Why Is My Body Getting Weaker and Failing Me???

sunscoutie wrote: »

erickirb wrote: »

sunscoutie wrote: »

I added an edit to my original post with my stats & answers to the sleep/calories questions...

1900-2200 calories should be enough to get you though, depending on the timing of your intake. may want to eat carbs a couple of hours before one of these sessions. If you already do that, recovery is probably the issue, more rest or time between sessions may be in order

I do the lifting Tue/Thu/Sat. I felt like I was putting enough time in between. And those are a LOT of calories. My trainer told me to start eating like that in February. I was doing fine until a few weeks ago. I just don't understand how I can eat so much and still fail so bad.

What does your trainer say? I know he's not a doctor but one of his trainees working till sickness should concern him. Is he noticing specific patterns in things you do at class that could be causing it? Certain exercises or movements?

I would talk to him about modifications. Any good trainer should have modifications available for every exercise that make it easier to do at lower fitness levels.

Do you have any other recent stresses going on in your life? Such as mental or emotional? That can take a toll on your body as well. I have started to keep a log of my workouts and I have noticed that when it's close to my "time of the month" I tend to feel weaker and my lifts are not as strong due to hormonal changes.

Why not ask the teacher what he or she recommends you eat before? Or ask the other students what works for them.

Hello Sunscoutie, I am taking a stab in the proverbial dark here, but do to the fact that your blood work returned normal results, I would have to say that you might not be getting enough nutrients on the days you do your intense workouts. The issue with predicting one solution to your energy issue is that we would have to know what was your food intake looking like prior to your weakness starting. The 2 or so week delay between your nutrition changes and your weakness manifesting could be related to your fat stores, sounds like you have depleted them. Plus now that you are lifting you have probably experienced a gain in lean muscle which you would not necessarily notice on the scales. The addition of lean muscle does require additional nutrients to fuel it. As you can imagine it requires more food to fuel higher levels of lean muscle. If you have never lifted before, that would cause you to feel like you have never eaten as much before. If you are concerned with retaining water you can add lean protein to your diet, things like fish.
All that to say, or echo what another post mentioned. I would up your overall calorie intake on your heavy workout days.
I would do it gradually and to avoid having to stuff the food an hour or two prior to the work out, I would take in the extra calories earlier in the day when you are more sedentary. It will help build up your glycogen stores that will power you through your workouts.

Hard to say without seeing it live, but I'd probably say the trainer isn't training you as much as they are making you work hard. There is a very large difference between the two, and no, just because you sweat and fail doesn't mean it was a good workout. Scam artist trainers just throw random routines at people to get them really tired so the trainees think it was a good workout. Huge red flag that it isn't planned ahead of time.

Is there a certain point (lower or upper body exercise) that routinely gets you to failure? Maybe you just need to lower the weight. Is it the cardio portion? Cardio after heavy lifting is really hard, and gives no more benefit than skipping it entirely until a non-lift day.

Sounds to me like you got got, and would indeed be better off looking for and sticking to a tried and true routine on your own.

All that being said...When you do classes, the trainer/instructor is going to do a pretty generic routine. Not really fair to expect it to fit what is best for you.

Also...caffeine. Taking a pre-workout or an energy drink a bit before your session might just give you the jolt to push you through. Some consider it cheating, but if having a cup of coffee before busting your *kitten* makes you not feel like *kitten*, then why wouldn't ya?

I feel for you, I honestly think the work load you are placing on your body greatly exceeds your food intake. Your central nervous system seems really worn out.
Anyways doing want you CAN would avoid you loosing the money you have put into the training sessions.

@sunscoutie are you eating enough? Have you changed your diet? Are you getting enough magnesium?

I workout 3x a week for a little over an hour. I lift heavy. When I run supersets with not much rest, I do start to feel woozy sometimes, but I just rest a little longer and the feeling passes. I'm doing a program that prescribes less rest than my previous program. It's more challenging. I push myself when I can, and take more rest if I need it. I have yet to actually vomit, it's just the feeling.

I also eat very soon before I work out (making sure it's protein and carbs) and sip Gatorade the whole time I'm working out (for the carbs). I also make an effort to get a lot of water before I work out. Since you work out in the evening, you should focus on keeping your muscles hydrated during the day, not just right before workout time. Drink as you go all day.

How's your BP? Do you take electrolytes?