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I've been working out 4 nights a week doing the “Strong Curves” plan by Bret Contreras. It's basically a full body workout emphasizing the glutes and lower body. It starts out with alternating sets of 2 different exercises like weighted hip thrusts and bent over rows. You do the required reps and immediately go to the second exercise, then rest for 60-90 seconds. Repeat for 3 sets. Then move on to the next alternating set of exercises. My problem is I become so winded and my heart rate is so high there's no way 60-90 seconds enough rest time to me. I find myself resting longer then I should be during the rest break as well as needing rest between each exercise. If I tried to move on when required I'd never be able to finish the reps. I feel this probably due to being depleted of carbs because I don't ever remember getting so winded and having my heart race like it does now. There are times when I even become light headed. In addition... I feel like I'm not recovering well after the workouts. I almost always have DOMS the next day what lasts the entire week. I get sore the first workout of the week an I'm sore every workout after. I'm not sure what to do (if anything) about this. Is it normal? Maybe my body isn't burning fat for fuel yet? I've thought of cutting back to 3 days working out every other day. Or cutting back the work outs... Less sets and/or reps. Or maybe I should add a mini carb backload mid week. I'm a 46 y/o and have been working out consistently since January. I'm not in the greatest shape but I'm not particularly out of shape either. I want to loose 10-15 more pounds and that's why I started carb night. I'll be doing my 4th carb night on Thursday after coming off my second prep phase. I did 3 weeks and went on a bender with alchohol so I decided to redo the prep. Thanks for any suggestions.
As for the rests.. Take longer if you need. The prescribed is 60-90 seconds. Take until you're ready, but be honest with yourself and don't use it as an excuse to slack off. Then each week, maybe try decreasing your rest time by 5-10 seconds until you're in the prescribed range. It's probably just a matter of you not being adapted to that short of rest periods yet.As far as recovery.. DOMS usually goes away/substantially lessens after a couple weeks on a program. How long have you been on this? It could just be a case of toughing it out. Also, DOMS can be pretty largely mitigated by doing some light movement to get blood flowing on your off days. So if your chest is sore, try a couple sets of light pushups; Legs sore, try doing a couple sets of 10-15 bodyweight squats. It sucks at first, but once the blood gets moving it feels better. And then I'd get on a foam roller and roll out, or do some stretching or both.The constant DOMS could also be your body telling you to eat more food.
I'm on my 12th week with this program. It switches up the exercises every 4 weeks. I foam roll at the beginning of every workout before my warm up. Believe me… I'm not trying to wimp out on my program. I feel like its holding me back and I'm not progressing like I should be. I've had lots of experience with DOMS. Usually I will be sore the first few days of a new workout and then hardly ever sore after that unless I take a week off or something. I dunno. I feel like something's not right. Being winded is one thing but the heart pounding and light headedness is a little scary. Maybe more food would help. I haven't tracked in a whole but calories usually track around 1300 or 1400. I try to stay low cuz I still want fat loss.
I'm on my 12th week with this program. It switches up the exercises every 4 weeks. I foam roll at the beginning of every workout before my warm up. Believe me... I'm not trying to wimp out on my program. I feel like its holding me back and I'm not progressing like I should be. I've had lots of experience with DOMS. Usually I will be sore the first few days of a new workout and then hardly ever sore after that unless I take a week off or something. I dunno. I feel like something's not right. Being winded is one thing but the heart pounding and light headedness is a little scary. Maybe more food would help. I haven't tracked in a whole but calories usually track around 1300 or 1400. I try to stay low cuz I still want fat loss.
Less calories doesn't necessarily mean fat loss. What about sodium? Try drinking some salted water before your work out. Or add some salt to your pre-workout drink, if you do one. You might just be low on electrolytes, and that's causing the issues during training.As for the DOMS.. again, it could just be your body saying to eat more.. Are you getting 8+ hours of sleep? Could be another cause.. Do you have deload weeks?
I'm on my 12th week with this program. It switches up the exercises every 4 weeks. I foam roll at the beginning of every workout before my warm up. Believe me... I'm not trying to wimp out on my program. I feel like its holding me back and I'm not progressing like I should be. I've had lots of experience with DOMS. Usually I will be sore the first few days of a new workout and then hardly ever sore after that unless I take a week off or something. I dunno. I feel like something's not right. Being winded is one thing but the heart pounding and light headedness is a little scary. Maybe more food would help. I haven't tracked in a whole but calories usually track around 1300 or 1400. I try to stay low cuz I still want fat loss.
Less calories doesn't necessarily mean fat loss. What about sodium? Try drinking some salted water before your work out. Or add some salt to your pre-workout drink, if you do one. You might just be low on electrolytes, and that's causing the issues during training.As for the DOMS.. again, it could just be your body saying to eat more.. Are you getting 8+ hours of sleep? Could be another cause.. Do you have deload weeks?
+1. I used to get lightheaded sometimes during my workouts too. Adding more sodium helped.
Ok. Thankyou for the suggestions. I do drink a electrolyte drink during my workout but I hadn't thought of sodium. I'll have my carb night tomorrow and see how I feel after. I have been doing CN every seventh day just so it will be on my day off. Maybe I'll switch it to every fith day.
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