Martial Arts / Strength Training - What Am I Doing Wrong?

Hello Everybody!  I am new to CC but not to exercise.  I am hoping somebody here can help me.  This time last year I weighed 132, I gained weight between Oct - Dec. and have been trying to lose it since then but cannot lose more than 2 pounds before my weight goes right back up. I get to 138 then go right back to 140.

I entered myself at very active level which brings me to 2280 on the CC burn meter.  It says I should eat 1800 calories to lose.  I have entered my calories for the past week to see where I'm at and it seems that I eat between 1600-1800 (2300 one day during the weekend).  I try to eat 40-30-30, I focus more on the 30% protein, at least 1 gm per pound.  I eat clean too, no perservatives, sugar, etc.

My goal is to get back to my weight of last year.  I kickbox and I need to be closer to my fighting weight which is 125-128 so I would need to be 3-5% higher than that (which is where I was last year).  I am trying to build my endurance, both muscle endurance for the boxing and my cardio for sparring. 

I normally use a BoFlex at home Mon, Wed, Fri but I just switched to using the P90X dvd's for my strength days just to change things up a bit, I was due for a change up.

Do I need to eat more, exercise less, change things up, what to do?

40 yr old female
140 lbs - 5'6"
Small frame

So here is my routine...

Mon. - P90X strength training - 50 min.; Muay Thai (thai kickboxing) - 45 min.; Walk/Jog - 60 min.; Stretching - 15 min.

Tues. - Stretching - 15 min.; Elliptical or Bag work/Shadowboxing - 30 min

Wed. - P90X strength training - 50 min; Walk/Jog - 60 min.; Muay Thai - 45 min.; Stretching - 15 min.

Thurs. - Stretching - 15 min.; Walk/Sprinting - 60 min; Elliptical or Bag work/Shadowboxing - 30 min.

Fri. - P90X strength training - 50 min; Stretching - 15 min.; Walk/Jog - 60 min

Sat. - Muay Thai - 45 min.; Stretching - 20 min.

Sun - OFF

*Side note here.  Right now I have shin splints so I am walking instead of the walk/jog or walk/sprint.

Any comments or help would be very much appreciated!

Now that you've started P90X, I would get rid of your walks/jogs, especially if you are jogging.  It's fine if you just love being outside and want to go for a leisure walk.  If you are going to continue with the jogging on some days, then I would make sure you eat at least 2000 calories those days.  I think you are burning more calories than CC is giving you credit for.  I would play around with upping it a little to see what happens.  You will gain initially, but it will come back off as your body adjusts. 

Good luck, and enjoy P90X, it's great

I do Muay Thai too, how long??  Great workout!!

I'm not doing the whole P90X program.  I am just doing the 3 dvds for strength training (back, legs, arms).   I'm not jogging right now, just walking due to shin splints (need new sneakers).  I wondered if I need more calories, just not sure what to up it too.  I actually just played with the meters and put in sedetary and then logged all my workouts but it only gets up to about 2300 (as opposed to 2280 under the active level) so I don't know. 

Awesome workout!! I've been doing it for about 1-1/2 years now and it's great, I love it!!

bump

Personally, I'd guess that CC is underestimating your burn. For one thing, you are 40, which the calculator takes to mean you probably burn less than a younger woman. But my guess is that you have a lot more muscle than the average 40-yr old woman, and so your burn counts are higher. Plus, I don't think Very Active anticipates Wednesday's 3 hours of workouts. I think eating at least 2000 sounds better for you, and maybe more.

I had the same problem after I really got into Kung fu. 

See I started Kung Fu at 165 lbs with some irritating fat around my midsection... not enough to make my stomach not flat, but I didn't like the look of it.

After a year of a work out life like the one you described for yourself I weighed 185 lbs and still had just a little bit of stomach fat... but now I was "overweight".  So then I started working out hearder and eating less.  I got down to 178 developed anemia, started purging and ended up weighting 215 when everything was all done.  So clearly that isn't what you want to do.

This is what I suggest.

1. Focus on your body, not the scale

Trust me if you are fit and active you will generally weight much more then you look because you are strong!  Be honest and forgiving of yourself.  Genetics has much more to do with 6 pack abs then behavior. 

