First of all, I have read the FAQ and regularly browse this sub on my main account. I could not find an answer in the FAQ.
22 years old, female, 5'2", 115lbs, unknown bf% but not very fit. Taking omega 3, vitamin d, multivitamin, oral contraceptives, antidepressants, and stimulants. No known health problems. My sleep is less than ideal (not enough hours, poor quality) but that is something I am trying to fix. My goals are to decrease body fat, increase functional strength, increase glute size, and fix my posture.
I've been working out for about 3 months and see almost no progress (and some regression) in terms of increased weight lifted, body weight, and body size/composition. My lifts have barely increased, body weight is pretty constant, and I am slowly but surely putting on more fat (measurements/clothes fitting differently/visual changes). Every time I work out I am in an incredibly terrible mood before/during/after, my anxiety/irritability noticeably decreases, and I feel pretty depressed for the rest of the day. I never get an endorphin rush, or a sense of being glad I worked out. Everything I have read says that exercise helps 100% of people with depression/anxiety so it's a pretty big sign I'm REALLY doing something wrong if it is making these things worse for me.
I eat at maintenance, which I calculated by starting with a number from a TDEE calculator and adjusting until my weight was constant for a few months at the amount I'm eating. I know I am not eating enough protein, and I already ordered protein powder and will start supplementing with that as soon as it ships. As far as I know, not enough protein shouldn't be causing me to gain fat, though.
My workout is 2-3x/week lifting with 15min cardio afterwards, and yoga on off days (just added yoga about a month ago). I do everything 3x5 and alternate between bench/squat/row and overhead press/deadlift/squat. When I started going, I asked a trainer to look at my form and he said I shouldn't be doing anything with weights because I look too weak/inflexible/unbalanced so for the first couple of weeks I just did walking lunges instead of squats to avoid showing my face in the weight area. I also mix in the seated abductor machine (for my weak glutes, not to make my thighs smaller
), leg lifts, hyperextensions, assisted pullups/dips, inverse rows, bird/dogs, supermans, and bridges.
My lifts are all in the "untrained" category according to exrx, except for squats which are almost at "novice". Over this time I have made 10lb progress on bench and rows, 50lb progress on squats, 0 progress on overhead press, and 0 progress on deadlifts. I am really concerned about my deadlift form so I have not been increasing the weight because I think my form is totally off and don't want to injure myself. I try to increase weight every time, but am not even able to add 5lb a WEEK - adding weight makes me basically have to wiggle like a worm to get the weight to move at all.
I assume my form is a huge problem, and watching youtube videos isn't solving anything, nor would recording and uploading a video of myself because I have pretty awful coordination and need somebody to physically put me into the correct position a few times in order to be able to do it myself.
I paid a trainer to go over my form with me, but she refused to even look at me do anything with a bar and seemed more concerned with making me a new routine (I told her I just want form checks and my goal is to increase strength). She said I need to do 15 reps of everything and shouldn't be doing less than that unless I want to be a bodybuilder. She also said I need to be using 5-10lb max for the exercises and other than that should do bodyweight. I asked her how I would progress in strength this way and she said not to worry about it until I get the exercises down and that would take a long time anyway.
I know I am doing something very wrong and I don't know what it is. Should I just keep throwing money at trainers until I find one who is willing to actually look at my form? Is my routine bad? What else could be wrong? HELP.
22 years old, female, 5'2", 115lbs, unknown bf% but not very fit. Taking omega 3, vitamin d, multivitamin, oral contraceptives, antidepressants, and stimulants. No known health problems. My sleep is less than ideal (not enough hours, poor quality) but that is something I am trying to fix. My goals are to decrease body fat, increase functional strength, increase glute size, and fix my posture.
I've been working out for about 3 months and see almost no progress (and some regression) in terms of increased weight lifted, body weight, and body size/composition. My lifts have barely increased, body weight is pretty constant, and I am slowly but surely putting on more fat (measurements/clothes fitting differently/visual changes). Every time I work out I am in an incredibly terrible mood before/during/after, my anxiety/irritability noticeably decreases, and I feel pretty depressed for the rest of the day. I never get an endorphin rush, or a sense of being glad I worked out. Everything I have read says that exercise helps 100% of people with depression/anxiety so it's a pretty big sign I'm REALLY doing something wrong if it is making these things worse for me.
I eat at maintenance, which I calculated by starting with a number from a TDEE calculator and adjusting until my weight was constant for a few months at the amount I'm eating. I know I am not eating enough protein, and I already ordered protein powder and will start supplementing with that as soon as it ships. As far as I know, not enough protein shouldn't be causing me to gain fat, though.
My workout is 2-3x/week lifting with 15min cardio afterwards, and yoga on off days (just added yoga about a month ago). I do everything 3x5 and alternate between bench/squat/row and overhead press/deadlift/squat. When I started going, I asked a trainer to look at my form and he said I shouldn't be doing anything with weights because I look too weak/inflexible/unbalanced so for the first couple of weeks I just did walking lunges instead of squats to avoid showing my face in the weight area. I also mix in the seated abductor machine (for my weak glutes, not to make my thighs smaller
), leg lifts, hyperextensions, assisted pullups/dips, inverse rows, bird/dogs, supermans, and bridges.My lifts are all in the "untrained" category according to exrx, except for squats which are almost at "novice". Over this time I have made 10lb progress on bench and rows, 50lb progress on squats, 0 progress on overhead press, and 0 progress on deadlifts. I am really concerned about my deadlift form so I have not been increasing the weight because I think my form is totally off and don't want to injure myself. I try to increase weight every time, but am not even able to add 5lb a WEEK - adding weight makes me basically have to wiggle like a worm to get the weight to move at all.
I assume my form is a huge problem, and watching youtube videos isn't solving anything, nor would recording and uploading a video of myself because I have pretty awful coordination and need somebody to physically put me into the correct position a few times in order to be able to do it myself.
I paid a trainer to go over my form with me, but she refused to even look at me do anything with a bar and seemed more concerned with making me a new routine (I told her I just want form checks and my goal is to increase strength). She said I need to do 15 reps of everything and shouldn't be doing less than that unless I want to be a bodybuilder. She also said I need to be using 5-10lb max for the exercises and other than that should do bodyweight. I asked her how I would progress in strength this way and she said not to worry about it until I get the exercises down and that would take a long time anyway.
I know I am doing something very wrong and I don't know what it is. Should I just keep throwing money at trainers until I find one who is willing to actually look at my form? Is my routine bad? What else could be wrong? HELP.