Feel the burn.... or not.

Hey,

So I'm hoping that someone may be able to give me a little bit of help on this.

I'm a 21 year old active college student, though severely overweight. While I've had a fairly decent exercise regime for the past few years, it was always on and off. Since December, I've decided to kick this obesity thing in the butt and commit to a workout schedule.

 

Before I got heavy, I was very active.. basketball, softball, soccer, Hapkido, JuJitsu, Taekwondo.. up until I was about 17. Then came senior year of high school, along with college auditions and getting a jump on college coursework. Then of course, I got to college. I then didn't have the opportunity to participate in as many athletic things as before and quickly packed on the weight.

Here's my question. I try to push myself as far as I can, both with strength training and cardio. I always do about 45 minutes of cardio, no matter what, 6x a week. If I'm doing strength training (3x/week) I stick to the 45 minutes. If I'm not strength training, I increase cardio to 75 minutes of a combination of treadmill/elliptical/bicycle.

I work out at the level that I constantly feel like I can't do any more, then push myself to keep going. I lift as much weight as I possibly can without compromising technique, 3 sets of 12 reps each. By the end of the 3 sets, I'm ready to chop off whatever body part I just worked on. When doing cardio, I almost always work on an incline -- usually about 4/10, ranging between 4-6mph. I'm always sweating like a slob afterward, breathing quite heavily and have my heart rate up quite high.

That being said, it's funny to me that I virtually never feel the least bit sore after my workouts. Every now and then I'll feel a SLIGHT twinge the next morning, but never even to the point of sore.

I guess I shouldn't complain, since so many people wake up feeling like hell the day after a tough workout.. but I feel like this may not be a good sign. I guess maybe I just miss the burn of a good workout.

Do I need to increase my weight/resistance even more? Is this going to be helpful, even though I feel as though I'm maxed out where I am now, before adding anything extra? Is my workout less effective because I'm not "feeling the burn"?

 

Thanks guys!

 Nah, pain is a terrible measure of progress. The only thing that counts is doing better than you did last time, and it sounds like you've got that well in hand.

 Once upon a time I was doing pikes on my stability ball and slipped, smashing my foot into the ground. Hurt like Hades, but it sure wasn't a sign of me progressing in anything, despite being exercise-related :)

 Though you might want to try this trick: increasing your weights to the level where you can only physically perform 8 reps, and then stick to that weight until you can physically perform 12 reps. That keeps you working in the 8-12 range which is where you should be when starting out, and ensures that you don't go too light or too heavy.

 It might not suit you though; it's not better or worse than what you're already doing, just different. And since our bodies respond best to change rather than any specific program, well, periodically changing what you're doing keeps the progress coming.

I'll try increasing a little bit.

I just feel like I should be feeling SOME sort of soreness, you know? I'm at the point that I don't think I could exert myself any more or for any longer, and my body gets pretty pissed off while I'm doing the exercises, but a minute after I stop, I feel normal again.

 

Man, seems like whoever made up that saying "No pain, no gain" lied. A lot.

HOw do you feel the next day?  Right after I do my sets I feel fine too, its in the morning that I  start feeling sore. 

I agree with the other poster.  I would increase your weights and do 8 reps ets...

ALso make sure you are changing up your workout regiment.  Your body adjusts to doing the same types of workouts after so often.

Like for me one week, I will run and elliptical 2 times a week (or 3 if I can), then I also do different videos 2-3 times a week and also walk 2-3 times a week, just to change it up.  I also add some weight training or do a sculpting video just to change it up.

Your body gets board... so dont let it, and it might pay off.

Good luck, sounds like your doing well though.  Moving is the main thing and your doing it!

Something that you have to keep in mind is that you were very active before you gained the weight. I was a swimmer before I gained my weight, and I have a really hard time feeling like I had a great workout like I used to when I swam. I have quite a bit of muscle under all my fat! I don't usually feel the burn after workouts because of this.  Also, if you are trying to tone your muscles and lose weight, you should be doing lots of reps, at a medium weight. You shouldn't feel like you can't lift the weight anymore. That's going to gain a lot of muscle rather than toning and helping lose weight. Just because you aren't feeling much pain, doesn't mean it is not working!

 

Hope that helps, and good luck!

I rarely feel the post-workout soreness at all -- even the next day.

I try to change my routine every 2 weeks or so in terms of actions that I'm doing, but it basically has the same end result. Even when I do the change, I consistently do a half-hour circuit at my gym - it's a "fast track" workout that alternates between machines and step aerobic blocks.

I increased my weights yesterday and did fewer reps, but am still finding that I don't feel anything. And I'm a little bit embarrassed (but also proud of myself) that I've maxed out the weight on almost all of the lower body and core machines -- the men look at me funny when I'm comfortably doing 315lbs on a leg press and barely breaking a sweat from it. Oyy.

 

Thanks for the idea, alstones. I guess I just didn't realize how much muscle I really DO have under all this stupid fat. At 15 years old (being about 4'10 and 100lbs at the time) I was bench pressing about 200lbs.. I've always been a little bit of a "monster" LOL