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  • I'm so sore and tired!

    I don't really know what's going on with me. I must be getting old. I'm 31. I've been lifting weights on and off for over 10 years. When I was in my 20's, I lifted 7 days a week mostly. Split training constantly. I weighed about 145 and benched 260. So, I was pretty damn fit. I never really took off from weight training for long. The most I'd ever go without training was 3 weeks, and only that happened a couple times. Nowadays, I get sore no matter what, and for long periods of time. I also get really tired and sick when I try to train even 4 days a week. I've been to the doctor, and apparently nothing is wrong with me. I'm wondering if it's just a protein issue, or lack of sleep. Back in the day, I'd do about 20 sets for chest, followed up with 9 sets for triceps for example. That was a typical training day. I'd be sore for a day or two at most, and be back at chest and triceps immediately. Yesterday, I did circuit training. Part of it was pushups. I did 3 sets of 10 pushups during my circuits, and I'm pretty sore today. If I were to do just 3 sets of bench presses and 3 sets of dumbbell incline bench presses, I'd be sore for 5 days. On leg days, I'm lucky to be sore for less than a week, just from doing 3 sets of squats and 3 set I take Mega Men's Sport every day, and try to get a lot of protein, but I imagine I must be lacking anyway. I generally get maybe 100 grams per day. I always take a protein supplement after my workouts. So, what's the deal? Am I too old to work out already? Anyone else experience this?

  • #2
    Can't be age

    This article is interesting, do you give yourself deload weeks?

    [URL="http://tonygentilcore.com/2012/01/the-deload-week-and-why-you-should-use-it/"]http://tonygentilcore.com/2012/01/the-deload-week-and-why-you-should-use-it/[/URL]

    Comment


    • #3
      I haven't worked out in 2 weeks, due to holidays, work, etc. First time back at the gym yesterday I did 3 sets of 10 reps:

      Clean and presses
      Incline push ups
      Dumbbell step ups
      Weighted hanging knee raises
      Pull ups
      Dips

      That's it. Just 3 sets of 10 for each exercise. And, I'm very sore already. My back and chest will probably be sore for at least 2 days, and I'm supposed to be doing chest and back tomorrow.

      Comment


      • #4
        I'm also wondering if my diet has anything to do with it. I definitely eat more sugar than I should, and I have been drinking a little too much beer. I don't binge drink ever, but I like to have a beer most nights, and a few on weekends. But, I don't see a significant correlation among those things. Should I?

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by StiffBoard View Post
          Can't be age

          This article is interesting, do you give yourself deload weeks?

          [URL="http://tonygentilcore.com/2012/01/the-deload-week-and-why-you-should-use-it/"]http://tonygentilcore.com/2012/01/the-deload-week-and-why-you-should-use-it/[/URL]
          Great article. I guess to specifically answer your question: If I work out for 2 weeks (or more than 3 times in one week), I'm usually too sick and tired to continue training so I do end up taking a deload week anyway.

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          • #6
            First of all, I'm not a fitness professional, so I can only share my experience and the modest knowledge I got from public sources. Having said that, I do have some suggestions that worked pretty well for me.

            Your diet:
            First - if you don't track your calories and macros - start now. Once you've done it for a few weeks, see whether you get enough calories - if you don't you're bound to be permanently tired no matter what you do.
            Second - see how much protein you get. Most sources agree that you should get at leats 1g of protein per 1lb of weight (that's 2.2g per 1kg).
            Third - if you derive most of your calories from carbs you are almost certain to crash. What worked best for me is small amount of carbs in the morning (eggs and cheese with a piece of dried fruit for breakfast and greek yogurt for mid-morning snack), and then I'd take most of my carbs after working out when you body needs quick energy the most, and also at night (although nighttime carbs is a personal preference which I might reconsider). As a rule, I try to derive at least as much energy from fat as I do from carbs, so on the days when I eat 150g of carbs I try using at least 75g of fat. Unless you're vegetarian, don't shun animal fats - cholesterol is a base for most hormones, including testosterone.

            Rest - make sure you get enough. As we get older (and I speak from experience), it gets more important.

            Working out:
            First - check your form. Improper form may hurt you.
            Second - you may be overtrained. If nothing else works, give yourself a week off.
            Third - get a professional to assess your workout routine. It may simply be unbalanced. You don't need to hire an expensive personal trainer, but look around for a reliable source and try their workouts for a few weeks. Don't shoot for big names and make sure that the workouts are written by professionals for regular people, not by or for professional fitness models and bodybuilders.

            Also, if you are simply sore it could be from lactic acib build-up. What worked for me is citrulline malate - it is an NO booster and lactic blocker, great at reducing post-workout soreness.