2. Eat more eat often

Eating more sustains your metabolism and will help keep your energy up for your workouts. 

Amethystgirl - Yes I do have a lot of muscle so maybe that is the problem with the calculations.  Haha, wednesday is my heavy workout day, is it really 3 hours?  that's nuts, I can't believe that's really me, after writing down all my exercise I kinda went...whoa....that's a lot of exercise there (it's those lunch time workouts that really add up).  So I'll try upping my calories and make sure I get my protein.  Hopefully that will do it.  Thanks for the advice.

Lilsmiter - I started Muay Thai about a year and a half ago.  I was already fit and had been strength training for years.  I weighed about 138 when I started.  After about a month of Muay Thai I lost maybe 5-6 pounds (132-135 was my average) but gained lots of muscle definition.  I had no problem until around Oct - Dec when my weight went up to 146, which was about 10 lbs, but I thought it was the extra halloween candy, then thanksgiving, then christmas, then new years I said I have to get rid of this.  Who gains weight with so much exercise!  I started watching what I ate and lost 6 pounds which leaves me at 140.  Now it's possible that I gained muscle but I don't think that much.  Oh wait, also my thyroid is slow but that would only make it harder for me to lose not stop losing (i think).  My skinny jeans are a little tight, if they fit the same and my weight went up on the scale then I'd know it was muscle.  Plus the body fat part of my scale (which isn't accurate, but can serve as a guideline) has also gone up a little.  I'm not really concerned about being super skinny or anything like that but need to be a certain weight due to weight classes in fighting. I just need to be in the 132-135 range again.  Also I do eat often, I eat something every couple hours. I try to get 30% protein (I love this analysis it will be so helpful with my protein grams!) or 1 gm protein per body weight.  I eat good food, I'm just perplexed about this.  Thanks for the advice.

I was reading another post where somebody said eat to maintain for a week or two just to get your body working better again.  I may try that but I think maybe upping my calories to at least 2000 should help (I hope).

I see a lot of great posts on here.  I'd love to find some great martial arts exercises too!

You might want to get your Thyroid checked up on.  Sometimes they can change quite suddenly.  I would really want to rule that out first if I were you.

So really were talking about 4-5 lbs here?  It's possible some of it can be muscle... did you start lifting more? 

I think eating more calories is a step in the right direction regardless. 

my thyroid totally threw a monkey wrench in my weight maintenance. i was very active before i was diagnosed as hypo but had been steadily gaining weight anyways. took awhile to get everything balanced and get the weight back off but it can be done. thyroid imbalance can make things a little tricky. be patient and you will figure out what works for you. good luck!

Kykena - yeah I'm really active and then I started slowly gaining weight around the holidays I didn't think it was a big deal until I couldn't lose it.  I told my doctor and found the low thyroid.  I was really surprised.  Haven't been taking the meds too long so it may take a little bit to get it right.  I know I have to be patient!  Thanks!

Thank you everybody for your comments. 

Thank you everybody for your comments.

Hey Katy,

I'm also 5'6", train in Muay Thai and my fighting weight is 124lbs so I know what you're going for. 

You definetly need to eat more, My workouts are similar and when I'm in full training mode - I need 2500 to 3000 just to maintain at 128.

to lose a couple pounds I wouldn't go any less than 2000, maybe even 2300 if I were you, when you're body works that hard it needs the calories!  It may take a bit longer but the loss will stick and you'll feel a lot better and be able to work out harder.

sup ladies...maybe i can help out.

When I started taking MMA...I was pretty heavy, but once I actually started to train to fight...that changed 100%.  The key in Martial arts is to make EVERY punch your hardest...every kick your best effort, and every stance firm and with your stomach tight.  I found that through perfecting my basic skills...not only did I gain a kick-ass body, but my physical strength and mental strength both improved A LOT!!!!

When I train for fights (as I'm doing now) i usually take in 7000 calories because of the intensity.  on my of days or off season i take in around 4000 because my training is not as intense.  But one of the most important things i found was drinking 2 gallons of water per day....for most people i would say one gallon if you can, but this made me a lot more alert and hydrated and it helps with the loss of extra weight when my workouts are intense.  I say keep doing what you are doing, but increase the intensity of your training.  Bump it up a notch...but i really think that 140 for5 a 5'6 woman is perfectly fine.

