I don’t know what I’m doing wrong

[jesusreigns777]

I’ve been stuck in a loop it seems. I’m using an app to help with strength training and fitness overall and I feel like I’ve just been regressing. What my overall goal is is to build muscle and define my abs and it was working for a while.

The workout I do is HIIT and usually it’s 20-30mins a day then I also do some cardio too (30 mins or walking on the treadmill around 3.5-4.0 speed at a 6 incline as well as 5-6mins of up downs). Usually everyday with one day a week being my off day.

I’ve been trying to track my calories as well but I’m finding that hard to do. I’m 20 years old 5’ 8’’ and hover around 130-135lbs and I can’t seem to tell if I’m eating too much or too little. Because when I track my calories it seems like it’s always off so I stop using it.

Overall I just don’t get it. Most things seem like they’re working then after a week of progress I start to regress again. Specifically in my stomach area it becomes significantly pudgier.

I guess I don’t really know that much or I don’t really have a direction other than my goals. Any help would be appreciated I just kinda feel lost.

I’ll answer any questions you have (I didn’t want to say the name of the app because that might be seen as advertising)

 

[cbsmel]

@jesusreigns777 Get on a properly structured strength program like the rr

 

[dawn16]

@jesusreigns777 You didn't give much info on what you're eating, but if I had to guess from what info we have, I'd make two guesses: Probably not eating enough, and probably not working out right for what you're trying to accomplish. They're just guesses though -- "HIIT" doesn't mean anything on it's own! You might be HIITing sprints for all we know from this post.

No calorie tracker is 100% perfect (no measurement of calories in the first place is 100% perfect) but don't throw them out -- you need to know where you're at to know where you're going. If your app is telling you numbers that are always low or always high... it doesn't matter. What matters is it can tell you "did I get more calories this week than last week." Use a tracker, and use it CONSISTENTLY -- you can ditch it later once you've got a working routine established, but until then, make friends with Cronometer or myFitnessPal or whatever it is you use. They'll track more than calories, too -- you'll probably want to know how much protein you're getting, and they'll do that, too.

Here's an article from a kind of silly but very accessible website that might give you a few things to consider when you're trying to determine where you're going wrong - https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/a-skinny-guys-guide-to-building-muscle-and-bulking-up/#your_diet (Disclaimer - they have a lot of good intro-level articles, but they HEAVILY advertise their paid coaching. I have never used it and cannot speak to its value or otherwise recommend it.)

Stomach 'pudge' isn't a reliable indicator of muscle mass -- think about a 250 pound biker who could lift a cow but still has a little bit of a beer gut. You may just have a part of your body that REALLY likes storing fat (I'm ex-military and used to get the max score on our regular fitness tests, I had washboard abs, but I ALWAYS had big flabby thighs. Nothing but literal starvation would/will change that for me!) Don't let a trouble spot convince you you can't get healthy!

Also - it's a little unclear in your post, but you shouldn't be doing strength training every day. You HAVE to take rest days, as that's when the muscles actually build up.

 

[jesusreigns777]

@dawn16 I calculated my BMI and tdee and it said I should be looking for 1600 calories a day. Hiit is just the style of workout I’m doing, short rests between exercises but I’m using Sworkit the strength advanced program if you’re familiar with that. This is a lot of great info though thank you!

 

[donaldbross]

@jesusreigns777 30 minutes of "hiit" plus cardio everyday wont accomplish anything in terms of building muscle, it could actually even slow down your muscle gains. Youre probably losing weight one week because youre eating less calories since youre effectively doing cardio 6 times a week. Then next week you try to eat a lot more and end up gaining weight because of a surplass of calories eithout any significant muscle gain since youre not actually causing hypertrophy.

Stop doing HIIT, its not good for building muscle, its good for weightloss and endurance. Start doing the recommended routine found on this sub and do cardio 3 times a week. Eat the amount of food you were eating during the period you gained weight. This time itll convert to muscle mass and not fat. Stick with it for a month then check back in. Youre "newbie" gains probably havent started yet so you will probably see good results in this time frame.

 

[daveme7]

@jesusreigns777 Agree with what most people said here:

HIIT falls into many categories so it sounds like since you’re tracking workout time instead of reps and sets it’s harder to progressively overload and therefore track your progress

Also sounds like your calorie intake isn’t quite adequate to be tracked either, you do need to know as mush as possible about how much you’re eating each day, not to go overboard but it’s easily the most important part of recovery

Though on recovery the final point is that you’re only resting one day and that isn’t enough time for your body to recover so when you’re ‘regressing’ it could be your body struggling to adapt to perceived demands.

I would recommend:

Incorporating some classic weight resistance training into your workouts - HIIT is amazing cus it’s ideal for weight loss and maintaining muscle, as well as training fast firing muscle fibres with help with explosiveness, but it’s not ideal for building the muscle you want to maintain.

