

Any tips of how I get start increasing the strength portion of my workout to see more gains? Or am I just being impatient?

Replies

  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
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    Do a routine that has progression and involves the moves you want to get stronger at.

    You are your own gym, startbodyweight.com, convict conditioning, etc will get you towards push up and pull up (and other bodyweight move) strength.

    Just randomly doing "stuff" without having a progression won't get you too far.
  • ajroy2
    ajroy2 Posts: 1 Member
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    Program your workouts (some of them) more for strength with rests between sets, heavy weight (to you), and lower volume. Something like Starting Strength or Stronglifts are built purely for strength.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    If you want to get stronger you need to run a program with the word "strength" in the title AT LEAST. With a progressive overload. And eat the protein.
  • Kimo159
    Kimo159 Posts: 508 Member
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    I agree with everyone else, get on a strength training program. And, on a deficit don't expect to have huge strength gains, except at the beginning. I've been lifting for 1.5 years and when I'm in a deficit I have a heck of a time hitting PRs.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    Kimo159 wrote: »
    I agree with everyone else, get on a strength training program. And, on a deficit don't expect to have huge strength gains, except at the beginning. I've been lifting for 1.5 years and when I'm in a deficit I have a heck of a time hitting PRs.

    Though if you're new to lifting you won't stall for awhile!
  • rileyes
    rileyes Posts: 1,404 Member
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    StrongLifts helped me add miraculous power to my sport. Give it 6 weeks and see what happens.

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