What am I doing wrong? Always fatigued

sweet_trip · 15-07-2020 5:06pm #1

Hi all. Not sure if this is allowed but here's question.

I'm always super fatigued while weight lifting. I feel like I've majorly stagnated and struggle with exercise in general for as long as I can remember but as I make progress it's getting worse.

I've been upping my weightlifting and cardio a lot but every day its such a struggle. Pre workout my body feels like it goes into shut down mode, and my brain says "NO NO NO" but I force myself anyway.

During the workouts this is pretty much all I feel too but I push on. I'm struggling to progress past 80kg, even with a deload week.

Background:

28 male
68KG
175cm
Work sedentry job.

Wake 6am, home from work 7pm, workout 7pm to 9pm
Been doing light cardio for years but started upping my game and doing more + weight lifting for 9 months now.

Diet: Average daily calories 2800kcal.
Average Protein intake - aiming for 130g
Supplementing iron.

Workout routine:

Cardio:
Monday - 3.7km run in 20 minutes on track
Tuesday - 3.7km track run
Wednesday - 25km cycle
Thursday - 7km trail run with steep hills.
Friday - 5.5km backroad run with steep hills
Saturday - fun day, mountain biking, rock climbing or hiking.
During winter I substitute cycling with swimming 50 x 25meter.

Weightlifting: 5 days a week, monday to friday. Immediately post cardio.

6x6 deadlifts at 80kg
3x6 deep swimmer press at 30kg (15kg per dumbell)
5x10 squats at 30kg dumbell.
5x20 pushups
5x20 ab rolls
5x1 30 second planks.

Can you see what I'm doing wrong?

kippy · 15-07-2020 5:10pm

sweet_trip wrote: »

Hi all. Not sure if this is allowed but here's question.

I'm always super fatigued while weight lifting. I feel like I've majorly stagnated and struggle with exercise in general for as long as I can remember but as I make progress it's getting worse.

I've been upping my weightlifting and cardio a lot but every day its such a struggle. Pre workout my body feels like it goes into shut down mode, and my brain says "NO NO NO" but I force myself anyway.

During the workouts this is pretty much all I feel too but I push on. I'm struggling to progress past 80kg, even with a deload week.

Background:

28 male
68KG
175cm
Work sedentry job.

Wake 6am, home from work 7pm, workout 7pm to 9pm
Been doing light cardio for years but started upping my game and doing more + weight lifting for 9 months now.

Diet: Average daily calories 2800kcal.
Average Protein intake - 130g
Supplementing iron.

Workout routine:

Cardio:
Monday - 3.7km run in 20 minutes on track
Tuesday - 3.7km track run
Wednesday - 25km cycle
Thursday - 7km trail run with steep hills.
Friday - 5.5km backroad run with steep hills
Saturday - fun day, mountain biking, rock climbing or hiking.
During winter I substitute cycling with swimming 50 x 25meter.

Weightlifting: 5 days a week, monday to friday. Immediately post cardio.

6x6 deadlifts at 80kg
3x6 deep swimmer press at 30kg (15kg per dumbell)
5x10 squats at 30kg dumbell.
5x20 pushups
5x20 ab rolls
5x1 30 second planks.

Can you see what I'm doing wrong?

Have you had a health check-up recently? Blood test of diabetes/thyroid/iron might be worthwhile. What are your sleep and eat patterns like?

sweet_trip · 15-07-2020 5:19pm

kippy wrote: »

Have you had a health check-up recently? Blood test of diabetes/thyroid/iron might be worthwhile. What are your sleep and eat patterns like?

I checked my blood sugars a few times and its always normal.
Blood pressure fine.

My heart rate rests at 48 beats per minute or lower which concerns me at times.

I started supplementing iron a month ago because of this but haven't noticed any major improvements yet.

No problems with sleep, get 7-8 hours most nights. However at times post meal (lunch/dinner) i get very tired and could nod off in seconds if i let myself).

I used to be anorexic with binge eating disorder 2 years ago before I started trying to get fit. I eat quite a lot all the same.