OSU!!!

Potter

kikboxgirl - wow that's a lot of calories!  It's funny because I never had a problem maintaining at all before.  I knew I worked out a lot so I never cared anything about what I weighed or ate.  Then one dreaded day my favorite jeans were tight and that's when I said WTF is going on?!  So since you do the same stuff as me I'm pretty sure I need to start eating more.  I'm starting to eat 2000 already, I'll probably eat even more on my heavy workout days.  Thanks for the advice!

eddiepotter - funny you mention perfecting basic skills, that's what I do all the time, I like to do one move over and over and make sure my pivot is right, my hips are right, everything is right and just keep doing it, eventually it becomes natural.  I also just changed up all my workouts a couple weeks ago.  Changed my strength routine and added weight, I added jogging & sprinting (too much too soon, got shin splints) to my lunch time walk.  I really turned it up a notch.  I can't believe you can drink 2 gallons of water!  This is something else I started doing lately, I'm trying to drink 1 gallon a day, I thought I drank a lot of water but it seems I'm only getting about 3/4 of a gallon a day so I need a couple more bottles.  Thanks for the advice!

Oh and just a suggestion for getting your sprints in if your shins hurt - I can't do running sprints because of my kness and I've found that doing my sprints by running up stairs really gets the sprint part done without as much pounding pressure on my knees (not sure about the sprints on that one but maybe they'll work for you to?)

I've also done sprint HIIT intervals on the spin bikes (you have to use a spin bike for them - a regular stationary bike doesn't change the resistance fast enough).  Just make sure you crank up the resistance for the sprint part - not quite as effective as running sprints but it gets the job done and without the pain.

Thanks kikboxgirl!  I like the running up the stairs.  I've never used a spin bike but that would be a pain free way to get the sprints in. I have to admit, I'm not a fan of sprinting.  My shin is almost better.  I think I may baby it for a couple more days. 

In my opinion…jogging shouldn’t be apart of your routine much….don’t cut it out, but eehhhh…not needed.  When I was a pro runner…the most beneficial thing for me to do was in’s and outs, and steps.  In’s and out’s are very very hard, yet simple.  Basically just run hard on the straight (a regular 400 M track) and jog the turns….or the other way around…run the turn and jog the straight….this is tailored more for explosive fighting, and fast reaction.  Another thing I like to do is (as stupid as it sounds) chase my puppy in the park…I let him loose, and run him down…the quick start and stop action develops my fast twitch muscles, and coordination.  This is for stamina and endurance.  For speed I train with women….I spar with a lot of women but I don’t hit them as hard… so I control my hits but using the same amount of speed as I would had I been fighting a guy…this also develops my muscles every time I “put the brakes on” one of my strikes…the speed is the same, but I control the hit when it lands. 

As far as weight training…I’m in the gym 5 times a week…mostly using kettlebells and machines to keep the correct form.  I usually wear a 17LB weighted vest on my off days just to keep my legs strong.  Sometimes I go at night on the weekends and open up my dojo to train alone.  I set up stations and circuits to do.  So one will be the heavy-bag…the other will be a bench to jump on for 1 minute straight…the other will be pads set up to do specific combo’s…then the other would be a jump rope or something.  It’s hard to train alone, but when I train alone….I just keep in mind the fact that I don’t want to get knocked out….lol..hahahaha.

In fighting and training, I can honestly say that the most important thing for you to train is your core (abs and lower back, and hip flexors).  Without a strong core…you won’t go anywhere.  I’ve trained my core to be stronger than it has ever been, and now there are things I couldn’t do before… but the reason you need such a strong core is:  (the rotation of your hips when you punch and kick……the ability to take hits while still breathing…..the ability to be extremely explosive with your combinations and techniques….).  Without a strong core you will ultimately reach a plateau and realize that your martial arts training can’t get any better than what it is.  

 If anyone needs any help or if anyone want any of my workouts for ANY part of your body…let me know…I have TONS of person workouts that I have developed throughout the years.  LIVE LONG….PLAY HARD

Potter…OSU