            You are definitely not too old for working out, and I hope that you will resolve your problems successfully. As I said, I'm no pro, so proceed at your own risk.

            Good luck!

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by dannyjerome0 View Post
              I'm also wondering if my diet has anything to do with it. I definitely eat more sugar than I should, and I have been drinking a little too much beer. I don't binge drink ever, but I like to have a beer most nights, and a few on weekends. But, I don't see a significant correlation among those things. Should I?
              Sugar will get you tired, once it's digested, and so will too much starch and refined flour. A couple of years ago I noticed that an hour after I eat pizza and salad (unfortunately, that's what I ate for lunch quite often at that time), I'd fall asleep. Once it almost cost me my job. I switched to meat and vegetables, and never regretted that.

              I don't drink alcohol in general and beer in particular, so can't advise you there.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by is304 View Post
                First of all, I'm not a fitness professional, so I can only share my experience and the modest knowledge I got from public sources. Having said that, I do have some suggestions that worked pretty well for me.

                Your diet:
                First - if you don't track your calories and macros - start now. Once you've done it for a few weeks, see whether you get enough calories - if you don't you're bound to be permanently tired no matter what you do.
                Second - see how much protein you get. Most sources agree that you should get at leats 1g of protein per 1lb of weight (that's 2.2g per 1kg).
                Third - if you derive most of your calories from carbs you are almost certain to crash. What worked best for me is small amount of carbs in the morning (eggs and cheese with a piece of dried fruit for breakfast and greek yogurt for mid-morning snack), and then I'd take most of my carbs after working out when you body needs quick energy the most, and also at night (although nighttime carbs is a personal preference which I might reconsider). As a rule, I try to derive at least as much energy from fat as I do from carbs, so on the days when I eat 150g of carbs I try using at least 75g of fat. Unless you're vegetarian, don't shun animal fats - cholesterol is a base for most hormones, including testosterone.

                Rest - make sure you get enough. As we get older (and I speak from experience), it gets more important.

                Working out:
                First - check your form. Improper form may hurt you.
                Second - you may be overtrained. If nothing else works, give yourself a week off.
                Third - get a professional to assess your workout routine. It may simply be unbalanced. You don't need to hire an expensive personal trainer, but look around for a reliable source and try their workouts for a few weeks. Don't shoot for big names and make sure that the workouts are written by professionals for regular people, not by or for professional fitness models and bodybuilders.

                Also, if you are simply sore it could be from lactic acib build-up. What worked for me is citrulline malate - it is an NO booster and lactic blocker, great at reducing post-workout soreness.

                You are definitely not too old for working out, and I hope that you will resolve your problems successfully. As I said, I'm no pro, so proceed at your own risk.

                Good luck!
                Thanks for the advice.

                I know I SHOULDN'T be overtraining. I've done so many "beginner" workouts from the Jefit routine database and managed to get sick and exhausted very quickly.

                I will definitely start tracking calories, as I've done in the past. Many people have told me that you only need about 0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight, and I think this is where I'm lacking. I weigh 160lbs. right now. I will try to get to 160g of protein and see where that goes. I also will try to get enough rest. I usually get about 8 hours of sleep per night, but often less than that. I'm a night owl and a bit of an insomniac, so it's hard.

                I definitely have good form. I know I'm not getting hurt, this is just DOMS. The muscle soreness simply lasts for several days, and I used to work out so much with it being only next day soreness. I'm just glad that I'm getting support from people that think I'm still not too old!
                Last edited by dannyjerome0; 01-05-2015, 07:50 PM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by dannyjerome0 View Post
                  I will definitely start tracking calories, as I've done in the past. Many people have told me that you only need about 0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight, and I think this is where I'm lacking. I weigh 160lbs. right now. I will try to get to 160g of protein and see where that goes. I also will try to get enough rest. I usually get about 8 hours of sleep per night, but often less than that. I'm a night owl and a bit of an insomniac, so it's hard.
                  0.5 grams come from USDA guidelines, and, as someone who studied the matter professionally told me, this is meant as a minimum for an inactive elderly person - anything lower would starve anyone to death. When you exercise you destroy muscle, and your body needs protein to rebuild it, so it pulls it from other muscles, the ones it deems idle. Next day you exercsie those "idle" muscles, and it goes in circles. I started seeing great progress once I walked away from that 50-100 grams per day nonsense.

                  I'm also a late night person and getting at least 6 hours a day of sleep is a struggle for me. One advise I have - if you want to have some sweets or beer, save it for about 2 hours before bedtime. Makes you drowsy.