Breakfast: 6am (porridge, milk, honey, tea)
fruit/coffee: 10am
big dinner: 12pm (spuds + veg + meat +milk)
Snack: 5pm (protein bar)
Protein shake (2 scoops) during workout 8pm.
post workout meal 9pm: (3 eggs scrambled, 2 cuts brown bread, orange juice)
Snack:10pm (tea + biscuits)

breadmonkey · 15-07-2020 6:22pm

Looks like a very heavy training load. Have you considered you might be suffering from the effects of overtraining?

daheff · 15-07-2020 6:31pm

Your body is wrecked. You need to take a day off in this schedule. Try 3 days on, day off ,3 days on, day off for a while.

Also I'd suggest you have a meal at 5 (if you can) rather than a protein bar. Otherwise you are going from 12 to 9 without a proper meal and throwing in a workout.

Your body needs fuel & rest.

Dtp1979 · 15-07-2020 7:10pm

You’re doing way too much and not eating or resting enough to repair your body

ED E · 15-07-2020 7:17pm

I'll probably be eaten for this but.....

It reads to me like you've take a food disorder (excessive control/obsession) and transitioned it to an exercise one. That's a compulsive level of exercise. If I told you you could only do 2 days a week from tomorrow, how would you react? Don't need to answer that here, just think about it.

adrian522 · 15-07-2020 7:42pm

It's a bad idea to take iron supplements if you haven't had a test that shows low iron. To much iron can be a problem and the symptoms of too much iron can be some as low iron.

If you do end up with iron overload its not an easy problem to solve, so at the very least you should get your levels checked prior to continuing with the supplements.

Esse85 · 15-07-2020 7:44pm

Can you post up your diet and show us where your 2800 calories are coming from?

banie01 · 15-07-2020 7:46pm

breadmonkey wrote: »

Looks like a very heavy training load. Have you considered you might be suffering from the effects of overtraining?

Would suggest similar. There is zero recovery time.

Alf Veedersane · 15-07-2020 8:45pm

While you might not always be emptying the tank in the cardio, you're draining yourself befire you start lifting.

There is no need for cardio AND weight training on 5 days.

Might not be Overtraining but it does look like you're overdoing it. There's no room to progress on the lifting because you're not recovering.

It's been suggested above but I do think you need to look at whether that level of training is a different manifestation of what once was an unhealthy relationship with food. I've been there so I've had to seriously look at whether my lifting was for the right or wrong reasons. It may be for the right reasons and you just need to understand better how to progress but I do think it's worth giving serious consideration to.

sweet_trip · 15-07-2020 10:30pm

breadmonkey wrote: »

Looks like a very heavy training load. Have you considered you might be suffering from the effects of overtraining?

daheff wrote: »

Your body is wrecked. You need to take a day off in this schedule. Try 3 days on, day off ,3 days on, day off for a while.

Also I'd suggest you have a meal at 5 (if you can) rather than a protein bar. Otherwise you are going from 12 to 9 without a proper meal and throwing in a workout.

Your body needs fuel & rest.

Dtp1979 wrote: »

You’re doing way too much and not eating or resting enough to repair your body

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

While you might not always be emptying the tank in the cardio, you're draining yourself befire you start lifting.

There is no need for cardio AND weight training on 5 days.

Might not be Overtraining but it does look like you're overdoing it. There's no room to progress on the lifting because you're not recovering.

It's been suggested above but I do think you need to look at whether that level of training is a different manifestation of what once was an unhealthy relationship with food. I've been there so I've had to seriously look at whether my lifting was for the right or wrong reasons. It may be for the right reasons and you just need to understand better how to progress but I do think it's worth giving serious consideration to.

Yeah this all makes sense. I think I need to reduce the frequency, and do cardio one day, then lifting the next etc rather than doing it all every day.
I also probably need to add another meal around 5pm as suggested, although I genuinely find it difficult to eat more, especially as I feel like I should be more build, and have less fat but instead i have a lot of flab on top of my muscle. I prob need to up my weight too but I've been finding it hard.

ED E wrote: »

I'll probably be eaten for this but.....

It reads to me like you've take a food disorder (excessive control/obsession) and transitioned it to an exercise one. That's a compulsive level of exercise. If I told you you could only do 2 days a week from tomorrow, how would you react? Don't need to answer that here, just think about it.

