Mental block

coolbluecris
coolbluecris Posts: 228 Member
edited November 29 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi folks
I started exercise and went too hard and sore and gave up.

I've been sedentary for three weeks.

How can I stop my perfectionist tendencies from causing me to fail? Doing something is better than doing nothing after all.

What do you guys recommend and how can I stick to it? (Thank you in advance :)

Replies

  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
    what exercise did you do?

    walk. can't be wrong or fail at that can you?

    And hey at least you recognise you have those tendencies so try to give yourself a break?

    If you do stuff it will be sore, but it gets less sore with time as you get used to it.
  • coolbluecris
    coolbluecris Posts: 228 Member
    I did circuit weights/cardio but it put me off and now I seem to just want to lounge around the house :(
  • VirginiasMom
    VirginiasMom Posts: 23 Member
    Whenever I do squats after any sort of workout hiatus I get SUPER sore for days. I usually just walk/run and get back to it. It will go away pretty quickly. So it may be you just need to give it another shot! It will get easier...
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    Put a plan together before going to the gym. Read the lifting program thread if you want to lift, but find something like Strong Lift or Curves and stick to the plan.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 2,087 Member
    If you've taken a break from working out (or a new to it to begin with) you'll need to build back up to it.

    As an example, I'm just now getting back to my gym routine after not going to the gym the past couple months.

    Rather than jumping right into my 5-day lifting program, this first week is a 3-day a week full body, "entry" program to kick things off and give my body a chance to adjust. Next week I'll be moving to a 5-day program, but my break from the gym was relatively short, and I still had activity in there (it was the end of my race season, so while my M-Th/F was pretty lazy, the weekends were hectic!

    When I started back to the gym after nearly a year from due to a badly broken leg, I started out even slower, and had my trainer put together several different training plans that gradually built off each other as the previous one got "easy."

    Take your time, and give your body some time to adapt.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,638 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    coolbluecris wrote: »
    Hi folks
    I started exercise and went too hard and sore and gave up.

    I've been sedentary for three weeks.

    How can I stop my perfectionist tendencies from causing me to fail? Doing something is better than doing nothing after all.

    What do you guys recommend and how can I stick to it? (Thank you in advance :)

    What do you mean by "perfectionist tendencies?" Going all out all of the time is a sub optimal way to train...it's far from perfection.

    Start small...build your fitness. Fitness is something that is built over time...you don't just come out of the gate with balls to the wall.

    This.

    Building fitness gradually, with rest and recovery time between workouts, and a slow but steady increase in duration/intensity/resistance . . . that's doing it right, exactly what a perfectionist should aspire to.

    What you've been doing is not perfectionism at all.

    Moreover, giving up and stopping because of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) has nothing to do with perfectionism. That part is just down to an inability to tolerate discomfort when pursuing a worthwhile goal. (Note: I'm not at all saying that someone should work through the kind of pain that signals injury. But regular sore muscles from overuse are something for which we just take remedial measures - hot bath, self-massage, stretching, ice, rest, NSAIDs, etc. - then repeat the activity after a reasonable rest interval of a day or two. After a few repetitions, the DOMS decreases to a trivial level.)

    Y'know, I used to hire people for jobs with decent salaries. Sometimes, in interviews, we'd ask them what their worst weakness as an employee was, to see how well they self-assess and remedy deficiencies. The most eye-roll-inducing but common answer was "I'm too much of a perfectionist". In job interviews, it's what people say when they want to back-handedly speak well of themselves, without ever doing the hard work necessary for insight and self-improvement.

    Gosh, I don't know why I just told that job interview story. Obviously, it has nothing to do with fitness improvement. Sorry! :)

    Just take on fitness improvement more gradually, and stick with it. You can do it! You'll be fine.

    Best wishes!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    ^^This. Become a perfectionist at pacing yourself properly.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    c25k and pick a programme:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
  • _aenyeweddien_
    _aenyeweddien_ Posts: 102 Member
    I'm no expert, but I agree with everyone that you should take it slow and build your strength gradually. Also, what reduced the soreness for me dramatically when I first started was BCAAs before and after workout.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    Well if you go all out and it wears you out so bad that you don't want to do anything for the next three weeks that's pretty far from "perfectionist." Next time you work-out, remember that. Going all hard-core like you did is not going to get you anywhere.
  • coolbluecris
    coolbluecris Posts: 228 Member
    So slow and steady wins the race :)
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    To paraphrase Eric Helms, “it’s more beneficial to something that’s 60% optimal 85% of the time than it is to do something that’s 85% optimal 60% of the time”.

    As it applies to your situation, you’d be much better served starting off with a more moderate workout regimen and gradually upping the intensity as you can tolerate it, rather than going all out for a week and then giving up because you’re crippled from the soreness and hate the workouts you’re doing.
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