                  Originally posted by dannyjerome0 View Post
                  I definitely have good form. I know I'm not getting hurt, this is just DOMS. The muscle soreness simply lasts for several days, and I used to work out so much with it being only next day soreness. I'm just glad that I'm getting support from people that think I'm still not too old!
                  Even if you have good form, ask someone experienced to check it. I do so periodically - when we work out sooner or later we start to stray.

                  I know two ways of reducing DOMS. First - post-workout stretch. That will increase flow of blood to the muscles, so the muscles get more nutrients when and where are needed, and some of byproducts of workout, such as creatinine, are carried off immediately. Second - supplements. As I said - try citrulline malate - it's pricey, but the only thing that worked for me 100%.

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                  • #10
                    I'm in my mid 30s. I generally get fairly sore if I take longer then a 7-8 days between upper body muscle groups, legs 5-6 days (the worst DOMS). I usually get a little sore most workouts, but if there is to much time between, I'm talking unable to function sore! Legs soreness for me can last up to 6 days. I find doing them twice a week (1 more intense then the other) keeps the DOMS at least manageable.

                    I just took 9 days off and did legs once I got back, its going on 4 days after and I can still barely walk. It affects people differently. I get about 1g of Protein per pound but I find no difference if I get .5g protein per pound. I also get more then enough sleep. That being said, I know someone that is on a low protein diet (medical reasons), who works out with me, only gets slightly sore and it doesn't last. Go... figure

                    Why do we do it to ourselves? They say... no pain.. no gain

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Wow, thanks for the advice everyone! I got about 150g of protein yesterday and I already feel much less sore. I'm dreading leg day this week: 4 sets of 10 reps with squats, straight-legged deadlifts, lunges, and leg curls. Luckily, my new shipment of protein just came in the mail today. If I'm not sore for more than 5 days, I'll know that the protein was key. I looked up some L-citrulline on Amazon. $20 for 90 capsules. Wondering if I can get away with one capsule per day. It's really not that expensive, anyway. Thoughts?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by dannyjerome0 View Post
                        I looked up some L-citrulline on Amazon. $20 for 90 capsules. Wondering if I can get away with one capsule per day. It's really not that expensive, anyway. Thoughts?
                        In generals powders are cheaper, shop around. Also, citrulline malate is better for DOMS because malic acid acts as a lactic blocker.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by is304 View Post
                          In generals powders are cheaper, shop around. Also, citrulline malate is better for DOMS because malic acid acts as a lactic blocker.
                          Good to know! I found a decent brand for $10 for 60 pills. It's really not that big of a deal to spend that much. If it were like $50 a bottle like GNC brands, I'd have issues. Does anyone know a good recommended dosage? The ones I got are 750mg per pill, and I was going to take one per day.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by dannyjerome0 View Post
                            Good to know! I found a decent brand for $10 for 60 pills. It's really not that big of a deal to spend that much. If it were like $50 a bottle like GNC brands, I'd have issues. Does anyone know a good recommended dosage? The ones I got are 750mg per pill, and I was going to take one per day.
                            You don't have to take them daily, just pre-workout should do the trick for starters.

                            According to Jim Stoppani (look him up - he's got tons of good information) the minimum effective dose is 3grams, so in your case it would be 4 pills (so you get 15 doses for $10 - 0.67 per dose). I buy 500g of powder for $48.99 (plus my vendor has up to 20% off a couple of times a year), which comes up with roughly 0.30 per dose.

                            That's another problem with pills - you have to look at the dosage, not the numbver of pills. A couple of weeks ago I thought I had a steal when I bought a bottle of fish oil pills at ridiculously cheap price. Then the pills arrived, and I saw that their dosage is higher than the competitors' (smaller pills), so instead of the cheapest I actually bought the second most expensive product.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by is304 View Post
                              You don't have to take them daily, just pre-workout should do the trick for starters.

                              According to Jim Stoppani (look him up - he's got tons of good information) the minimum effective dose is 3grams, so in your case it would be 4 pills (so you get 15 doses for $10 - 0.67 per dose). I buy 500g of powder for $48.99 (plus my vendor has up to 20% off a couple of times a year), which comes up with roughly 0.30 per dose.

                              That's another problem with pills - you have to look at the dosage, not the numbver of pills. A couple of weeks ago I thought I had a steal when I bought a bottle of fish oil pills at ridiculously cheap price. Then the pills arrived, and I saw that their dosage is higher than the competitors' (smaller pills), so instead of the cheapest I actually bought the second most expensive product.
                              Thanks! I'll definitely do some more research. I'm estimating that 4 pills per workout x 4 workouts = 16 per week, or roughly 4 weeks worth of pills (bottle of 60). So, I'd have to re-up about 12 times. $130 for a year's supply. I'll probably look into the powders next time. Thanks again.

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