I think this might be the case for sure.

If I did 2 days a week, I'd probably not be happy with that. I'd need to reduce my food intake as I feel like I'd be putting on fat and losing muscle.
If I miss a day of exercise I feel bad as it is. Especially seeing as I have a sedentry job.

adrian522 wrote: »

It's a bad idea to take iron supplements if you haven't had a test that shows low iron. To much iron can be a problem and the symptoms of too much iron can be some as low iron.

If you do end up with iron overload its not an easy problem to solve, so at the very least you should get your levels checked prior to continuing with the supplements.

Well, I've been doing it for a month now so it's probably skewed any kind of blood test I would get. Guess I have to wait a couple of months before getting one.

Esse85 wrote: »

Can you post up your diet and show us where your 2800 calories are coming from?

Roughly wrote this all down on paper after looking at labels. Might be drastically wrong but im estimating.

Breakfast: 60g oat porridge with 300ml milk, honey + cup of tea - 350kcal/18g protein.
Snack: banana + coffee - i dont count calories/protein for this.
Dinner: 3-4 potatos, 2 portion of veg, breaded chicken or something, some butter + glass of milk - 900-1000kcal/40g protein.
This varies, some days Id have pasta, or curry, etc.

Snack: fulfill protein bar - 200kcal/20g protein.
Protein shake: 2 scoops with 500ml water - 230kcal/50g protein
Evening meal: 3 large eggs with brown bread + butter and orange juice - 580kcal/30g protein.
Snack: Tea + biscuits - 300 calories/negligible protein.

Rough totals. 2500kcal give or take. 120 to 150g protein.
No idea what my fat intake is but I feel like it's too high.

should be noted, I rarely drink but do eat a take away 3 times a month at weekends (skipping the 4th weekend as I work during it)

De Danann · 15-07-2020 11:29pm

Speaking as an ex-anemic, if you do have low iron levels (as in, you have had this checked) you are better off building iron levels back up through diet rather than supplements if possible (dark leafy veg, red meats - beef liver is particularly rich in iron).
Also, if you drink a lot of tea/coffee, that can interfere with how much iron your body absorbs. You should make sure you are taking in Vitamin C as that assists absorption of iron.
I received the above advice from a nurse when I complained iron supplements weren't helping.

But like other posters have said - don't supplement iron unless you've been told to by a doctor. Try and focus on getting what you need from your diet.

scilover · 16-07-2020 4:49am

I agree with the others on taking a break in between. But if this still continues and nothing changes, I recommend you going to see a doctor to get a proper check up. Who knows? Better be safe than sorry.

[Deleted User] · 16-07-2020 5:03am

If I read that correctly, you're doing deadlifts five days a week... You're wrecked because you're wrecking your body. Look up some proper routines. You obviously have amazing commitment so a switch to a routine that allows recovery will be really effective.

Mr. CooL ICE · 16-07-2020 7:13am

Yep, there's a lot wrong with that. Others have touched on your diet and overtraining so I won't repeat them.

I'd question why you're doing weights AFTER cardio. Of your focus is on increasing cardio, fair enough. Otherwise, it's unwise. Do the weights first if your focus is on getting stronger/bigger.

Also, your weight routine doesn't make sense. Doing the same thing 5 days in a row won't get you anywhere. If you're determined to make progress, try taking the Wednesday off and also split the workouts into something like alternating upper and lower days. Such as:

Monday lower
Tuesday upper
Wednesday off
Thursday lower
Friday upper

And don't use a sedentary job as a reason to go all out. Your body needs rest. Doing some LISS cardio on days off is highly recommended. Just stick headphones on and walk 45ish minutes and it's enough to get the heart rate up a bit while giving the body a chance to recover.

Irishman80 · 16-07-2020 7:40am

Yes, a poster above has pointed out your deadlift. That's destroying you.

You are weightlifting 9 months, you've a minimum 1RPM of 95-105kg for your deadlift at the moment. That's decent progress.

But you should only be dead-lifting once a week. Deadlifting burns you out. Doing a session of cardio straight beforehand will not be ideal either.

On the day you deadlift, if possible try not to have squated for a few days before. And don't squat the same day.