Track what you eat each day for a while so you know your habits, and set a calorie goal. Sounds like you want to get toned, maybe a deficit is what you’re looking for. Calculate your BMR and TDEE and start roughly following a minimal deficit, and eat tons of protein, like 200+g to maintain as much muscle whilst losing fat in a controlled way.

Add at LEAST one more rest day, maybe two. You could push through the fatigue is you wanted and just have two, but you can train your whole body adequately twice a week and still have three days active recovery, which is ideal.

This is my suggestion of how to start, dunno your experience level so just treated you as myself before I started working out. Hope this helps x

 

[jesusreigns777]

@daveme7 This helps a lot thank you! I calculated my BMI and tdee and it said for a calorie deficit look for around 1600 calories. I kinda thought I wasn’t taking enough rest days too but this confirms it thank you. The reason I tracked workout time is because the app I use is time based. It’s called Sworkit and it’s basically 30 seconds per exercise and you do as many as you can. I like HIIT because it’s not too long how does it compare to the recommended routine in length? This is a ton of great information overall thank you.

 

[daveme7]

@jesusreigns777 Haha holy shit I used Sworkit! I got a free premium for adopting that app early, great app! Keep that one. Yeah so depends on what your goals are, but tracking things with amount of time instead of sets and reps is less accurate, so I’d say you wanna spice it up with more weight/callisthenics if you want to build muscle. Yes, recommended routine is longer, 45+ minutes, I’m afraid if your goals are to get stronger and build some muscle you’ll need to put just a bit more time in.

1,600 Calories isn’t much either so I see how you might be regressing, your body might not be getting enough tbh! What’s your diet like? I’m no professional but I wonder if you could stand to eat more too.

When I started working out properly last year in Lockdown 1 I used Sworkit and running, and like you say, felt I was regressing - I felt smaller, and weaker. I can’t say if I was actually losing muscle during this time and not fat, because you know what we’re like with being pessimistic about our bodies, but I just didn’t feel like I was progressing.

So my advice would be whatever your maintenance is, start to slowly work your way back up to that, with a good macros split i.e. lots of protein, carbs, don’t go overboard on fat but don’t cast it out like the devil. At the same time, like I said, bring in at least one more rest day, and look into calisthenics, weight training, or my fav, weighted calisthenics, and see if you’d like to incorporate that stuff too. Keep the HIIT training where you can, no need to completely stop what you’re doing, because its a great way to train explosive strength, and that crosses over to all other types of workouts. X

 

[daveme7]

@jesusreigns777 Brill, yeah I’ve got a sweet tooth also - helped by the normal stuff like not having too many snacks in the house at one time, avoiding by drinking water instead, or having a protein bar since protein is so satiating. In terms of the Sworkit stuff, I would probably stop it whilst you get into the Recommended Routine, and build a good amount of strength there. If you know how the RR works then once you’re at a good strength level and feel like you need more volume and move onto more weighted stuff and skills work, you could incorporate it back in as a replacement for just running. Cardio is great, and resistance cardio is better, it might end up being once a week like you would do going for a run - and don’t forget there’s many Sworkit workouts that are shorter and so on, so when you do bring it back you can make it less intense.

So get into Recommended Routine, stop using Sworkit as your workout, and once you’ve gained a lot of mass and strength and are ready to progress even further than the RR, you could use HIIT as a cardio replacement.

 

[jesusreigns777]

@daveme7 I like that a lot actually. Thank you, truly you’ve helped me so freaking much. I’m not 100% sure how the RR works or how well I can make it work in a dorm room but I’m definitely willing to put 110% into it. My other question is is there a brand of protein bars you really like? It’s hard to find them for me since I recently became lactose intolerant and I already had a peanut allergy to start with.

 

[daveme7]

@jesusreigns777 Oh shit really?? That sucks. I learned I was lactose through this process of getting fit this year so I get your problem - all my protein powders are bloody whey as well which sucks!

For protein bars, I only really grab ones from Tesco locals or something like that when I’m craving something, so couldn’t help much there - but I can point you towards Bulk.com, which have some vegan bars you can buy in large quantities, as well as Vegan Protein Powder.

I personally have been using Huel, Whey Protein shakes, and some meal prep to help curb my cravings and get the proteins in. It’s not perfect as I still find myself snacking but mainly on dark chocolate now, which is good for your gut health at least. Starting off by hitting protein goals helped a lot because of how much it kept me full without going over my goals. If your lactose the way I am, I can have small amounts of Dairy a day, but after a certain point its no go, so one little bar when I’m rushing and need a snack from Tesco does the trick!

 

[jesusreigns777]

@daveme7 Thanks so much! I’ll look into it. I really appreciate all your help!

 

[daveme7]

@jesusreigns777 No worries bud x

 

[webboy58]

@jesusreigns777 To keep it short, I think you're doing the non-ideal type of exercise and too many times per week. Try incorporating more resistance training and be explosive in the movement (pushups for example, lower yourself slowly to the ground and then push up quickly with good form). And have more rest days! You don't grow from the workout; you grow from the rest afterwards. Good luck!