Another poster tells you that your exercise breakdown is wrong too. That's fatiquing you also. You don't need to be squatting for 5 days a week, or benching 5 days a week. Try to target each muscle group twice a week - maybe Upper/Lower as suggested - 4 days. The body needs to recover.

And don't kill yourself with cardio every day before a weights workout either. You burn calories weightlifting too.

You're overtraining.

Dtp1979 · 16-07-2020 11:25pm

I think deadlifting once a week is too little. He needs to progress too. Twice with maybe rdl mixed in

Irishman80 · 17-07-2020 1:12am

Dtp1979 wrote: »

I think deadlifting once a week is too little. He needs to progress too. Twice with maybe rdl mixed in

Deadlifting twice a week or with classic one day and alternative another is something I wouldn't argue with if one session is a heavy session and the second is a light session.

Once the OP researches a little, he'll come across programs which argue the optimal level of deadlifting is 3 times heavy in 2 weeks - essentially 1.5 times per week.

The OP is doing well on the deadlift after 9 months even considering a bad program. Once he improves his program, and with the commitment he has, he'll have a 2X deadlift in the next 6 months. That'll be heavy for a guy lifting just over a year. He won't want to be doing that twice a week.

I'd be more inclined to say to him to add hip thrusts, shrugs, step ups, good mornings, farmers walks etc to his program with just a single heavy deadlift session per week.

Alf Veedersane · 17-07-2020 1:13am

Dtp1979 wrote: »

I think deadlifting once a week is too little. He needs to progress too. Twice with maybe rdl mixed in

Doesn't need to be more than once necessarily if you're doing good variations.

Irishman80 · 17-07-2020 1:21am

Of course, there is no exact answer for each individual. The OP could come on here in 6 months and say that after trying various programs, deadlifts 3 times a week works best for him.

It's clear at the moment, he is overtraining though. And deadlifts 5 days a week is way too much - at a weight that would be considered heavy at this stage in his training.

My advice would be cut back to 1 heavy session a week on it. If he wants to add another after a while make it a light session. And see where he stands then.

Cill94 · 17-07-2020 10:39am

Training schedule is insane, particularly the deadlifts. More is not always better when it comes to training.

I think you should try a programme like 5/3/1. Has pros and cons like anything, but is very good at stopping people from pushing too far and will teach you how to properly balance cardio, strength, hypertrophy in a week.

Also: eat and sleep more.

Large bottle small glass · 17-07-2020 11:02am

OP might be better concentrating on getting to the why of why he's training so hard than the specifics.

In relation to exercise try and add enjoyment and a social element to it when you figure out the why.

Join a club, get a training buddy, help others etc etc.

Training for exercise should remove stress/anxiety from our lifes not add to it.

Mellor · 17-07-2020 12:46pm

I very much doubt you are over training as the intensity is quite low. But nobody can say for sure.
But it it almost certainly too high a frequency so that you are not progressing, and feel constantly feel fatigued.

Improve your diet, it's not terrible. But the breaded chicken, bars etc suggests its probably very process and maybe worse than you made out.

Follow a structured, 3 days a week, program.

Cardio and weights on same day is ok. Do cardio afterwards. And keep it light.

Harder cardio days should be stand alone.

2 rest days per week.

sweet_trip · 18-07-2020 9:37pm

Hi all. Thanks for all the great advice. Didn't expect so many replies.
I'm still trying to process everything.

I wrote this on Wednesday because I think I hit a breaking point during my workout.
I haven't done any exercise since then aside from a 5km cycle to/from the shop on thursday.
But since then I'm absolutely exhausted. Worse than ever before. Literally fell asleep 3 times at my desk yesterday and can feel my entire body is weak and i don't know whats going on but I'm just horrible in general.

I'm presuming overtraining is the main cause.
When I look at my body I notice I've only really made gains on my arms and legs. My chest/core is really lacking. When I weighed myself at 67kg I was pretty shocked to be honest. I was hoping for 75kg at least.

I'm guessing I was getting a calorie deficit at 2700 per day. My friend seems to think so and I need to aim over 3000 with that level of exercise i was doing.
He recommendwd me "starting strength" as a guide.

In general though I find it very hard to follow guides and routines for some reason.

Mr. CooL ICE wrote: »

Yep, there's a lot wrong with that. Others have touched on your diet and overtraining so I won't repeat them.

I'd question why you're doing weights AFTER cardio. Of your focus is on increasing cardio, fair enough. Otherwise, it's unwise. Do the weights first if your focus is on getting stronger/bigger.

Also, your weight routine doesn't make sense. Doing the same thing 5 days in a row won't get you anywhere. If you're determined to make progress, try taking the Wednesday off and also split the workouts into something like alternating upper and lower days. Such as:

Monday lower
Tuesday upper
Wednesday off
Thursday lower
Friday upper

I was thinking maybe alternating cardio and weights by the day. i.e monday lifting, tuesday cardio, wednesday lifting, thursday off, friday cardio.

Or something along those lines.

Irishman80 wrote: »

Deadlifting twice a week or with classic one day and alternative another is something I wouldn't argue with if one session is a heavy session and the second is a light session.

Once the OP researches a little, he'll come across programs which argue the optimal level of deadlifting is 3 times heavy in 2 weeks - essentially 1.5 times per week.

The OP is doing well on the deadlift after 9 months even considering a bad program. Once he improves his program, and with the commitment he has, he'll have a 2X deadlift in the next 6 months. That'll be heavy for a guy lifting just over a year. He won't want to be doing that twice a week.

I'd be more inclined to say to him to add hip thrusts, shrugs, step ups, good mornings, farmers walks etc to his program with just a single heavy deadlift session per week.

I'm still so new to all of this. I honestly thought my deadlifting was pretty weak at 80kg hence why I was pushing it daily to try improve.
You think deadlifting once or twice a week is fine even at 80kg? It feels like not much to me.

Cill94 wrote: »

Training schedule is insane, particularly the deadlifts. More is not always better when it comes to training.

I think you should try a programme like 5/3/1. Has pros and cons like anything, but is very good at stopping people from pushing too far and will teach you how to properly balance cardio, strength, hypertrophy in a week.

Also: eat and sleep more.

Hypertrophy, or some form of visible muscle gain is what I was aiming for but I feel like I've majorly failed regarding that. May look into 5/3/1.
As for sleep...I sleep like a rock. Don't believe thats an issue presently.
I'm trying to stuff more calories in but am struggling a bit with that. Feeling sick almost with the amount I'm eating this week, trying to push over 3000kcal.

JJayoo · 18-07-2020 10:28pm

13 hour work day and straight into the gym...

Alf Veedersane · 18-07-2020 10:34pm

If you're prioritising gaining muscle, why so much cardio?

The recovery (that you're not including for) is important if you want to make any progress so you need to start factoring that in.

You can accommodate cardio and weight training but they need to complement each other. Running hard or a long cycle the day or even the day before trying to progress on leg-training isn't going to help. So if you do something like alternating upper and lower body training, you can accommodate the cardio after lower and before upper. But I'd look at reining in the cardio if your main priority is getting bigger and stronger

Look at more calorie dense foods if you're struggling to get calories in.

[Deleted User] · 19-07-2020 2:51am

Your gains come during recovery. Your muscles repair themselves but bigger and better. Constant training of the same muscles every day doesn't allow this process to happen, and eating more calories won't change that. You'll probably just put on fat instead.

If you don't want to get too complicated with programs, just download an app like Jefit. It has routines you can select and then adopt. If you're happy to look at a program, try something like GZCLP or one of the more common ones.

I'd recommend some reading no matter what. With so much gym, you're still missing out on a bunch of muscle groups by the looks of it. (Lats for example)

Black Sheep · 19-07-2020 10:49am

Honestly, if your goal is strength and improving your body composition, OP, then cut back to three days a week lifting, and limit your cardio training to 1-2 sessions a week if you absolutely must do it (Although looking at what your instincts are and the volume you're doing now I would say that will be very mentally hard for you to do).

Everything about what you've posted - to do with your weight, your energy levels, how your body is feeling and so on just screams under recovery if not actual overtraining. 3000 calories a day is not actually much relative to the amount of training you're doing.

In your last couple of posts you mention Starting Strength and 5/3/1 as potentially programming options.

I ran 5/3/1 for a few years and although there are iterations of it that are quite good and really varied and enjoyable, it is an intermediate program that I wouldn't recommend until you've sorted out what's going on with your strength training. By intermediate I don't mean that it is too 'difficult', I meant it would have you adding weight to the bar at a slower pace than you necessarily need to at the moment. It is also a program that, IMO, you need to have a certain base level of strength at the outset to actually get a good training effect from, because some versions of it are quite low volume. So park it for now.

Starting Strength gets a lot of flak and personally I don't think it's optimal, but I think there are aspects of it that are a step in the right direction for you: Three sessions a week, whole body training, progressively adding weight to the bar. If you cut back to 1-2 runs / bikes per week (more for enjoyment than anything else) and gave yourself three months of a linear progression on the squat, deadlift, bench and press then you could hop onto 5/3/1 and re-introduce a more athletic type of training.

If you want to do an alternative version of Starting Strength that I think it preferable, you could look at the Greyskull LP. Has you squatting twice a week rather than three times, and has scope for keeping some accessory work for arms and shoulders if you enjoy it.

https://www.powerliftingtowin.com/greyskull-lp/

GalwayGrrrrrl · 19-07-2020 1:26pm

sweet_trip wrote: »

Yeah this all makes sense. I think I need to reduce the frequency, and do cardio one day, then lifting the next etc rather than doing it all every day.
I also probably need to add another meal around 5pm as suggested, although I genuinely find it difficult to eat more, especially as I feel like I should be more build, and have less fat but instead i have a lot of flab on top of my muscle. I prob need to up my weight too but I've been finding it hard.

I think this might be the case for sure.

If I did 2 days a week, I'd probably not be happy with that. I'd need to reduce my food intake as I feel like I'd be putting on fat and losing muscle.
If I miss a day of exercise I feel bad as it is. Especially seeing as I have a sedentry job.

Well, I've been doing it for a month now so it's probably skewed any kind of blood test I would get. Guess I have to wait a couple of months before getting one.

Roughly wrote this all down on paper after looking at labels. Might be drastically wrong but im estimating.

Breakfast: 60g oat porridge with 300ml milk, honey + cup of tea - 350kcal/18g protein.
Snack: banana + coffee - i dont count calories/protein for this.
Dinner: 3-4 potatos, 2 portion of veg, breaded chicken or something, some butter + glass of milk - 900-1000kcal/40g protein.
This varies, some days Id have pasta, or curry, etc.

Snack: fulfill protein bar - 200kcal/20g protein.
Protein shake: 2 scoops with 500ml water - 230kcal/50g protein
Evening meal: 3 large eggs with brown bread + butter and orange juice - 580kcal/30g protein.
Snack: Tea + biscuits - 300 calories/negligible protein.

Rough totals. 2500kcal give or take. 120 to 150g protein.
No idea what my fat intake is but I feel like it's too high.

should be noted, I rarely drink but do eat a take away 3 times a month at weekends (skipping the 4th weekend as I work during it)

It looks like you are only getting two portions of fruit and no vegetables, based on the typical day you posted.
Try adding a fruit or veg to each meal (handful of grapes, peanut butter on apple, some raisins with nuts, tinned sweet corn with the chicken etc.) The hse guidance of 5 portions per day is actually lower than it should be, ideally aim for 8 portions. My fitness pal have a food tracker but I imagine you might want to keep off that type of app as you have a history of disordered eating.
As others have said, alternate your cardio days and weights days to allow some recovery time.

Cill94 · 19-07-2020 2:07pm

sweet_trip wrote: »

...

You're doing too much, and that is likely why you're knackered. If muscle gain is your main goal, then you need to drastically cut the cardio. It's affecting your recovery and will also force you to eat more calories as you're burning so much during cardio.

Starting Strength and 5/3/1 are both great programmes. It doesn't matter which you do - all that matters is you pick one and stick to it. If you try to figure it all out yourself you're going to waste a lot of time and energy.

Get coaching if you don't know the technique for the big lifts. Maybe consider training with your mate if he has more experience in strength training than you. Getting around stronger people who've been there before will answer a lot of your questions.

What am I doing wrong? Always fatigued

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